America 2050

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi urged the rebuilding of America's infrastructure in the spirit of America's historic national plans in her "pre-buttal" to President Bush's State of the Union Address last Friday at the National Press Club. She said,

"For our nation, we will chart a New Direction where we renew America's infrastructure and rebuild it in a way that is greener and helps confront the climate crisis.
 
"Two hundred years ago, in 1808, Thomas Jefferson charged his Treasury Secretary, Albert Gallatin, with drafting a plan to develop America's infrastructure, works like the Erie Canal and the Cumberland Road, to take advantage of a nation that was growing thanks to the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark expedition.
 
"A century later, in 1908, Theodore Roosevelt launched a similar commitment when he convened a White House Conference on Conservation to stress the importance of preserving America's natural beauty.  That led to the creation of the National Park Service and helped a growing America remain a green America.

"In 2008, in keeping with the traditions of these great American leaders, we must keep America growing while making America greener.

"That means reinvesting in our crumbling highways and bridges and renewing our commitment to mass transit, solutions which will create jobs for the middle class.  It also means expanding broadband access across America, and particularly to rural communities.

"Again, in our infrastructure challenge there is job-creating opportunity - to reinvigorate the American economy.

The 1808 and 1908 national plans, as well as the early interstate plan of the National Resources Planning Board in the 1930s, have served as inspirations for the America 2050 initiative since its first conception. The plans are described in historian Robert Fishman's paper: 1808 - 1908 - 2008: National Planning for America, commissioned for the America 2050 workshop at the Rockefeller Foundation's Global Urban Summit this past summer.

Now these historic plans are honored in two resolutions introduced by Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) last week in the House of Representatives. The resolutions honor the bicentennial and centennial of the Gallatin Plan and Theodore Roosevelt's Conference of Governors, respectively, resolving that the U.S. House of Representatives:

"supports the creation of a new national plan to align the demands for economic development with the resources of the Nation."

Download H. Res 935 commemorating the 100th anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt's Conference of Governors.

Download H. Res 936 commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Gallatin Plan.

A new paper by Robert Fishman of University of Michigan reveals a lesser-know side of American history: the role that national planning has played in shaping America's development. This paper was commissioned by Regional Plan Association for the Rockefeller Urban Summit, which this summer will host a team of planners, public officials and busness leaders to shape a framework for growth in America in the 21st Century.

Download Fishman's Paper.

Left: President Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot, aboard the U.S.S. Mississippi on an historic 1907 cruise down the lower Mississippi by the Inland Waterways Commission. Source: Library of Congress Conservation Collection.

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