Urbanism in America

I have to admit, real estate and economic development are my passions and why I’ve centered my career and now my business around these disciplines.  I believe in ‘Urbanism’, the energy, clusters of ideas, people, and the dynamism of urban cores.

I believe that urban centers such as Chicago, New York, Tokyo, and London are models of what all cities aspire to be and I think urban areas will only continue to grow.
Pick up any newspaper in any metro area in the country and there is a real estate section that touts the benefits of living in that particular urban center.  Urbanites love their cities.
 
All of the business journals and white papers agree; competition for talent and skilled labor is going to be one of the major drivers of business in the coming decades.  Where do people want to live?  Everything I’ve read lately indicates that the popularity of major urban centers has not diminished.  They still attract people by the throngs and the type of people that companies want to hire…creative and talented. 

I read an article by Haya El Nasser in USA Today, ‘Population Boom Spawns Super Cities’.  In his article, El Nasser writes that census experts predict the US population will grow by 125 million inhabitants by 2050.  The increase in population, combined with current development patterns indicate that more people will settle around metropolitan areas, along interstate highways, and near major airports.  Giant urban areas are being formed.  They'll form giant urban areas linked by common- culture, economy, geography and ecology.

El Nasser uses the example of Ardmore, Oklahoma, which is using the following statement in their promotional materials and on their website, “Dallas is coming our way”.
He goes on to say, “Because in a nation where the population is booming, development is sprawling and the economy is globalizing, the most distant places are becoming the closest of neighbors.”
Big cities are bumping into small towns, stretching into rural areas, gobbling up farmland and merging into big urban blobs: megapolitan areas.

Ten megapolitan areas have more than 10 million residents or will have that many by 2040, according to a new study by Virginia Tech. They extend into 35 states and include parts of every state east of the Mississippi River except Vermont. They incorporate less than a fifth of the land area in the continental USA but house more than two-thirds of the population. Four states are completely megapolitan: Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's Department of City and Regional Planning predict that by 2050, more than 300 million people, about 70% of the population, will live in eight "super city" regions that today have about 175 million people.

The Boston-New York-Washington, D.C., corridor in the congested Northeast has been recognized as an unofficial megalopolis since the 1960s. But the interstate highway system, air travel and population growth are creating connections in less dense but fast-growing parts of the country.
Dallas may be 100 miles away from Ardmore and across the state line, but it is inextricably connected to this old ranching and oil town and hundreds of other communities along Interstate 35 from San Antonio to Kansas City.

Michelin, Circuit City, Dot Foods, Dollar General and Best Buy are setting up plants and large distribution centers here because of cheap land (off I-35), a prime location for shipment of goods because it's on a prime route from Mexico to Canada. They're here also because of easy access to the Dallas metropolitan area and its international airport to the south and Oklahoma City to the north. But they could have settled just as easily in the next town over.

"Nobody knows where Ardmore is," says Wes Stucky, president and CEO of the local chamber and Ardmore Development Authority.

But they know Dallas, Oklahoma City and I-35, and they're all part of one megapolitan area.”
It was a very interesting article and I’m sure you’ve figured out why I find it so interesting and relevant to what we do in the economic development and real estate professions.  Megapolitans will help reshape the sales propositions for many economic development groups.  Your town or city may be isolated on a highway between Indianapolis and Louisville, but you may find that the fact that you’re an intersection for several major urban hubs is your new selling point –your town may be an integral part of your region’s megapolitan.   

As I’ve driven through some of the smaller Northeastern cities such as Poughkeepsie, New York and Hartford, Connecticut, I’ve always thought, “Wow, these cities are perfectly located, close to New York and Boston.”  They definitely are; their industries and the mix of the sectors calling these cities home, feed directly into the larger markets of Boston and New York; financial services, insurance, etc. 

One last interesting piece of information to leave you with; El Nasser also lists a group of metro areas he calls “Monster Areas” in his article.  One of them is the “1-35 Corridor”, which includes Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Dallas, and San Antonio.  Research indicates that this megapolitan will have a population of 15.3 million and will be known as a high-tech hub.

Here is a link to his article…it’s definitely worth a read.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-07-10-megacities_x.htm

More to come on Urbanism.....stay tuned!
DB