ancient cities

498 Megalopolis
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Me g a c i t y
See Megalopolis; Urbanization
Me g a l o P o l i s
Many academics have coined terms for their phenomenon
of study, but few have been successful.
But Jean Gottmann’s proposal for megalopolis
to refer to a string of closely interconnected
metropolises was logical and inspired and has
become part of the language. The term is derived
from Greek and means simply “very large city.” A
group of ancient Greeks planned to construct a
large city of this name on the Peloponnese Peninsula;
only a small city of Megalopolis still exists.
The best contemporary treatment of Megalopolis
is a 1998 report by Birdsall and Florin, The
Megalapolitan Region, which was prepared for the
U.S. State Department and is available online.
Gottmann (1915–1994) was a French geographer
who for 20 years studied the northeastern
United States and published his seminal work in
1961. Megalopolis was a massive (more than 800
pages) undertaking, characterized by detailed scholarship
and amazing insight; it traces the evolution
of the 500-mile-long “main street” of what was
then US 1 to the interconnected promise of I-95.
Part 1 argues the dynamic role of these core cities
in the economic and cultural making and control of
the nation, the “economic hinge” of innovation—
including suburbs as early as 1850. The bases for
the development of the megalopolis include its close
position to then-dominant Europe, a diverse coast
penetrated by many quality harbors with access to
the interior, and a topography providing local water
power for industry. New York, a situational geographer
would point out, was destined for preeminence
because of its superior access across the
Appalachians to the interior of the country.
Part 2 concentrates on the structure of population
and land use, especially in the suburban
fringe, noting the long-standing but now fastergrowing
penetration of urban uses into the country—that
is, sprawl—again long before other
parts of the country noticed. Perhaps there was a
greater expectation that close-in agriculture would
survive than has proven possible. The beginnings
of urban decay and of renewal are treated, with a
plea for rehabilitation instead of renewal—finally
successful in the 1980s and 1990s.
Part 3 details patterns of economic structure and
change; the chapter on the white-collar revolution outlining
the restructuring to higher-level activities is probably
the most important and prophetic analysis in the
book, already in 1960 predicting the basic remaking of
American society, with the megalopolis leading the way.
Part 4, “Neighbors in Megalopolis,” recognizes the
diversity and segregation of the population along ethnic,
racial, religious, and class lines, as well as the high
level of inequality that characterizes creative cities; and
finally, it notes the difficulty of coordinating planning