America 2050

Two recent editorial pieces from cities as disparate as Columbus, Ohio and Houston, Texas call for a federal commitment to de-clog our airports and highways with long-term investments in high-speed intercity rail.  Proponents in Texas argue that state officials need to move beyond 20th century policies and not to sell short on the state's transportation system in the 21st.  Both pieces argue that high-speed rail has shown benefits in improving a nation's carbon foot print, and help to relieve congestion at major airports, especially for short-distance intercity travel.  They conclude that it is time to provide Americans with a safe and reliable transportation network that includes intercity rail.

Read the Columbus Dispatch piece here.

Read the Houston Chronicle piece here.

A recent report (updated) released by the Brookings Institution addresses the question: "what are healthy Great Lakes worth to the regional and national economies" and the potential return on investment from restoring the Great Lakes ecosystem.  The study analyzes the direct relationship between environmental quality and economic benefits to the entire Great Lakes region.  Conducting a benefit-cost analysis, the authors claim that the gains from investing in the environmental infrastructure in the Great Lakes are impressive.  The efforts undertaken thus far have been a Presidential Executive Order, an EPA-led task force establishing a Great Lakes Regional Collaboration, a Great Lakes restoration process, legislation introduced in Congress to implement and fund the strategy, and more.

The report also highlights several impediments to the Great Lakes region; a decreasing population, low educational attainment, lack of entrepreneurial activity and others.  The study suggests that the federal, state, and local governments must play a very significant role in revitalizing the region.

The result of the $26 billion revitalization strategy over several years would result in the following benefits, as reported by the authors' analyses:

• Over $50 billion in long-term national benefits
• $30 - $50 billion in short-term benefits regionally
• Development of new environmental and biodiesel technologies and alternative energies.

*note: Click here to access the unpublished version of this report which contains additional economic data from the study.

image: Diane McCarthy, tigger.uic.edu/~diane/

The American Planning Association's National Conference this April 14-18, 2007 in Philadelphia will include a special track on, "Megaregions, Sustainability and Transportation," featuring multiple sessions planned by or including America 2050 project partners.

Some of the highlights inlcude sessions on: Megaregions and a National Transportation Agenda; Building Economic Synergies in Megaregions; and Cross-Border Challenges in International Megaregions. Several sessions will focus on specific areas of the country, such as: Booming Sunbelt Megaregions and Reimagining the Midwest Megaregion. 

For more information on the APA National Conference click here.

To explore the sessions in the Megaregions track on the APA website, visit this link, then select the Track "Megaregions, Sustainability and Transportation" from the pull down menu and leave "all" in the Topic field.   

The Brookings Institution has released a new report proposing a revitalization strategy for the Great Lakes megaregion.

The report is titled, "The Vital Center: A Federal-State Compact to Renew the Great Lakes Region." You can download the report (pdf) here.

 March 6-10, 2006 Three teams of graduate planning students from the University of Pennsylvania, University of Texas and University of Michigan, gathered this month for a week-long workshop on megaregion planning with a faculty of esteemed European planners in Madrid, Spain. The student teams were engaged in urban planning, architecture or engineering courses at their respective universities, exploring the emergence of megaregions in the Northeast, the Texas Triangle and the Great Lakes. Working in groups, they began the week with presentations that defined their megaregions, analyzing demographic and economic trends, and proposed potential strategies to address challenges encountered at the megaregional scale.

Regional Plan Association (RPA) and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy convened on
September 8, 2005 a meeting of Midwestern academics and regional experts to discuss
the definition of the Midwest Megaregion and possibilities for collaboration and
research around challenges facing the Midwest. Hosted by Ron Thomas at the
Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission in Chicago, Illinois, the day-long discussion
culminated in general agreement around a common definition of the Midwest Mega-
Region, and next steps for collaboration and research. These notes from the meeting
summarize the day’s discussions, major findings, and actions steps for moving forward.