Population models estimate that majority of the world's population will live in cities by 2005. An increasing citizenry and rural refugees overwhelm these cities. Unemployment, lack of medical care and adequate housing and subsistence is exasperated by the diverse cultural, ethnic, political, and religious differences of groups who are located in close proximity within a constrained environment. As centers of population, culture, communications, transportation, economics, and seats of governments, cities are societal centers of gravity. This concentration of societal centers of gravity also makes these areas the centers of gravity of military campaigns.
Cities also occupy historically strategic key terrain, enhancing their value as military objectives.
These cities dominate sea and landlines of communications and as such, should potential threat forces so decide, can be used to deny or hinder the rapid and safe entry or transit of US expeditionary forces. As focal points of population, commerce, and government, cities are the likely points of interface between US interests and the interests of foreign governments or non-state entities. In the post-Cold War international security environment, urban areas have been and will continue to be a locus for US military intervention. Intelligence requirements in urban environments are far tougher to meet than on traditional battlefields. This statement is right on the mark.