Great Lakes Megalopolis
| Great Lakes Megaregion | |
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| — Megaregion of the U.S. and Canada — | |
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| Country |  United States , Canada |
| Population | 54 million |
The Great Lakes Megalopolis consists of the group of North American metropolitan areas which surround the Great Lakes region mainly within the Midwestern United States, the Southern Ontario area of Canada, along with large parts of Pennsylvania, New York, and Quebec. The region extends from the Milwaukee–Chicago corridor to the Detroit–Toronto corridor, and includes Buffalo, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Erie, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Louisville, Ottawa, Rochester, and Toledo, reaching as far as Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Kansas City. The region had an estimated population of 54 million for the 2000 Census and is projected to reach about 65 million by 2025. As of 2012, the largest city is Chicago while the fastest growing city is Toronto.[1][2]
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[edit] History of the concept
The region was partially outlined as an emergent megalopolis in the 1961 book Megalopolis: The Urbanized Northeastern Seaboard of the United States by French geographer Jean Gottmann. Gottmann envisaged the development of megalopolises in the U.S.: BosWash, from Boston to Washington, D.C., Chipitts from Chicago to Pittsburgh, and SanSan, from San Francisco to San Diego. In 1965, Herman Kahn speculated about the future of the three megalopolises in the year 2000,[3] referring to their names as "half-frivolous" and not mentioning Gottman. In the 1960s and 1970s, urban planner and architect Constantinos Doxiadis authored books, studies, and reports including those regarding the growth potential of the Great Lakes Megalopolis.[4] Doxiadis envisioned Detroit as the central urban area in the Great Lakes Megalopolis.[4]
The Virginia Tech Metropolitan Institute's Beyond Megalopolis, an attempt to update Gottmann's work, outlined a similar "Midwest" megapolitan area as one of ten such areas in the United States.[5] Over 200 million tons of cargo are shipped annually through the Great Lakes.[6][7][8] Half the nation's population growth and two-thirds of its economic growth is expected to occur within the megaregions over the next four decades. America 2050 project has identified eleven Megaregions of the United States, including the Great Lakes Megalopolis.[1][A]
[edit] Economy
As a separate economy, the Great Lakes region, which includes most of the area urban planners have called the Great Lakes Megalopolis, is one of the world's largest economies. The Great Lakes contain one-fifth of the world's surface fresh water and have a combined shoreline of 10,210 miles (17,017 km). About 200 million tons of cargo are shipped by way of the Great Lakes each year.[9][10][11]
Tourism is an important economic factor in and around the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Cruising Coalition supports passenger ship cruises through a joint U.S-Canadian venture to Great Lakes Ports and the Saint Lawrence Seaway.[12]
[edit] Population centers
| Rank | Area | State/ Province |
Image | CSA/CMA 2009 population |
Projected[13][14][15] 2025 population |
Projected increase 2009-2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chicago | IL-IN-WI |  |
9,804,845 | 10,935,100 | 1,130,255 |
| 2 | Toronto | ON |  |
5,741,400 | 7,408,000 | 1,666,600 |
| 3 | Detroit | MI |  |
5,327,764 | 6,191,000 | 863,236 |
| 4 | Montreal | QC |  |
3,859,300 | 4,246,931 | 387,631 |
| 5 | Minneapolis – Saint Paul | MN-WI |  |
3,604,460 | 4,031,000 | 426,540 |
| 6 | St. Louis | MO-IL |  |
2,892,874 | 3,049,000 | 156,126 |
| 7 | Cleveland | OH |  |
2,891,988 | 3,172,000 | 280,012 |
| 8 | Pittsburgh | PA |  |
2,445,117 | 2,868,818 | 367,299 |
| 9 | Cincinnati | OH-KY-IN |  |
2,214,954 | 2,448,000 | 233,046 |
| 10 | Indianapolis | IN |  |
2,064,870 | 2,406,000 | 341,130 |
| 11 | Columbus | OH |  |
2,031,229 | 2,446,450 | 415,221 |
| 12 | Milwaukee | WI |  |
1,760,268 | 1,913,000 | 157,732 |
| 13 | Ottawa – Gatineau | ON-QC |  |
1,451,415 | 1,596,556 | 145,141 |
| 14 | Louisville | KY-IN |  |
1,395,634 | 1,602,456 | 206,822 |
| 15 | Grand Rapids | MI |  |
1,327,366 | 1,530,000 | 202,634 |
| 16 | Buffalo | NY |  |
1,203,493 | 1,040,400 | -163,093 |
| 17 | Rochester | NY |  |
1,149,653 | 1,078,600 | -71,053 |
| 18 | Dayton | OH |  |
1,066,261 | 1,066,261 | 0 |
| 19 | Hamilton | ON |  |
740,200 | 954,858 | 214,658 |
| 20 | Toledo | OH-MI |  |
672,220 | 672,220 | 0 |
| 21 | Madison | WI |  |
628,947 | 820,483 | 191,563 |
| 22 | Lansing | MI |  |
523,609 | 547,325 | 23,716 |
| 23 | Kitchener – Waterloo | ON |  |
492,400 | 635,196 | 142,796 |
| 24 | London | ON |  |
492,200 | 634,938 | 142,738 |
| 25 | Fort Wayne | IN |  |
414,315 | 414,315 | 0 |
| 26 | St. Catharines – Niagara | ON |  |
404,400 | 521,676 | 117,276 |
| 27 | Davenport-Rock Island-Moline | IA-IL |  |
379,690 | 405,892 | 26,202 |
| 28 | Rockford | IL |  |
353,722 | 499,400 | 145,678 |
| 29 | Windsor | ON |  |
330,900 | 426,861 | 95,961 |
| Total CSA/CMA of major metro areas | US-Canada |  |
59 ,144 ,461 | 65 ,316, 269 | 6 ,171, 808 |
[edit] Notes
- A. ^ a Various sources include Montreal and Ottawa in the megalopolis, while excluding Minneapolis–Saint Paul, St. Louis, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Louisville, and Columbus.[16]
[edit] Gallery
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Saint Paul
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Fox Cities
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Duluth
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Rochester (MN)
[edit] See also
- Great Lakes
- Metropolitan Statistical Area
- Conurbation
- Megalopolis (city type)
- Megaregions of the United States
- Quebec City – Windsor Corridor
[edit] References
- ^ a b America 2050: Megaregions: Great Lakes. Regional Plan Association.
- ^ Regional Plan Association (2008). America 2050: An Infrastructure Vision for 21st Century America. New York, NY: Regional Plan Association.
- ^ Bell, Daniel; Stephen Richards Graubard (1997). Toward the year 2000: work in progress. MIT Press. p. 87. ISBN 0262522373.
- ^ a b Cities: Capital for the New Megalopolis.Time magazine, November 4, 1966. Retrieved on July 16, 2010.
- ^ MegaCensusReport.indd
- ^ "About Our Great Lakes -Great Lakes Basin Facts- NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab (GLERL)". Glerl.noaa.gov. http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pr/ourlakes/facts.html. Retrieved 2012-04-19.
- ^ "Economy of the Great Lakes Region". Great-lakes.net. 2012-04-13. http://www.great-lakes.net/econ/. Retrieved 2012-04-19.
- ^ U.S Army Corps of Engineers (January 2009).Great Lakes Navigation System: Economic Strength to the Nation. Retrieved on April 11, 2011.
- ^ Our lakes facts. NOAA. Retrieved July 25, 2011.
- ^ "Economy of the Great Lakes Region". Great-lakes.net. 2012-04-13. http://www.great-lakes.net/econ/. Retrieved 2012-04-19.
- ^ U.S Army Corps of Engineers (January 2009).Great Lakes Navigation System: Economic Strength to the Nation. Retrieved on July 25, 2011.
- ^ Great Lakes Cruising Coalition Retrieved on July 25, 2011.
- ^ Federation for American Immigration Reform
- ^ Ontario Population Projections Update
- ^ Institut de la statistique Quebec
- ^ Example: The Center for Urban and Regional Studies, Youngstown State University (2005). Great Lakes Megalopolis (Map). http://cfweb.cc.ysu.edu/psi/bralich_map/great_lakes_region/great_lakes_megalopolis.pdf.
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