Jean Gottman in 1961 coined the term megalopolis (Megalopolis, the Urbanized Northeastern Seaboard of the Unites States) to describe the massive concentration of population extending from the core of New York north beyond Boston and south encompassing Washington DC. It has been widely studied and mapped, including by me. (Morrill, 2006, Classic Map Revisited, Professional Geographer). The concept has also been extended to describe and compare many other large conurbations around the world.
Maybe it’s time to see how the original has fared? And what has happened to other metropolitan complexes in the US, most notably Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and should we say Florida?
Table 1 summarizes the population of Megalopolis from 1950 to 2010 and Table 2 compares Megalopolis with other US mega-urban complexes. Megalopolis grew fastest in the 1950s and 1960s, with growth rates of 20 and 18.5 percent. The northeast has since been outpaced by the growth in other regions, but growth was still substantial in the last decade. Megalopolis added almost 3 million people, by 6.8 %, to reach an amazing 45.2 million.
| Table 1: Growth of Megalopolis 1950-2010 | ||||
| Year | Population | Change | % Change | |
| 2010 | 45,357 | 2,983 | 7 | |
| 2000 | 42,374 | 5,794 | 15.8 | |
| 1990 | 36,580 | 2,215 | 6.4 | |
| 1980 | 34,365 | 360 | 1.2 | |
| 1970 | 34,005 | 5,436 | 18.5 | |
| 1960 | 29,441 | 4,910 | 20 | |
| 1950 | 24,534 | |||
From Table 2 I note four major subregions of Megalopolis: Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, DC. New York is still the biggest player, but the locus of growth over time has shifted South. This reflects the increasing world importance of Washington, DC. New York’s almost 20 million may not surprise, but the fact that greater Boston has grown to almost 9.5 million may be more surprising. The Washington-Baltimore area grew by far the fastest at almost 15 percent (not much sign of shrinkage of government!). In contrast New York, Boston and Philadelphia’s growth was relatively paltry.
| Table 2: Megalopolis and Its Rivals | |||||
| Place |
2010 Pop
|
2000 Pop
|
Change
|
% change
|
|
| Megalopolis | |||||
| New York | 19,923 | 19,209 | 717 | 3.7 | |
| Boston | 9,445 | 8,967 | 478 | 5.3 | |
| Philadelphia | 8,415 | 76,781 | 773 | 9.5 | |
| Baltimore-Washingt | 7,403 | 7,681 | 960 | 14.9 | |
| All | 45,181 | 42,302 | 2,888 | 6.8 | |
| Chicago | 10,817 | 10,305 | 512 | 5 | |
| Los Angeles | 12,151 | 11,789 | 362 | 3.1 | |
| Central | 903 | 857 | 46 | 5.4 | |
| North | 928 | 634 | 294 | 46 | |
| East | 2,884 | 2,105 | 475 | 37 | |
| South | 3,543 | 3,210 | 337 | 10.4 | |
| All Los Angeles | 20,404 | 18,599 | 1,810 | 9.8 | |
| San Francisco-Sacramento | |||||
| San Francisco | 7,330 | 6,946 | 384 | 5.5 | |
| Sacramento | 3,171 | 2,604 | 572 | 22 | |
| All San Francisco-Sacramento | 10,501 | 9,550 | 951 | 10 | |
| Florida | |||||
| Miami | 6,027 | 5,311 | 716 | 13.5 | |
| Tampa | 4,818 | 3,894 | 974 | 25.3 | |
| Orlando | 2,915 | 2,193 | 722 | 33 | |
| Jacksonville | 1,483 | 1,191 | 2,242 | 24.5 | |
| All Florida | 15,243 | 12,544 | 2,699 | 21.5 | |
Greater Los Angeles is the second largest conurbation, with some 20.4 million, growing by 1.8 million, and 10 percent from 2000. In the table I distinguish between the core Los Angeles urbanized area and the satellite urbanized areas west, north, south and east. The core LA area grew by only 3 percent, while the spillover areas to the north and east had astonishing growth, at 46 and 37 percent over the decade. These include several places with a fairly long history, such as Riverside and San Bernardino, San Diego and Santa Barbara, but many are rapidly growing large suburbs and exurbs, a spillover of growth from the Los Angeles core. Much of the fastest growth has been in Mission Viejo, Murietta-Temecula, Indio, Lancaster, Santa Clarita and Thousand Oaks.
For greater San Francisco, I distinguish two subregions, the Bay area of San Francisco-San Jose (west) and Sacramento (central valley). Some might consider these totally distinct, but they have become one in a conurbation sense, as evidenced by commuting patterns. Many people live in the less costly Central Valley area but commute to the expensive Bay Area cities. Together, the conurbation is now 10.5 million, up 10 percent from 2000. The central valley (Sacramento) portion grew far more rapidly than San Francisco-San Jose (22 percent compared to 5.5 percent).
Compared to its rivals the Chicago conurbation has grown less rapidly but is still large, with a population of 10.8 million in 2010 , growing 512,000 (5 percent) since 2000. Chicago and Milwaukee are the well-known core cities, but there are also less well known components with far faster growth such as Round Lake-McHenry and West Bend, WI.
Florida
The more interesting and difficult conurbation to try to define is what might be called the Florida archipelago. Greater Miami has long been recognized as a conurbation, but I contend that virtually all the urbanized areas of the state are in effect a complex web of urban settlement, with little clear demarcation. This is in part a reflection of rapid and expansive growth. Nevertheless it makes sense to recognize four sub-regions, centered on Miami, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Orlando and Jacksonville.
Together these areas have reached an astonishing 15.2 million, up 2.7 million or 21.5 percent in one decade. Because settlement is spread across the state in such a web-like fashion with no single dominant center, they constitute a newish form of urban concentration. Besides the well-known centers such as Miami, Tampa-St. Petersburg ), Orlando and Jacksonville, there are many satellite cities, often quite large. These include North Port, Cape Coral encompassing older Ft. Meyers, Bonita Springs, Kissimmee, Palm Bay-Melbourne, Palm Coast-Daytona, and Port St. Lucie. An interesting but hard to answer question is how much of Florida’s phenomenal growth is a result of transfer of people and accumulated wealth from the North (and especially from the original Megalopolis).
The United States is a large and diverse country, with many other giant cities and a vast countryside. But it is important to realize the importance of these megalopolitan areas, with an aggregate population of 102.6 million, one third of the nation’s population.
What’s next? Look for the rise of now just somewhat smaller conurbations such as Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Seattle, Phoenix, and Denver. In terms of numbers and rates of growth Texas is a front runner, but its stars do not coalesce into a megalopolis, at least not yet. The belt of urban growth from Atlanta, through Greenville, SC, Charlotte to Raleigh-Durham is also a likely future conurbation candidate.
Richard Morrill is Professor Emeritus of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Washington. His research interests include: political geography (voting behavior, redistricting, local governance), population/demography/settlement/migration, urban geography and planning, urban transportation (i.e., old fashioned generalist).
Comments
44 responses to “Megalopolis and its Rivals”
Very interesting article.
I think there are some mistakes in the table 2 data set (Philadelphia 2000 population; and Baltimore population shown as shrinking—either that large growth rate may not be correct or the data inputs are a typo.)
Data nitpicking aside, I am curious as to explanation for tiny growth in the decade of the 70s. Was it mainly the economy or was it people leaving NY in that decade due to crime, taxes, City bankruptcy, etc.?
On this point, I recommend Ed Glaeser’s “Triumph of the City”. New York was affected by the same syndrome as Detroit and the rest of the rust belt; New York got a reincarnated economy based on a Wall Street renaissance.
What Glaeser is silent about, is the implications for New York if policies are introduced to reverse the decades-long trend for “finance” to capture a larger and larger share of profits made in the economy. Finance really should be “handmaiden of industry”.
The profits made by the finance sector are spatially concentrated to the benefit of a few “global cities”. Most of the non-finance parts of those cities economies depend on “trickle down” of money from the finance sector’s workers. The British Govt has been the strongest opponent of “Tobin taxes” because they understand what Tobin taxes would do to the economy of London.
One of the biggest ironies today, is that many of the same political activists want to smash Wall Street, but they love NYC’s mass transit system – which would not have been sustainable in its current form if NY had gone the way of industrialised Old America and Wall Street had not rescued it.
Megalopolis is the largest city of Greek. It has an extensive metropolitan area or a long chain of a huge urban area, which is known by the name of megalopolis.
How to get rid of genital warts
Thank you very much for that extraordinarily first class editorial!
write my essay saudi-arabia
Richard,
I swear I am not trying to be difficult here, but are you going to correct your data? I think your article makes some good points and I just want to make sure the data supports your conclusions. I especially agree that Portland / Seattle /Vancouver, CN “Cascadia” region where you reside is going to rise significantly in the manner that you describe.
Megalopolis is that chain , which define as a chain of roughly adjacent metropolitan areas. It define the area from Boston to Washington as one huge urban area.
gerber life
Hey, was Megalopolis was used to known as Jean Gottman in earlier times?
Regards,
Christian Erroi
Substantially, the article is really the sweetest on this deserving topic. I agree with your conclusions and will thirstily look forward to your incoming updates. Saying thanks will not just be sufficient, for the phenomenal clarity in your writing. I will at once grab your rss feed to stay informed of any updates. Admirable work and much success in your business dealings!
Substantially, the article is really the sweetest on this deserving topic. I agree with your conclusions and will thirstily look forward to your incoming updates. Saying thanks will not just be sufficient, for the phenomenal clarity in your writing. I will at once grab your rss feed to stay informed of any updates. Admirable work and much success in your business dealings!
sandy
The information is very well presented in the graphs and i always love to see the data in these forms as it is easy to understand always.
Regards,
wallets
I like your blog post it contains great information now i want talk about seo Search engine optimization (seo)is the process of improving the visibility of website in search engines through the “seo tips”. In general, people want to know google webmaster higher ranked on the search results page and more frequently a site appears in the search results, the more visitors it will get from the search engine users
Megalopolis is a chain of roughly adjacent metropolitan areas. It defined the area from Boston to Washington as one huge urban area, which is known by the name of Megalopolis.
ao smith water heater
Thanks for taking the time to share this, I feel strongly about it and love reading more on this topic. If possible, as you gain knowledge, would you mind updating your blog with more information? It is extremely helpful for me.
Great blog!!! A++++
sandy
Your article has helped me to understand this subject on a different level like Naturopath Marsfield I would like to appreciate your efforts for exploring this issue. Thank you for your information.
You’ve got it, whatever that means in blogging. Anyway, You’re definitely someone that has something to say that people should hear. Keep up the wonderful job. Keep on inspiring the people!
strategy games
We are living in a world surrounded by numerous things that are either related to the technology, the latest gadgets or the latest fashion. And Fashion today has made its significance felt in almost all sectors of life. Joules coats
Well, you have tried describing the demography of US in a simple and straightforward manner. However, it is hard to calculate the exact population of an area, because we need to have the cooperation of common people.
Regards,
maid service cincinnati
Now in every country population is increasing very fast. In America also every city is now overcrowded. The main one people talk about in the U.S. is the urban area along the eastern seaboard, which extends from New Hampshire into Virginia.
Regards,
Now in every country population is increasing very fast. In America also every city is now overcrowded. The main one people talk about in the U.S. is the urban area along the eastern seaboard, which extends from New Hampshire into Virginia.
A Lawyer Talks
I am requiring myself to read articles more often and your writing just caught my interest.Thank you ! Understand that a person can not just look at the moment the issue, but to a lot of observation to see him doing things from many, many angles.
There are several megalopolises in the U.S. that includes 2/3 of the population. Some statistics shows there is a megalopolis from San Francisco to San Diego and some claims there is a north Texas is a megalopolis.Oriental Outcall
There has been no significant change in the basic metropolitan area “concept” since its. The population of this megalopolis is around 82.9 million. Some projections assume that by 2030 up to 1 billion people will live in China’s urban areas.
Regards,
Accent Blinds & Shades
A megalopolis is what you get when a bunch of cities that used to be separate, all expand so far that they encroach on each other to such an extent that they become one city. It’s like a conurbation, but bigger.
Regards,
Janine Zargar
Chicago and Milwaukee are the well-known core cities, but there are also less well known components with far faster growth such as Round Lake-McHenry and West Bend, WI. cell phone listening
Megalopolis is the name of the city, which is situated in Greek. It defines the culture of the city, which is under the urban area,which extended from Boston and ending in Washington D.C
commercial office cleaning cincinnati
The Washington-Baltimore area grew by far the fastest at almost 15 percent not much sign of shrinkage of government. In contrast New York, Boston and Philadelphia’s growth was relatively paltry. cell phone spy software
fims chemical is one of the most famouse chemical factory in pakistan but i am also intersted in the field of information technolgy so thats way i like youR info FIMS CHEMICAL is my web sit you can contect by this link
fims chemical
So is this true even if there is a parent company involved ? That parent company will still try to find another contract but that could take time and I will not be making any money but technically i am still employed with the parent company.rochesterian
I need to know more about this information “This reflects the increasing world importance of Washington, DC. New York’s almost 20 million may not surprise, but the fact that greater Boston has grown to almost 9.5 million may be more surprising. The Washington-Baltimore area grew by far the fastest at almost 15 percent (not much sign of shrinkage of government!)’..But I must say, you truly helped me a lot with my blog development. I will stay here for a while and read more article. Keep it up…
http://beingapharmacytechnician.com
By looking into this blog I can now able to know all the valuable information or the news about the circuits which I cant get from anywhere. Thanks for sharing all the recent happenings.Thanks.
Meditation retreat
It is excited to present their readership with a new series of articles, Career Profiles that i like to discuss more about this in my blog thanks for sharing.Thanks.
Wellness retreat
It’s always good to learn tips like you share for blog posting. I just started posting comments for blog and facing problem of lots of rejections. I think your suggestion would be helpful for me. I will let you know if its work for me too. Thanks.
custom home builders Vail, Colorado
Resources like the one you mentioned here will be very useful to me! I will post a link to this page on my blog. I am sure my visitors will find that very useful.
Vail snowmobile rentals
Nice information,work is really useful. Thanks to author
drain cleaning, Colorado
This is a great post; it was very informative. I look forward in reading more of your work. Also, I made sure to bookmark your website so I can come back later. I enjoyed every moment of reading it
snowmobiling in summit county
I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon.
running Colorado
Cool post very informative I just found your blog and read through a few posts although this is my first comment, i’ll be including it in my favorites and visit again for sure
http://slickadvice.com/
That is very good comment you shared.Thank you so much that for you shared those things with us.Im wishing you to carry on with ur achivments.All the best.chat
This is a good post. This site is excellent and so is how the subject matter was explained. This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for sharing this great article! That is very interesting Smile I love reading. – visdit this
I really like this website , and hope you will write more ,thanks a lot for your information.dora games
I don’t regret that spent a few of minutes for reading. Write more often, surely’ll come to read something new.
The most comprehensive and very well thought out write up I have found on this subject on the net.baby games
Everyone’s childhood is always associated with her beautiful doll, so cute right? My little girlfriend always play Cat Games when I visit her,especially,before she could reach school age,she like to school Games so much,it is simple and she can learn how to make up to be a school girl!
Want to make your children more beautiful? Just search for thegirls dress up Games,you will find millions and millions of model copies to choose from as many parents or girls would have posted the same to help you out.even winx can help you ,too,those girls wear different clothes letting your child learn.
Sweet little girls are always passionate about Barbie’s,who said that those barbie dress up Games are for youngsters only? These free dress up Games are really addictive, everyone enjoys a good round of taking part in these games.