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Regional Landscapes of the United States and Canada

MEGALOPOLIS: The Urban Landscape

of the NortheastProf. Anthony Grande

©AFG 2017

Regional Landscape Studies<<<For each region:

1. Know its physical geography.

2. Identify its unique characteristics.

3. Be able to explain the human imprint.

4. Discuss its sequence occupancy and eco-nomic development.

NORTHLANDS

NORTHEAST COAST

MEGALOPOLIS CANADA’S CORE

AMERICA’S HEARTLAND

APPALACHIA and the OZARKS

THE SOUTH

PLAINS and PRAIRES

MOUNTAINS and PLATEAUS

DESERT SOUTHWEST

NORTH PACIFIC COAST

HAWAII

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MEGALOPOLIS

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When you think about this region, what images come into your mind?

Tall buildingsCongestion

Many, many peopleShopping

Ethnic neighborhoods“Unnatural” areas

Urban problemsRoad trafficActivity 24/7

ManufacturingCultural institutions

Philadelphia

New York City

MEGALOPOLIS

MEGALO = very large POLIS = city Term created in the 1930s and used to describe any

large urban area created by the growth toward each other and eventual merging of two or more cities. (Lower-case “m”)

The French geographer Jean Gottman adopted the term in 1961 for the title of his book, “Megalopolis:TheUrbanizedNortheasternSeaboardoftheUnitedStates.”(Upper-case “M”)

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Visualizing Megalopolis: Night View

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Portland, ME

Boston

Providence, RI

Hartford, CT

New York City

Philadelphia

Baltimore

Washington

Richmond, VA

Norfolk, VA

Stretches over 500 mi. along the mid-Atlantic coast from Boston, MA to Washington, DC.

Some argue that it now extends 700 miles from Portland, ME to Norfolk, VA.

This region is defined by population density and urban land use.

Megalopolis: USA’s Urbanized Northeast

Made up of 117 contiguous counties in 12 states + DC that exhibit some urban characteristics.

There are 9 metro areas with over 1 million people; 11 with Richmond and Norfolk.

Referred to as the “Northeast Corridor” because it is linked by Interstate 95 and Amtrak.

See Textbook Ch. 5 and 14

This region has changed shape (got-ten longer and wider)

as new means of transportation allow

people to travel from distant areas

to its cities daily.

6Norfolk/Newport News/Virginia Beach

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Megalopolis’s Landscapes

Includes large cities, small towns and rural areas where most of the people reside in an urban setting.

Urban places are link-ed by networks that allow people, goods, services and ideas to move easily. Vital for manufacturing.

Urban places have sub-landscapes.

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Gottman’s studies in the 1950s noted an evolving densely pop-ulated landscape along the northeast coast of the U.S.

The five core cities (Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washing-

ton) were growing toward each other to form one c.500 mi long large urban conglomeration.

This area has densities approach-ing 1,000 people/sq mi compared to the population density for the entire US of c.75 people/sq mi

IdentifyingLandscape

Change

FromJeanGottman,“Megalopolis:TheUrbanizedNortheasternSeaboardoftheUnitedStates,”1961

The area we call Megalopolis was once a rural landscape dotted with Indian villages, then a rural area with small colonial settle-ments. It became a rural area interspersed with factory-based cities. Something was “good here” to attract people and activities!

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Urbanization will spread along transportation lines.The faster and more reliable the transportation, the greater the distance can be covered in the same period of time.

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Creation of Megalopolis

This allows for expansion and the creation of a mega-city as conurbations merge and people move easily within the area.

CONURBATION: Smaller urban areas grow toward each other, filling the non-urban gaps between them. But they remain independent of each other, politically and services-wise.

From Urban Heat Island Module, Prof. Paul R. Baumann, Geography Dept., SUNY College at Oneonta, 2009

Growth of Megalopolis

1900-2050

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1900

2000 2050(est.)

1950

Rural gaps are quickly being filled by suburb-anization and exurb-anization processes, mostly at the expense of farmland and other unprotected open space.

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Filling of Megalopolis

Defining Questions:Megalopolis as an Urban Region

Does this large region (land area and population) have the characteristics of an urbanized place?What are the unique circumstances that support its

creation? (site characteristics)

Are there situational advantages? (reasons for being)

Does it have pull factors? (“functions” and reasons to concentrate people).

Does it reap the economic advantages associated with concentration, accessibility, and movement (acting as both a collection and distribution point).

What types of spatial organization are present? (geopolitical needs to deal with intense and complex situations)

Has it evolved? (what changed; push factors; new pull factors)12

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Beneficial Site Characteristics

Coastal location: allowed for regional trade and interaction with the world, esp. Europe.

Numerous estuaries and bays: good harbors.Moderate climate: cold winters, yet ice free harbors,

and ample precipitation for a fresh water supply.Variable soils: provided enough food for residents

but tended to be less productive than agricultural regions. (Better soils in the area south of Philadelphia).

Mixed forest: Variety of tree species provided wood for many uses.

Flat to gently rolling terrain: easy to use.Straddles two physiographic regions: includes

the Fall Line (site of water power).

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Marks the border between the Appalachian Piedmont and the Atlantic Coastal Plain from NJ to GA.– Rapids and waterfalls are

present. Rivers flow from the Piedmont’s (hard rock) higher elevation onto the soft rock coastal plain.

Blocked inland water pas-sage from the sea; became portage sites.

These were the sites for the first colonial water mills that were the catalyst for urban development.

The Fall LineA unique regional feature

FALL LINE

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Great Falls of the Potomac

Falls at Richmond, VA

Fall Line Cities

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Source: USGS with NASA imagery

Cities developed at the Fall Line because ships reached the inland limit of river navigation and had to surrender their loads to land-based carriers (break-of-bulk/ portage site). Philadel-phia, Baltimore, and Richmond developed this way without any planning.

Other cities made use of the drop in elevation to build mills powered by the falling water, as Paterson and Trenton, NJ and Wilmington, DE.

SITUATION of Megalopolis

Good location for trade and immigration relative to Europe.Accessible. Along the natural “triangle” trade routes between Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, South America (wind/ocean currents).

Routes to the interior: natural and man-made, esp. Hudson-Mohawk corridor and the Erie Canal Convenient service point for ships sailing the North Atlantic routes.

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The Hudson-Mohawk Corridor provided an easy and fast route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes.

Access to the Interior (Hinterland)

The Erie Canal enhanced this route by providing an all water transit. It led to the rapid growth of NYC and NYS.

Of all east coast cities, only NYC had direct access to the inter-ior of North America (see Slide 5). Other ports were Europe-focused.By coincidence it also had the largest and best harbor.

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Megalopolis the Region: Today

Locational significance of Megalopolis:

Has 17% of the total US population but only 1.5% of the total land area

20% of all U.S. export trade moves through its ports.

A region of international significance and influence.

Employment has shifted away from the factory to the office, service, management and technology fields.

Has the nation’s richest and poorest people, as well as its most and least influential groups.

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Linkages inMegalopolis

Urban places of are linked by a dense transportation grid of road, rail, air and telecommunications. Water travel was important, too.

Yellow = short distanceRed = long distance

Long distance commute animation.http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--oP2C-2PRmI/VqUGqD-uMII/AAAAAAAAAsY/mlK8roOzJQQ/s1600/boswash50ms.gif

NYC

Phil

New Jersey

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Landscape Developmentwithin Megalopolis

It began with settlement of New England and Mid-Atlantic areas: Massachusetts & Pennsylvania hearths.

N. American landscape took on a new appearance: English land-settlement scheme:– Town inhabited by farmers

and craftsmen located near water.

– Pasture/forest land admin-istrated by a local governing board: “Commons.”

– Cultivated land surround-ing the village.

• Growth of coastal towns neces-sitated movement inland for new farmland to supply food: con-nected to coastal towns by roads.

• New England towns (early 1800s)

were the first manufacturing areas of America: Yankee ingenuity/inventions.

• Mill towns (production specialty)

grew where there was water-power (site factor). 20

Today’s area is the northern portion of the

13 Original Colonies.

Colonists’ Sources of

WealthNew England/Mid-Atlantic settlements engaged in income-generating activities from available resources:

Fishing

Whaling

Ironworks

Naval stores (tar, pitch, turpentine from pine trees)

Shipbuilding21Rand McNally Atlas of American History

Town Plans

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Docks within protected harbor (1777)

Strip village plan

Defensive site

Intersection of river and ocean

High ground with fresh water on a peninsula

Many of the original plats mimicked villages from where the settlers came.

Irregular Landscape Pattern within Megalopolis resulting from the

Metes and Bounds Land Survey System

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This demarcation method can be seen in the shape of plots of land throughout Megalopolis including the shape of lots and the alignment of streets.

Landscape composed of parcels that vary in shape and size.

Landscape Developmentswithin Megalopolis

Sources of the visual landscape in colonial cities are evident: place names, land division and road networks.

Cities grew as people focused on best areas: economically sound, had links to the outside and were culturally inviting (pull factors).

Mid-Atlantic cities took on a European flavor and appear-ance because those colonies (NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD) where more tolerant of outsiders’ customs, languages and religions.

Technological developments changed their appearance (modernization): inventions, public health measures, construction methods, landscaped parks, paved streets, sewers, mass transit, etc.

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Landscape Developmentswithin Megalopolis

Manufacturing grew in cities: sources of labor, money and ancillary services.

Cities’ need for workers attracted people: local farmers, laborers from other regions, and immigrants.

Transportation routes focused on the cities:need to move people, raw materials and finished products to market (ship/road/rail).

Subdivision occurred: manufacturing and warehousing districts; workers’ housing areas; ethnic neighborhoods; upscale sections for the wealthy and powerful; amusement parks: Later zoning.

Mountain and seaside resorts grew near cities: catered to both the wealthy and the worker: Leisure time.

Estates were established in areas around the cities (for the rich to get away from city conditions).

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Estates in Megalopolis

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Houses of the rich and famous on land purchased outside of the city.

Evolution of the Urban Landscape

• As the inner city ages, becomes crowded, dirty and unsafe (a new

type of landscape; push factor), there is movement away by those who could

• Manufacturing areas begin to decay as facilities, structures and methodologies become outdated: industry abandons the city.

• Abandonment takes away jobs; tax base suffers.

• Housing areas (neighborhoods) begin to decay as workers move away and poverty levels rise.

Gentrification: land is bought by outsidersand takes on different usage: the character of the landscape changes again.

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Evolution of Settlement Patterns: Population Redistribution

Growth of suburbs (1950s).

Out-migration of urbanites/suburbanites to small, distant towns between cities (1980s).

Clusters of high-rise buildings (office and residential)

in the CBD/central business district (1990s).

Slowing of movement out of city centers.

Movement back to cities: “gentrification” (2000s).

• Attraction of jobs/amenities to higher-income workers.

• Displacement of low-income residents.

• Ethnic neighborhoods change.

• Aging, changing, expensive suburbs (sprawl, min. services)

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Gentrification

The process of change that occurs when wealthier people (the “gentry”) buy and move into housing property in urban areas where the existing population is less prosperous.

Includes the conversion of properties (as warehouses and

factories) into upscale uses.

Characteristics of neighbor-hoods change including the visual landscape.

BEFORE AFTER

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Urban Landscape Development

The development of an urbanized area takes on    a life cycle.

1. Creation (reason for being)

2. Growth

3.Stagnation

4. Demise

5. Resurgence

Resurgence leads to the creationof a new identity.

RECAP: Urban Landscape Development Sequence

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Megalopolis has a Human-dominated Landscape

How has urbanization altered the region’s ecological landscape?

1. Damaged/destroyed native biomes.

2. Has lead to a conflict betw native and introduced species.

3. Changed the area’s hydrology (stream diversion, wetlands drainage, pumping groundwater, paving, slope alteration).

4. Altered shorelines (land fill; hardening; groins/jetties)

5. Created microclimates (reduced open space; concrete and asphalt surfaces).

6. Polluted its area (air, water, land, noise).

7. Has increased the dangers from natural processes, now deemed hazards.

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PROBLEMSfacing Megalopolis and its cities

Can urban problems be visualized?

Can a “problem” urban landscape be recognized?

Once recognized, how are they dealt with?

Congestion: large numbers of people and vehicles: need for adequate transportation systems, housing and services

Health Issues: food, water supply, waste management, controlling disease, dealing with dying and dead people.

Quality of Life Issues: crowding, crime, poverty, health care, pollution

Pollution: air, water, land, noise

Hazards: storms, rising sea level, flooding, fire, terrorism32

Components ofMegalopolis:

Comparing Anchor City Metro Areas (all at same scale)

BOSTON

NEW YORK PHILADELPHIA

WASHINGTON

BALTIMORE

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BostonOriginal site on a peninsula on a sheltered bay.

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Boston

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New York City

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Original site at the narrow tip of an island on twin sheltered bays.

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New York City

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PhiladelphiaOriginal site on high ground on a peninsula between two rivers.

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Philadelphia

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BaltimoreOriginal site at the mouth of a river at the head of a sheltered bay.

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Baltimore

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Washington, DCOriginal site on donated marshland near the head of navigation on a river.

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Plan of Washington, DC

The street plan of Washington was created to mimic the design of the monumental capitals of Europe.

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Canada’s

National

Core

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