Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
5,800,000
40,000
5,600,000
35,000
5,400,000
30,000
5,200,000
25,000
5,000,000
20,000
4,800,000
15,000
4,600,000
10,000
4,400,000
5,000
4,200,000
0
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Average Subway Ridership, Weekday
Average Subway Ridership, Weekend
Average 12-Hour Bicycle Screenline Count
Fig. 18.2
Public transit and bicycle trends in New York Metropolitan Area (
Source
: Subway
Ridership, Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Bicycle Screenline Count, Department of
Transportation, New York City)
and Information innovations function as
General Purpose technologies (GPTs)
,
which support and undergird a variety of
production and organizational
technologies
—which jointly drive structural change and economic evolution
towards the
Knowledge economy
in the Megalopolis.
2
Finally, a major consequence of such innovations in both transport and ICT
infrastructures has been the economic structural change of
Globalization
of the US
and the Megalopolis economies, namely the ability to decompose and organize
production into many value-adding components, many of which are fabricated in a
variety of locations around the world. It appears that
the Transport and ICT systems
and the emerging economy in Megalopolis both direct and adapt to change.
18.3 Demographic and Urban/Economic Evolution
of the Megalopolis
The key role of the Boston-Washington corridor or the urbanized Northeast U.S. in
the national economy was anticipated by the French Geographer, Jean Gottmann
(
1961
). He called the stretch of urban, suburban and rural areas from Southern New
2
General Purpose Technologies (GPTs) are a few key technologies which appear to drive critical
eras of technical progress and economic growth (Breshnehan and Trajtenberg
1992
; David and
Wright
1999
). GPTs become pervasive in the economy in certain periods, as they are utilized as
inputs by a large number of downstream sectors and with considerable potential for technical
improvements and innovation. Thus, as GPT's improve, they spread throughout the economy,
bringing about generalized productivity gains. The Steam engine and the Electric motor are
commonly regarded as critical GPTs of the Industrial era.
