Megapolitan Areas: America’s New Metropolis

April 13, 2006

Robert Lang, Arthur C. Nelson & Paul Knox Virginia Tech, Alexandria, VA

John S. HallArizona State University, Tempe, AZ

What’s in This Talk? Review of Virginia Tech’s Megapolitan Area

Geography An Analysis of Virginia Tech’s Metropolitan

Hierarchy Evolving Metropolitan Form and Urban Realm

Theory Close Up Look at the Arizona Sun Corridor’s

Ten Urban Realms Virginia Tech’s Current Megapolitan Research

Megapolitans in The NewsUSA Today July 2005

Megapolitans in The NewsBusiness 2.0 November 2005

Business 2.0 November 2005Megapolitan Area Centerfold

Virginia Tech’s 2005 Megapolitan Geography

James Pickard’s 1970 “Urban Regions” Map

Pickard’s 2000

PopulationEstimates

Pickard’s 1970 Urban Region Criteria

At least 1 Million People Live in an Urban Region

Urban Region’s Maintained Three Times the Population Density of the 1970 US Average Density

The Units are Minor Civil Divisions, Which Allows for Sub-County Analysis

Virginia Tech’sMegapolitan Models

Original 2005 Megapolitan Model Identifies Contiguous Metro and Micropolitan Areas that are Linked By Business Connectivity, Transportation, and Environment

New 2006 Model Works on a Modified Version on Census Methods that Track Commuting. It is Very Close to the Census’s Combined Statistical Area Criteria. The Model Supplements the 2005 Geography

Virginia Tech’s 2006 Metropolitan Hierarchy

Types Description Examples

Metropolitan Current definition of the Census Bureau Pittsburgh, Boise

Metroplex Two or more metropolitan areas that share overlapping suburbs but the main principal cities do not touch

Dallas/Ft. Worth, Washington/ Baltimore

Macropolitan Two or more metropolitan areas with anchor principal cities between 75 and 150 miles apart that form an extended linear urban area along an Interstate

Arizona Sun Corridor (Phoenix/Tucson),SanSac (San Francisco/Sacramento)

Megapolitan Three or more metropolitan areas with anchor principal cities over 150 miles apart that form an urban web over a broad area that is laced with Interstates

Piedmont, Great Lakes Crescent

Megaplex Two megapolitan areas that are proximate and occupy common cultural and physical environments and maintain dense business linkages

Megalopolis and Great Lakes Crescent, Sun Corridor and SoCal

Virginia Tech’s New Metropolitan Geography

Produces 20-25 Macropolitan Areas, Most of Which Will Be Sub Units of the Original 2005 Megapolitan Areas

The New Macropolitan Areas Will be More Methodologically Defensible and Can Easily Be Adopted by the US Census Bureau

The New Population Threshold to Qualify as a Megapolitan Area will Be 5 Million

People by 2040.

Possible Census-Defined CSAs/Macropolitans by 2010

Phoenix-Tucson (also Prescott) Los Angeles-San Diego San Francisco-Sacramento Washington-Baltimore-Richmond Tampa-Orlando New Orleans-Baton Rouge San Antonio-Austin Chicago-Milwaukee

Preliminary Stretch Commuting Map

20th CenturyMetropolitan Form

21st CenturyMacropolitan Form

VirginiaDominion Corridor

SoCal Urban Realms

ArizonaSun

Corridor

Sun CorridorTypes of Urban Realms

Types Description Realms

Urban Core Original core of metropolitan development. Cores are dense and often built out.

Central ValleyTucson Valley

Favored Quarter

The most affluent realm containing upscale housing, retail, and office space.

Northeast ValleyFoothills

Maturing Suburbs

Rapidly developing suburbs with mature older sections and booming edges.

East Valley West Valley

Emerging Exurbs

The most scattered and detached urban development in the region. Exurbs contain the most affordable housing.

Mid CorridorNorthwest ValleySanta Cruz ValleySan Pedro Valley

Virginia Tech’s Current Megapolitan Research

Article Linking Megapolitan Areas to the New Metropolis for Regional Studies

Lincoln Fellowship to Look at Macropolitan Areas

Megapolitan Book, Includes Projection Data—Even all Housing Types to 2040

Joint Virginia Tech-Arizona State University Report on the Arizona Sun Corridor

Megapolitan Housing of the West

www.mi.vt.edu

From the Brookings Press