« Funerals | Main | Swine Flu – Then & Now »
From Exurbia to Megalopolis – The Rise of Super Cities
By Neil Peterson | May 27, 2009
The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, CA may seem an odd place to look for correlations between ‘building big’ and the potential pitfalls of future urban planning. Begun in 1884, construction on the house continued around the clock – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – for 38 years, resulting in one of the largest, and oddest private residences in the world. Owner Sarah Winchester, heiress to the Winchester rifle fortune, insisted that the building must continue on the advice of a psychic who warned her that the spirits of those who had been killed by the rifles, and whom she believed were responsible for the death of her young daughter and husband, would return to seek revenge on her.
Whether Sarah was truly haunted by ghosts, or was under the spell of grief-induced psychosis will never be known. Now occupying a place on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, the Winchester Mystery House is a popular tourist destination – renowned for its unique building style, or lack thereof. Staircases that lead to ceilings, doors that open into walls, and the curious repetition of the number 13 – including specially appointed chandeliers and windows, are all facets of this Late Victorian-style home, that was designed with little to no deference paid to a master building plan. On the surface, the Winchester Mystery House is nothing but a curious historical footnote, albeit one with a gift shop. However, there is a larger lesson – that building big just to keep building, and throwing out the rules of form and function, will result in creating something uninhabitable. And this is where city planning becomes relevant.
We are entering the age of the Megalopolis, the super city, formed as either an expansive metropolitan area or a long connected corridor of urban sprawl. The concept was first introduced by Lewis Mumford in 1938, before being expanded upon by French geographer Jean Gottman in the mid-1950′s, after he had studied the growth on the American East coast from Boston to Washington, D.C. Gottman portrayed ‘BosWash’ as a vast, functioning urban region, containing commercial, governmental and residential areas.
When Gottman studied this area, which includes the previous mentioned cities, as well as New York City, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, the current population was estimated at 32 million. Today, as more and more people have moved into urban areas, the population is estimated at 44 million – or 16% of U.S. citizens. But this astounding growth – and the Megalopolis concept – is not only found in America, but in cities around the globe, such as the Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka Megalopolis in Japan.
World’s Largest Cities
While it still may be too early to start drawing up urban maps for the (super) city of the future, the need to focus on possible development – how we do it and where we do it, is of utmost importance to avoid problems ahead – such as increased traffic congestion, air pollution, and a reduced quality of living for residents. In considering the needs of a larger future populace, today’s urban planners have a unique opportunity to create facilities that can work across varying population densities, and various uses – what is a city hall can also function as a community center or a night school. In addition, waste management, transportation and utility providers can develop more efficient methods to serve customers today, in preparation of the greater demand of tomorrow.
As frightful a concept as urban sprawl is, it may actually be a surprising solution to our current environmental woes. Research has shown that high-density areas are much more efficient to power – reducing the strain on the system and the emissions that are released into the air. With residents living in close proximity to work and recreation, walking and public transportation will become the most efficient means of travel. Also, by clustering the metropolitan areas together, greater space is left for green areas on the periphery – for agricultural uses, or enjoyment. Megalopolis may not be here – yet – but in planning for the possibility, we can avoid the snares and pitfalls of building a Winchester city. All roads may not lead to Rome, but they should lead somewhere.
Related Posts
- Design in Motion – Reducing Stockholm’s Traffic with Congestion Pricing
- Tall Replaces Sprawl in Urban Expansion
- Jamie Lerner’s Urban Utopia
Share this Post
Topics: General, Politics, Sustainable living | No Comments »