Welcome to the Megalopolis

[annienormanna]

Sometimes people have limited view of the greater world because they place predisposition before thought. The Megalopolis in the United States would compare to any single European state economy. It's culture is emerging in the 21st Century. As such, this ongoing and expanding World Wealth Center needs to be understood. Please read.

usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/geography/geog04.htm

[nockwasright]

Mmmh. It all depends on where you arbitrarily put the barrier and decide "this is a system I call megalopolis".

Probably under the article's standards I could start from Florence and end in Hamburg and call all in between megalopolis. A map of human density proves my point:

[ftp]http://www.ciesin.org/datasets/gpw/gppycpd-12in.gif[/ftp]

I think the concept of city, to have a reason d'etre, must be tied to a "centre" where in the end all the citizens tend converge. This is why it's absurd to call New York a "city" as if people living in Queens would ever go to Manhattan to whatch a movie.

In other words, I fail to understand the usefulness of this megalopolis idea.

[annienormanna]

nockwasright said:

Mmmh. It all depends on where you arbitrarily put the barrier and decide "this is a system I call megalopolis".



Probably under the article's standards I could start from Florence and end in Hamburg and call all in between megalopolis. A map of human density proves my point:

[ftp]http://www.ciesin.org/datasets/gpw/gppycpd-12in.gif[/ftp]

I think the concept of city, to have a reason d'etre, must be tied to a "centre" where in the end all the citizens tend converge. This is why it's absurd to call New York a "city" as if people living in Queens would ever go to Manhattan to whatch a movie.

In other words, I fail to understand the usefulness of this megalopolis idea.

It's the wealthiest single area in the world. It formed through the "old" Eastern cities as immigration poured through Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Providence, and Boston through the 20th century. It is the home to European pharma , American pharma, military conglomerates, even the supermarket I go to is owned by some German corporation. Internation Banking and Finance. It follows a land, sea, air corridor that is no more than fifty miles wide (excluding Long Island)stretching some five hundred miles along the East Coast of the US, yet accounts for economic generation as measured by the use of aircraft, to from and within it:

flightaware.com/live/

See the time lapse imaging. This is an not arbitrary line at all but a World Area. More languages are spoken in this region than anywhere else in the world. It's not just New York because that would neglect assimilation processes that are working at all times within The Corridor. It is a geopolitical, economic behemoth.

Though there are variations in culture among the people living within Megalopolis, the sum of it shows a unique American development with definite socio-cultural features unlike anywhere else in the world. It's not some random event that you can duplicate on an EU map. It's not the same at all.

Here's an easy to read quick guide:

geography.about.com/cs/urbansprawl/a/megalopolis.htm