Mar 3, 2019
It’s not nation states or even cities, but mega-regions—combinations of multiple metro areas—that are the real forces powering the global economy.
seen from Belarus
seen from China
seen from Russia
seen from Andorra
seen from Canada
seen from China
seen from Saudi Arabia
seen from Saudi Arabia
seen from Andorra
seen from Germany
seen from China
seen from Singapore
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Andorra
seen from China
seen from Canada
seen from Russia
It’s not nation states or even cities, but mega-regions—combinations of multiple metro areas—that are the real forces powering the global economy.
Mega-regions
Mega-cities are blooming into mega-regions. More than half of all mega-cities are in Asia (list of all mega-cities), and China has the most and fastest growing mega-regions.
(For context, a dense Boston to Washington DC corridor would be a single mega-region.)
Mega-regions are a necessary progression from the mega-city, but to succeed, the region must have many complementary city centers -- very few mega-regions do. With the planning flaw, comes challenges.
A few articles on the challenges of the current designs:
China's Mega-Cities are Combining to Mega-Regions, But They're Doing It Wrong
China's New Megalopolis Would Be Bigger Than Uruguay and More Populous Than Germany
Introducing China's Future Megalopolis: The Jing-Jin-Ji
Research shows that the world's largest 40 mega-regions cover only a tiny fraction of the habitable surface of our planet... but account for 66% of all economic activity and about 85% of technological and scientific innovation"
UN report: World's biggest cities merging into 'mega-regions' | guardian.co.uk