America 2050

A project of The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Regional Plan Association and the University of Pennsylvania School of Design The product of University of Pennsylvania’s spring 2004 graduate planning studio on national planning. Download the report

The Southern California Megaregion encompasses Los Angeles, Kern, Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties, as well as the northern portion of Baja California, including Mexicali, Tijuana and Ensenada. Numerous regional planning councils, including the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), and the Kern County Council of Governments have collaborated on a planned growth strategy for the region entitled: The Southwest Mega Region: A Case Study of Global Gateway Regions: America’s Third Century Strategy.  Download the report

America 2050 is a national initiative to meet the infrastructure, economic development and environmental challenges of the nation as we prepare to add 120 million additional Americans by the year 2050.

Regional Plan Association has convened the National Committee for America 2050, a coalition of regional planners, scholars, and policy-makers to develop a framework for the nation’s future growth that considers trends such as: 

• Rapid population growth and demographic change
• Global climate change
• The rise in foreign trade 
• Sprawling and inefficient land use patterns
• Uneven and inequitable growth within and between regions 
• Infrastructure systems that are reaching capacity
• The emergence of megaregions

A major focus of America 2050 is the emergence of megaregions – large networks of metropolitan areas, where most of the population growth by mid-century will take place. Examples of megaregions are the Northeast Megaregion, from Boston to Washington, or Southern California, from Los Angeles to Tijuana, Mexico. They comprise multiple, adjacent metropolitan areas connected by overlapping commuting patterns, business travel, environmental landscapes and watersheds, linked economies, and social networks. At least ten megaregions have been identified in the United States.

In Europe and Southeast Asia, governments are investing tens of billions of dollars in high-speed rail and goods movement systems to connect networks of cities in what are termed “global integration zones.” These counterparts to America’s megaregions are increasingly being viewed as the new competitive units in the global economy, where knowledge workers can move freely among urban hubs. Economic regeneration strategies are also being deployed at this scale, to transition former industrial regions to the new information economy.

RPA is serving as a clearinghouse for research on the emergence of megaregions and a resource for megaregion planning efforts nationwide. Its aim is to advance research on the emergence of this new urban form while promoting planning solutions to address challenges that span state and regional boundaries, demanding cooperation and coordination at the megaregion scale.

America 2050 is supported by grants from:

• The Rockefeller Foundation 
• The Surdna Foundation
• The Ford Foundation
• The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
• The William Penn Foundation
• The J.M. Kaplan Fund