The US population is estimated to grow by more than 110 million people by 2050, and much of this growth will take place where cities and their suburbs are expanding to meet the suburbs of neighboring cities, creating continuous Urban megaregions.
He is an architect and planner as well as an educator, and is the author of numerous books and articles on the theory an.
About the Author Jonathan Barnett is an emeritus Professor of Practice in City and Regional Planning, and former director of the Urban Design Program, at the University of Pennsylvania.
There is an urgent need to begin Designing megaregions, and Barnett shows that the ways to make major improvements are already available.
Barnett explains practical initiatives to make new development fit into its environmental setting, especially important as the climate changes; reorganize transportation systems to pull together all the components of these large Urban regions; and redirect the market forces which are making megaregions very unequal places.
In Designing the Megaregion, planning and Urban design expert Jonathan Barnett describes how to redesign megaregional growth using mostly private investment, without having to wait for massive government funding or new governmental structures.
Some new investment could be drawn to by-passed parts of older cities, which are becoming more separate and unequal.
Improved transportation systems could reduce highway and airport congestion. while helping repair landscapes damaged by earlier development.
Future economic and population growth could go only to environmentally safe locations.
However, the megaregion in 2050 is still a prediction.
If current trends continue unchanged, new construction in these megaregions will put more and more stress on the natural systems that are necessary for our existence, will make highway gridlock and airline delays much worse, and will continue to attract investment away from older areas.
There are now at least a dozen megaregions in the US.
The US population is estimated to grow by more than 110 million people by 2050, and much of this growth will take place where cities and their suburbs are expanding to meet the suburbs of neighboring cities, creating continuous Urban megaregions
