With an expected population of 400 million by 2040, America is morphing into an economic system composed of twenty-three »megapolitan » areas that will dominate the nation’s economy by midcentury. These »megapolitan » areas are networks of metropolitan areas sharing common economic, landscape, social, and cultural characteristics.
The rise of »megapolitan » areas will change how America plans. For instance, in an area comparable in size to France and the low countries of the Netherlands and Belgium – considered among the world »s most densely settled – America »s »megapolitan » areas are already home to more than two and a half times as many people. Indeed, with only eighteen percent of the contiguous forty-eight states’ land base, America »s megapolitan areas are more densely settled than Europe as a whole or the United Kingdom.
Megapolitan America goes into spectacular demographic, economic, and social detail in mapping the dramatic – and surprisingly optimistic – shifts ahead. It will be required reading for those interested in America’s future.