Geography 310 Megalopolis
What is gentrification?
1990s-present The migration of middle and upper income residents to rehabilitated central-city residences. The people already living in the area can no longer afford taxes or pay rent and are forces to move away.
How did the location of the Megalopolis spur urban growth?
A good location relative to Europe and trade and immigration. Located along the Europe-Caribbean and South American trade route. It also has good harbors, routes to the interior and a great stop-off/service point for others conducting trade.
What is a glacier?
A large body of ice that is slowly moving down a slope, or a valley or is slowly spreading out.
Public Services
A service provided by the government to benefit the people living in their jurisdiction (like water and sewage)
Megalopolis
Agglomeration from Boston to Washington, D.C.
What are fall line cities?
Cities along the border between the Piedmont and the Atlantic coastal plain. They have naturally occurring features that facilitate movement in and out (harbors for trade, immigration and rich hinterland)
Functional Complexity
Conflict in land use variation
What is the uniqueness of Philadelphia's original city grid?
He implemented the grid system (north and south-trees & east and west-#). This made it easier to keep track of what land was being sold and where to place amenities.
How did the Pleistocene modify the landscape? (4)
It created moraines, esters, drumlins and the outwash plain
Why is the Megalopolis in this part of the country?
It is coastal and has numerous estuaries and deep harbors that are good for docking ships.
How did the break-in-bulk system contribute to urban growth?
It was an international trade city. It became a point of trade that attracted a lot of other business. This created a lot of jobs.
Who coined the name Megalopolis?
Jean Gottmann, a French Geographer
The current trend amongst young urban professionals?
Living in the city or living on the very edge of the suburb-city area.
What is a breaking-in-bulk point?
Loading and unloading cities for ships to be able to trade their products with the interior cities (due to a difference in elevation like waterfalls)
Examples of islands in the Megalopolis that were formed/modified as a result of the Pleistocene?
Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket
Spatial Interaction
Movement between places
Urban problems that plague big cities?
Over crowding of roadways and housing and vulnerability to natural disasters.
How did population movement from the central city to the suburbs in the 1950-1980 period help created the Megalopolis?
People began moving from the cities to suburbs and then to small, distant towns, especially between cities. This movement spread the Megalopolis even further out and created urban sprawl!
What economic activities/industries contribute to the growth of Washington, D.C.
The capital of the country was relocated here. As the government grew so did the agencies and companies that supported the government followed too.
What part of the megalopolis region was impacted by the Pleistocene?
The coastline and islands
Where is the Piedmont?
The foothill of the Appalachian Mts and it directly left of the coastline.
What is the Pleistocene? When did it take place?
The last glaciation that occurred roughly 4 million years ago.
Explain how Philadelphia was an international and domestic break-in-bulk city?
They were disembark on the east on international ships (west) and reloaded on the west It is a lot easier to unload here then navigating small rivers in the south
What economic activities/industries contribute to the growth of Boston?
Trade
What economic activities/industries contribute to the growth of New York?
Trade
What economic activities/industries contribute to the growth of Philadelphia?
Trade
What economic activities/industries contribute to the growth of Baltimore?
Trade, great access to the interior & close proximity to the Capital.
Four major fall line cities?
Trenton, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
Who designed Philadelphia's original city grid?
William Penn
What is a terminal moraine?
A bunch of dirt and debris dragged together to make mounds
What other city grid's in the Megalopolis were influenced by Philadelphia's city grid?
Baltimore and later parts of New York and Boston
Spatial Complementarity
Places import what they lack from other places (neighboring cities)
