Forced March To Citihood

A couple of thugs down at the Gold Dome have started flexing their muscle by giving an ultimatum to the Lakeside, Briarcliff and Tucker citihood teams:

Set your city borders by date certain or we will

We will skip over the arrogance of the ultimatum as arrogance is one of the main ingredients of any ultimatum and cut to the chase. Why is it considered a fait accompli that there must be any new city at all, or that any, even if desired by someone other than politicos, would be viable? Of course none of that matters as the powerful and politically connected will have their way no matter who must pay.