Megalopolis - Changing Patterns
The most fundamental and far-reaching change in Megalopolis during since 1970 was the great areal expansion of major metropolitan areas. Greater New York extended its population the farthest, but the Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington areas have also grown greatly. New York had both the largest initial population and the most intensive economic concentration, but the other three port cities possessed firm foundations for growth as well.
At the same time, the federal government rapidly expanded its operations. The District of Columbia (Washington and the District of Columbia are coextensive) was no longer large enough to absorb the burgeoning civil service population and the growing number of people needed to feed, clothe, and otherwise serve them. Urban development spilled into the neighboring states of Virginia and Maryland. The spread of urban population far beyond city limits also had a strong impact on rural activities in Megalopolis. As city populations grew, a greater number of people had to be fed by foodstuffs shipped in from rural areas. The tens of millions of people in urban Megalopolis consume agricultural products from across America and beyond. Many of those farming the agricultural land close to the cities, however, chose to specialize in higher-priced foods and in products with high perishability. Dairy products, tomatoes, lettuce, apples, and a variety of other intensively produced "table crops" came to dominate farm production in sections of rural Megalopolis.
Also, as land on the margins of urban areas was approached by dense settlement and intense economic activity, the price of land was driven up. A 60-hectare farm purchased decades ago for $20,000 as agricultural land might eventually be sold to a real estate developer for $1 million. The developer, in turn, might subdivide the land into 250 home lots of 0.2 hectares each and then, after putting in utilities and streets, sell each lot for $25,000, or a total $6.25 million.
Even if a farm family could resist the profitability of such a sale, the taxes on the land rose sharply toward urban levels as nearby areas begin to be used for urban activities. Until land use controls were put in place to keep land in agriculture, the only way for a family to remain in farming was to pursue intensive agricultural production devoted to high-value products.
Urban sprawl and the corresponding shifts in agricultural practices in Megalopolis were pulled along the main lines of interurban access between the major urban nodes. Strong flows of traffic developed early between the cities of Megalopolis. When people who continued to work within the major cities relocated their residences, it was only natural that a high proportion chose sites that allowed them easy access to the main cluster of workplaces. The arterial highways and, to a lesser extent, the interurban railroads and main feeder roads became the seams along which metropolitan populations spread first and farthest. As a consequence, the urbanized areas merged first along these main interurban connections. And the demand for increased accessibility generated the construction of even better interurban movement facilities.
As the populations of the separate urban areas grew, the composition of the populations also changed. Prior to 1910, the cities of Megalopolis absorbed large numbers of immigrants from Europe. These migrants passed through one or another of the large Megalopolitan ports, usually New York. Those who did not continue westward into the farming areas or urban centers of the Midwest and Great Plains settled in dense clusters within Megalopolis's cities, usually forming communities of each nationality.
When the Great War broke out in Europe in 1914, the flow of emigrants stopped, and a new set of migration flows began to filter into Megalopolis. What had been a slow trickle of black migration from southern states began to grow. Black migrants and groups of rural whites from the region repeated the patterns of settlement used by migrant groups from Europe. Most blacks settled within the cities in areas that were already occupied by small black populations.
As the black migration continued through mid-century, population densities increased and generated outward expansion from the original core areas. Often, after many decades of population increase within a city, black densities began to increase in outlying regions of black settlement as well.
Two entirely new aspects of urban change appeared during recent years--a change that may be national in scope but is most dramatic in the largest and oldest cities such as Megalopolis's ports.
First, during the late 1960s, for the first time in U.S. history, people began to leave the largest metropolitan regions--considering both central city and suburbs together--in greater numbers than those who moved in. Smaller cities and towns and the rural areas between them in general have been the primary recipients of these population shifts.
Second, there has been an eruption of high-rise office clusters at various locations in metropolitan areas. The appearance of new metal and glass office skyscrapers has transformed the downtown skyline of many American cities since the mid-1970s. But this feature is no longer limited to the old city cores. Massive office clusters have emerged within the suburban rings surrounding the central cities--many exceeding the square footage of office space of a major city downtown. This change is one that appears to affect most significantly the location of jobs and the pattern of travel to them, rather than the location of residences.
Clearly, urban areas are landscapes of change, and the changes in Megalopolis suit the unusual character of the region. The changes there have been continuous, they have been drastic, and they have occurred on a scale unmatched anywhere else in the world.
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