Megalopolis:
Your Mental
Image?
What is Megalopolis?
• Historical background
– Initially coined by French Geographer, Jean
Gottmann in 1961
– The large population agglomeration which
extended from Boston to Washington
• Traditionally BosNyWash, but now incorporates
Philadelphia and Baltimore too!
• Today: any agglomeration of coalescing
super cities
Megalopolis
Physical Geography
• Three physiographic regions
– Atlantic Coastal Plain
– Piedmont
– Appalachians
• Traversed by numerous rivers
• Temperate (C) and Continental (D)
climates
• Occasional hurricanes
• SNOW!
Physical Geography
• Coastal location
• Numerous estuaries
• Soils are variable (3 distinct categories)
– Baltimore to the Philadelphia area
– New York City's surrounding area
– Boston vicinity
• Relatively flat or gently rolling terrain
• Fall line provided early water power
Fall Line Cities
• Situated along
boarder
between
Piedmont and
Atlantic coastal
plain
• Where river
rapids and falls
occur
• Examples…
Relative Location
• To Europe, for trade and immigration
• Good routes to interior
• Along the Europe-Caribbean-South American
trade route
• Good accessibility resources
– Good harbors
– Routes to interior (natural & man-made)
– Great stop off/service point for others conducting
trade
Historical Settlement
• Mainly
Europeans
• Many Native
Americans
• The Dutch
• William Penn
William Penn’s Map of Philadelphia, PA
Largest US cities, 1790
Establishing
a
Megalopolis
Population increase due to immigration
Ellis Island
Statue of Liberty, from Ellis Island
Urban Land-Use Change
Megalopolis Today
• Urbanness - the dominant theme
• Comprised of 10 major metropolitan areas of
over one million people and numerous smaller
cities
• 17.5% of the total U.S. population
• 1.5% of the total land area
• 17% of all U.S. export trade passes through its
six major ports
• A region of international significance
Key Ideas Related to
Megalopolis
• Metropolitan Coalescence
• Conurbation
• Central Business District
(CBD)
• Urban Sprawl
• Gentrification
Baltimore Harbor
Washington, D.C.
L’Enfant’s Plan for US Capitol
Urban Landscapes
Major Components
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Spatial Interaction
Functional Complexity
Public Services
Accessibility
Intensity of Change
Major
Components
• Spatial Interaction
– People, via
sidewalks, parking
lots, subways
– Information, via
communication lines,
wires, terminals
– Utilities, including
sewage, water,
electricity, and gas
Major
Components
• Functional Complexity
–
–
–
–
Residential
Industrial
Commercial
Recreational
Major Components
• Public Services
– Provide water,
sewage,
garbage pickup, police
protection, fire
protection,
public schools,
road works,
health care,
and etc.
Major Components
• Accessibility
– Created and maintained to ensure access to the core
from the periphery and along periphery
– Accomplished via bypasses, beltloops, parkways, and
limited access expressways
Major Components
• Intensity of Change
– The dynamic nature of the urban landscape
– “Nothing seems permanent”
• Economic ventures
• Shifts in transportation networks
• Developments and declines in residential areas
Where’s Megalopolis?
1990
2000
Readings & Discussion
• Reading: Heterolocalism
• Reading: Revitalization of Atlantic City
• Reading: Denevan, William M. 1992. “The
Pristine Myth: The Landscape of the American in
1492,” Annals of the Association of American
Geographers 82: 369–385.
– Disputes the common thought that Native Americans
did not adversely affect the landscape before
Columbus’ arrival.
Why did Megalopolis emerge very early as the
political-economic core of North America?
How does Gentrification affect a city?
Related Book
• Domosh, Mona. 1996. Invented Cities:
The Creation of Landscape in NineteenthCentury New York and Boston. New
Haven: Yale University Press.
– A good read. Just what the title says.
WebSources
• Digital Atlas of Megalopolis
http://www.umbc.edu/ges/student_projects/digital_atlas/credits.htm
• Boswash: The Metropolitan Area from Boston to
Washington, D.C.
http://geography.about.com/cs/urbansprawl/a/megalopolis.htm
• Ellis Island in New York City (searching for your family roots?)
http://www.ellisisland.org/
• An Outline of American Geography: Megalopolis
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/geography/geog04.htm
• Climate in Megalopolis: Insights from Northeast
Snowstorms
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0832515.html