Megaregions and America's Future

The proposed project updates the knowledge base on megaregions. It considers both global and domestic (USA) shifts in economic and political environment, demographic changes, and technological innovations that have occurred since the first round of megaregion studies around twelve years ago. Building on prior research, the project plans to carry out seven tasks.Task 1 aims at refining the conceptual definition of megaregions and developing a framework for mega-regional coordination, planning, and policy making, with a focus on transportation. Task 2 and 3 examine the demographic and economic trends, respectively, and study the travel demand implications of these trends in the US megaregions. Task 4 focuses on technological innovations and applications, e.g, big data and mobile apps, and their implications for intra- and inter-regional travel. Task 5 investigates the spatial dimension of the socioeconomic and demographic trends in megaregions. Task 6 conducts a survey of metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and state departments of transportation (DOTs) in the US megaregions, asking for their concerns and input on cross-jurisdictional transportation issues. Task 7 proposes a research agenda for megaregions based on the analyses completed in previous tasks and the survey results. The proposed research activities will be integrated into a joint planning studio scheduled for 2017-18. The results of this project were disseminated in a book, Megaregions and America's Future, published by Elsiever in March 2022.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $185,697.42
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3551747135

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Department of Transportation

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology
  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  Department of Transportation
  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  University Transportation Center Program

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Department of Transportation

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology
  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  Department of Transportation
  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  University Transportation Centers Program

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Stearns, Amy

• Performing Organizations:

  Cooperative Mobility for Competitive Megaregions (CM2)

  University of Texas at Austin
  Austin, TX  United States  78712
• Principal Investigators:

  Zhang, Ming

  Steiner, Frederick

  Yaro, Robert

• Start Date: 20171001
• Expected Completion Date: 20200531
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Coordination; Metropolitan planning organizations; Policy making; Regional planning; Regions; State departments of transportation; Surveys; Technological innovations; Transportation planning; Travel demand
• Geographic Terms: United States
• Subject Areas: Planning and Forecasting; Policy; Transportation (General);

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01650964
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Cooperative Mobility for Competitive Megaregions (CM2)
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551747135
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Nov 15 2017 6:04PM