I guess that's a good point. But I recall Jane Jacobs mentioning how a community like Toronto was able to survive downturns that seriously affected US cities close by. Her claims was that local sourcing was a big factor.

If you think about, she's right too. If you look to foster industries and activities that are based in your community, you'll probably be more resilient when times get tough. But the way this works is to look at any industry and figure out how much of its content is really based in your area. I suspect most auto industry is a bunch of assembly of parts made in Asia. So there are some local jobs, but only 10% of the revenue actually stays in the community.

That's one reason why we should focus on recycling industries. They are labor intensive and they build on products that already exist locally. For example, you can tear down a house by buying a $80,000 tractor built in Asia. Or you can hire a team of recyclers to come in and dismantle the building and sell what they can. The latter might cost a fraction more, but think about where that money goes.