Megaregions of the United States

Megaregions of the United States are clustered networks of US-American cities, the population of which currently ranges or is projected to range from about 57 to 63 million by the year 2025.[1][2][3]

America 2050,[4] a project of the Regional Plan Association, lists 11 megaregions in the United States, Canada and Mexico.[1] Megapolitan areas were explored in a July 2005 report by Robert E. Lang and Dawn Dhavale of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech.[5] A later 2007 article by Lang and Nelson uses 20 megapolitan areas grouped into 10 megaregions.[6] The concept is based on the original megalopolis model.[3]

Definition

Regional Plan Association map.

A megaregion is a large network of metropolitan regions that share several or all of the following:

A megaregion may also be known as a megalopolis or megapolitan area. More than 70 percent of the nation's population and jobs are located in 11 megaregions identified by the Regional Plan Association (RPA), which is an independent, non-profit New York-based planning organization. Megaregions are becoming the new competitive units in the global economy, characterized by the increasing movement of goods, people and capital among their metropolitan regions.[7] "The New Megas," asserted Richard Florida (2006), "are the real economic organizing units of the world, producing the bulk of its wealth, attracting a large share of its talent and generating the lion's share of innovation."[8]

The megaregion concept provides cities and metropolitan regions a context within which to cooperate across jurisdictional borders, including the coordination of policies, to address specific challenges experienced at the megaregion scale, such as planning for high-speed rail, protecting large watersheds, and coordinating regional economic development strategies.

The American-based Regional Plan Association recognizes 11 emerging megaregions:[9]

Identification

The Regional Plan Association methodology for identifying the emerging megaregions included assigning each county a point for each of the following:

Shortcomings of the RPA method

This methodology was much more successful at identifying fast-growing regions with existing metropolitan centers than more sparsely populated, slower growing regions. Nor does it include a distinct marker for connectedness between cities.[12] The RPA method omits the eastern part of the Windsor-Quebec City urban corridor in Canada.

Statistics (RPA reckoning)

Megalopolis Name Population
in millions
2010		 Percent of U.S. Population (2010) Population
in millions
2025 (projected)		 Population
percent growth 2010 - 2025 (projected)		 Major cities and metro areas
Arizona Sun Corridor[13][14] 5.6 2% 7.8 39.3% Mesa, Phoenix, Tucson
Cascadia 12.4 3% 13.5 5.0% Abbotsford, Boise**, Eugene, Portland (OR), Salem, Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane**, Tri-Cities**, Vancouver (BC), Vancouver (WA), Victoria
Florida 17.3 6% 21.5 24.3% Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, Port St. Lucie, Tampa Bay Area (Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater)
Front Range 5.5 2% 6.9 26% Albuquerque, Cheyenne, Colorado Springs, Denver, Pueblo, Salt Lake City**
Great Lakes 55.5 18% 60.7 9.4% Akron, Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Des Moines**, Detroit, Erie, Fox Cities**, Grand Rapids, Green Bay, Hamilton, Indianapolis, Kansas City**, Lansing, London, Louisville, Madison, Milwaukee, Minneapolis–Saint Paul**, Montreal**, Ottawa**, Pittsburgh, Quad Cities, Quebec City**, Rochester (NY), Sault Ste. Marie**, St. Louis, Toledo, Toronto, Twin Ports**, Wheeling, Windsor, Youngstown
Gulf Coast 13.4 4% 16.3 21.6% Baton Rouge, Beaumont–Port Arthur, Corpus Christi, Gulfport–Biloxi, Houston, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Mobile, New Orleans, Pensacola
Northeast 52.3 17% 58.4 11.7% Atlantic City, Baltimore, Boston, Hampton Roads (Virginia Beach, Norfolk), Harrisburg, Lehigh Valley (Allentown-Bethlehem), Newark, New York, Philadelphia, Portland (ME), Providence, Richmond, Knowledge Corridor (Springfield and Hartford), Trenton, Washington, Wilmington, Worcester
Northern California 14 5% 16.4 17.1% Fresno, Modesto, Oakland, Reno, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Stockton
Piedmont Atlantic 17.6 6% 21.7 23.3% Atlanta, Birmingham, Charlotte, Greensboro, Greenville, Huntsville, Knoxville**, Memphis**, Nashville**, Raleigh
Southern California 24.4 8% 29 18.9% Anaheim, Bakersfield, Las Vegas, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Tijuana
Texas Triangle 19.7 6% 24.8 25.9% Austin, Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston, Oklahoma City**, San Antonio, Tulsa**

Notes:

Major cities not included by the RPA

Thirteen of the top 100 American primary census statistical areas are not included in any of the 11 emerging mega-regions. However, the Lexington-based CSA in Kentucky is identified by the RPA as being part of an "area of influence" of the Great Lakes megalopolis, while the Albany and Syracuse-based CSAs in Upstate New York are shown as being within the influence of the Northeastern mega-region. Similarly, the Augusta, GA and Columbia, SC-based CMA are considered influenced by the Piedmont-Atlantic megalopolis, Jackson, MS CMA by the Gulf Coast megaregion, Little Rock, AR CMA by the Texas Triangle, and the Des Moines and Omaha-based CMAs by the Great Lakes megalopolis. The El Paso, TX CMA is roughly equidistant from two megaregions, being near the southeastern edge of the Arizona Sun Corridor area of influence and the southern tip of the Front Range area of influence. This leaves Honolulu, HI, Wichita, KS, and Charleston, SC as the only top 100 American CMAs that have no mega-region affiliation of any kind as defined by the RPA.[15]

Southwest El Paso, TX MSA (see also El Paso-Juárez)
Hawaii Honolulu, HI MSA
Mississippi Valley Des Moines-Newton-Pella, IA CSA, Omaha-Council Bluffs-Fremont, NE-IA CSA, Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR CSA, Jackson-Yazoo City, MS CSA, Wichita-Winfield, KS CSA
Kentucky Lexington-Fayette-Frankfort-Richmond, KY CSA
South Atlantic Coast Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville, SC MSA, Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC MSA, Columbia, SC
Upstate New York Syracuse-Auburn, NY CSA, Albany-Schenectady-Amsterdam, NY CSA

Planning

Though identification of the megaregions has gone through several iterations, the above identified are based on a set of criteria developed by Regional Plan Association, through its America 2050 initiative - a joint venture with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Two historic publications helped lay the foundation for this new set of criteria, the book Megalopolis by Jean Gottmann (1961)[16] and The Regions’ Growth, part of Regional Plan Association’s second regional plan.

The relationships underpinning megaregions have become more pronounced over the second half of the 20th century as a result of decentralized land development, longer daily commutes, increased business travel, and a more footloose, flexible, knowledge workforce. The identification of new geographic scales—historically based on increased population movement from the city center to lower density areas as a megaregion presents immense opportunities from a regional planning perspective, to improve the environmental, infrastructure and other issues shared among the regions within it. The most recent and only previous attempt to plan at this scale happened more than 70 years ago, with the Tennessee Valley Authority. Political issues stymied further efforts at river basin planning and development.[8]

In 1961's Megalopolis, Gottman describes the Northeastern seaboard of the United States - or Megapologis - as "... difficult to single out ... from surrounding areas, for its limits cut across established historical divisions, such as New England and the Middle Atlantic states, and across political entities, since it includes some states entirely and others only partially." On the complex nature of this regional scale, he writes:

Some of the major characteristics of Megalopolis, which set it apart as a special region within the United States, are the high degree of concentration of people, things and functions crowded here, and also their variety. This kind of crowding and its significance cannot be described by simple measurements. Its various aspects will be shown on a number of maps, and if these could all be superimposed on one base map there would be demarcated an area in which so many kinds of crowding coincide in general (though not always in all the details of their geographical distribution) that the region is quite different from all neighboring regions and in fact from any other part of North America. The essential reason for its difference is the greater concentration here of a greater variety of kinds of crowding. Crowding of population, which may first be expressed in terms of densities per square mile, will, of course, be a major characteristic to survey. As this study aims at understanding the meaning of population density, we shall have to know the foundation that supports such crowding over such a very fast area. What do these people do? What is their average income and their standard of living? What is the distribution pattern of wealth and of certain more highly paid occupations? For example, the outstanding concentration of population in the City of New York and its immediate suburbs (a mass of more than ten million people by any count) cannot be separated from the enormous concentration in the same city of banking, insurance, wholesale, entertainment, and transportation activities. These various kinds of concentration have attracted a whole series of other activities, such as management of large corporations, retail business, travel agencies, advertising, legal and technical counseling offices, colleges, research organizations, and so on. Coexistence of all these facilities on an unequaled scale within the relatively small territory of New York City, and especially of its business district...has made the place even more attractive to additional banking, insurance, and mass media organizations.[16]

Outside the United States

The RPA report identifies megaregions that are shared between the US and Canada, and is presumably at least tangentially concerned with pan-North American issues. However, being based on largely American research, it does not clearly define the geographic extent of megaregions where they extend into Canada, a responsibility that has largely been left to Canadian geographers defining the megalopolis within their own country. The American report excludes Canadian population centres that are not deemed to be closely adjacent to US megaregions. It includes most of Southern Ontario in the Great Lakes Megaregion but excludes the St. Lawrence Valley, despite the fact that Canadian geographers usually include them as part of one larger Quebec City-Windsor Corridor.

The close relationship between large linked metropolitan regions and a nation's ability to compete in the global economy is recognized in Europe and Asia. Each has aggressively pursued strategies to manage projected population growth and strengthen economic prosperity in its large regions.

The European Spatial Development Perspective, a set of policies and strategies adopted by the European Union in 1999, is working to integrate the economies of the member regions, reduce economic disparities, and increase economic competitiveness (Faludi 2002; Deas and Lord 2006).

In East Asia, comprehensive strategic planning for large regions, centered on metropolitan areas, has become increasingly common and has progressed further than in the United States or Europe. Planning for the Hong Kong-Pearl River Delta region, for instance, aims to enhance the region's economic strength and competitiveness by overcoming local fragmentation, building on global economic cooperation, taking advantage of mutually beneficial economic factors, increasing connectivity among development nodes, and pursuing other strategic directions.[8]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Megaregions". America2050. USA: Regional Plan Association. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Who's Your City?: What Is a Megaregion?". March 19, 2008. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
  3. 1 2 Cities: Capital for the New Megalopolis.Time magazine, November 4, 1966. Retrieved on July 19, 2010.
  4. ↑ "About Us - America 2050". America2050. USA: Regional Plan Association. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
  5. ↑ http://www.mi.vt.edu/uploads/megacensusreport.pdf "Beyond Megalopolis" by the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech
  6. ↑ http://www.des.ucdavis.edu/faculty/handy/ESP171/Readings2/Megapolitans.pdf The Rise of the Megapolitans (January 2007) by Robert E. Lang and Arthur C. Nelson. Retrieved on January 7, 2013.
  7. 1 2 Regional Plan Association (2006). America 2050: A Prospectus. New York, NY: Regional Plan Association.
  8. 1 2 3 Dewar, Margaret and David Epstein (2006). "Planning for 'Megaregions' in the United States." Ann Arbor, MI: Urban and Regional Planning Program, University of Michigan.
  9. ↑ Hagler, Yoav (2009). "Defining U.S. Megaregions." New York, NY: Regional Plan Association.
    Kron, Josh (30 November 2012). "Red State, Blue City: How the Urban-Rural Divide Is Splitting America". The Atlantic. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  10. ↑ Carl Abbott (2015). "Cascadian Dreams: Imagining a Region Over Four Decades". Imagined Frontiers: Contemporary America and Beyond. University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 111–139. ISBN 978-0-8061-5240-0.
  11. ↑ Jerry Weitz (2014). "Employment Changes in the Spine of the Carolina Megapolitan Area: Implications for Megaregion Planning". Southeastern Geographer. 54 (3): 215–232. ISSN 1549-6929.
  12. 1 2 Hagler, Yoav (2009). "Defining U.S. Megaregions." New York, NY: Regional Plan Association.
  13. ↑ "Megapolitan: Arizona's Sun Corridor". Morrison Institute for Public Policy. May 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
  14. ↑ "When Phoenix, Tucson Merge". The Arizona Republic. 2006-04-09. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
  15. ↑ "Our Maps". America2050. USA: Regional Plan Association. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
  16. 1 2 Gottman, Jean (1961). Megalopolis: The Urbanized Northeastern Seaboard of the United States. New York: Twentieth Century Fund.

Further reading

External links

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