In an effort to promote a balanced growth strategy for the United States, Regional Plan Association and Lincoln Institute of Land Policy brought together two dozen scholars and economic development practitioners in March 2009 for an America 2050 research seminar to explore new economic development strategies for the nation's underperforming regions. The seminar gathered people with a range of expertise and diversity of backgrounds, including those from declining, post-industrial regions, rural and frontier communities, and experts in state and federal economic development policy to address strategies for declining places within the nation's emerging megaregions and in the spaces in between. Three research papers were developed for the seminar by Yoav Hagler, Robert Yaro, and Nicolas Ronderos of Regional Plan Association. They are collected in this new report along with a summary of the conversations that took place at the seminar.

Download "New Strategies for Regional Economic Development."

The Business Alliance for Northeast Mobility, a coalition of more than 30 chambers of commerce and civic organizations, urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Appropriations Chairman David Obey in letters today to increase funding in the economic stimulus bill for transit and rail - the backbone of the Northeast economy. Increased funding will put people to work making necessary rail improvements and ensure the long-term economic competitiveness of the Northeast Megaregion. 

This month, America 2050 released its most recent report: An Infrastructure Vision for 21st Century America. This report highlights the need to develop a bold and compelling vision for investing in the nation's aging water, energy, and transportation infrastructure in a way that will help America meet the key challenges of the 21st century. These challenges include America's fast-growing population, deteriorating infrastructure, the deepening recession, our competitiveness in a global economy, fairness and opportunity, and climate change and energy security.   

The report makes the case that the federal government should provide leadership in aligning its energy, transportation and water infrastructure policies to support environmentally sustainable development, efficient and reliable transportation systems, and sustained, robust economic growth. Currently, many of the federal government's programs are ineffective or obsolete, or work at cross purposes, such as transportation policy that increases our reliance on foreign oil, or federal farm subsidies that encourage fertilizer and pesticide use that pollutes our drinking water.

Over the next year, America 2050 will build on this report to create physical plans for national systems of transportation networks, electrical transmission and water infrastructure and specific policies to encourage greater accountability, decision-making criteria for project selection and performance measures.

The proceedings of the Rebuilding and Renewing America forum sponsored by America 2050 on May 9, 2008 in Washington, D.C. are now available for download. (3 MB)

The forum assembled business and labor leaders, Democratic and Republican members of Congress, transportation and engineering industry leaders and environmental advocates to address the pressing infrastructure challenges of our time.
The forum was co-sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, The Surdna Foundation, Regional Plan Association, and the Division of United States Studies at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

The report summarizes keynote addresses and remarks by Gov. Ed Rendell, Judith Rodin, Tom Donohue and U.S. Representatives Earl Blumenauer, Chris Shays, Rosa DeLauro and Tom Petri, among other noteworthy speakers. It also reports on roundtable discussions on energy, water, and transportation infrastructure.

The May 9 forum marked the launch of a national series of "Rebuilding and Renewing America" forums around the country to draw attention to the nation's growing infrastructure needs and gather input on the key priorities in growing megaregions.

A new report by RPA warns that the future of the Northeast Megaregion is threatened by lagging job growth, rising housing costs, increasing air and road congestion, and threats to our environment and quality of life. The report recommends creating cross-border partnerships to address mobility, carbon emissions, sprawl and environmental protection. With the proper investments and concerted action, the Northeast Megaregion can turn its incredible concentration of people, skills and transportation infrastructure into strategic advantage in an era of climate change and oil uncertainty.

The report comes on the heels of a Senate vote last week to authorize nearly $2 billion a year for Amtrak service and capital investments, and reports that Amtrak ridership is up 6.3% nationally and nearly 20% on high speed lines in the Northeast. Next week, the New York region will focus on the bigger picture at the NYU Rudin Center's conference on "Thinking Bigger: New York and Transportation in the Northeast Megaregion." Meanwhile, RPA is partnering with the CEO Council for Growth, the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council, the Connecticut Technology Council, the Boston Foundation, and many others, to convene regional meetings about the future of the Northeast Corridor as part of a new, Business Alliance for Northeast Mobility.

Download the Report
Press Release
 

This collection by features essays by Edward Glaeser, "Do Regional Economies Need Regional Coordination?" and Saskia Sassen, "Megaregions: Benefits Beyond Sharing Trains and Parking Lots?" and discussion summaries from the February 9, 2007 conference, with comments by Sassen, Glaeser, Robert Yaro, Paul Krugman and Kip Bergstrom.

The full report can be downloaded from the Policy Research Institute for the Region website. 

Regional Plan Association and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy convened scholars and planners at a research seminar in Healdsburg, California last April to explore an emerging urban form: the megaregion. Megaregions are networks of metropolitan areas linked by economic and trade relationships, transportation infrastructure, large natural systems, and growth concerns. First identified as "megalopolis" in the 1960s, the Northeast Megaregion, from southern Maine to northern Virginia, presents the most recognizable example of this urban form. The report includes four scholarly papers examining case studies of megaregions in California,Texas, the Midwest, and Western Europe. Read the press release.
Download the full report (15 MB)
Download the report in sections:
Cover and Table of Contents (6 MB)
Introduction by Armando Carbonell
Megaregions in California: Challenges to Planning and Policy by Michael Teitz and Elisa Barbour (2 MB)
Connecting the Texas Triangle: Economic Integration and Transportation Coordination by Ming Zhang, Frederick Steiner, and Kent Butler (5 MB)
U.S. Regional Economic Fragmentation & Integration: Selected Empirical Evidence and Implications by Edward Feser and Geoffrey Hewings (1 MB)
Polycentric Mega-city Regions: Exploratory Research from Western Europe by Peter Taylor and Kathy Pain (.5 MB)
Summary of Meeting (.6 MB)

In February 2007, Regional Plan Association and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy hosted the National Roundtable on Surface Transportation at the Pocantico Conference Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. The Roundtable brought together leaders in transportation, land use, and the private sector to explore reform proposal to national transportation policy.

Current transportation legislation at the federal level - SAFETEA-LU of 2005 - expires in September 2009. Policy experts agree that a new policy model is needed to support the nation's growth and competitiveness in the 21st century. A common theme in our discussions was that national transportation policy must support a strong national purpose to overcome the politics of earmarks.

The final report contains discussion papers by Michael Meyer of Georgia Tech, Gary Maring of Cambridge Systematics and Mortimer Downey III, as well as a summary of discussions.