Metropolitan Identity and Regionalism (suburban, transportation, population, issues)

[waltlantz]

Most know about the love hate relationship that Americans have with the big city. Yet despite their problems, they still retain signifiganct influence both individually and in the context of metropolitan areas.

With the growth of various areas and regions, more and and more localities have come together in groups address quality of life and economic issues facing entire areas, in short an emphasis on intergration and identity as a group of areas.

What do you think contributes to a shared regional identity (as held by the average joe blow) in major American metros? They can be economic, geographic or something more nebulous like distinct culture. Any specific examples you all have from your respective regions?

Another question to people of particularly large bustling metro's is how much do you identify as a citizen of the so and so region or area or if you think your area operates and carries itself as a more provincial and fractured area?

(I personally ask because I see metro governments working together as important from a civic standpoint to maintain BOTH central cities and suburbs and I am curious to see how other people identify themselves in regards to their environment).

To answer mine, DC area is tied through high education population and government related work. Nothern VA where I live although still Virginia identifies MUCH more strongly with the district as opposed to Richmond or probably with the state as a whole and this gets stronger the closer to DC you get.

[18Montclair]

I usually do not like adding new layers of government. Youd think that local, county, state and federal would suffice.

However, in this day and age, our cities and counties are so intertwined and interdependent that a more regional approach to administrating things such as transportation and development might be in order.

Here in the Bay Area, much of the legislation and planning for regional transportation needs is done through the MTC(Metropolitan Transportation Commission). They work together with the region's 28 separate transit agencies that cover 7,000 square miles and serve 7.5 Million people.

Also, as far as this region, respondents up and down this area in local surveys and polls overwhelmingly(80%+) say that there is a strong Bay Area Identity.

[le roi]

The regional identity of where I live is the transplant who moved here for better weather.

It is sad.

[tomchristoffel]

Hello Walt -
Google’s web alert sent me to this Forum because of the term “regionalism.” I've joined City-Data.com and will participate in the future. The issue of regional identity is one I deal with in my newsletter Regional Community Development News. It can be found at [url=http://regional-communities.blogspot.com/]Regional Communities - "Think Local Planet, Act Regionally." ©[/url] Please visit, check the tools and consider a link. I've been in the Northern Shenandoah Valley since 1973 and work on the issue of region to region cooperation in the Mid-Atlantic region. A factor here and one widely impacting the form of our communities was the post WW-II fear of nuclear attack and the spatial defensive measures adopted. If you'll send me an email, I can send you a copy of "The Reduction of Urban Vulnerability: Revisiting 1950s American Suburbanization as Civil Defence" by Kathleen A Tobin, Purdue University, Cold War History, Vol.2, No.2, January, 2002 or you can find it on-line. This is an unrecognized if not forgotten history of the roots of sprawl in the U.S. as a defensive measure. [email]Tom.Christoffel@gmail.com[/email]

[Minnehahapolitan]

Originally Posted by tomchristoffel

Hello Walt -
Google’s web alert sent me to this Forum because of the term “regionalism.” I've joined City-Data.com and will participate in the future. The issue of regional identity is one I deal with in my newsletter Regional Community Development News. It can be found at Regional Communities - "Think Local Planet, Act Regionally." © Please visit, check the tools and consider a link. I've been in the Northern Shenandoah Valley since 1973 and work on the issue of region to region cooperation in the Mid-Atlantic region. A factor here and one widely impacting the form of our communities was the post WW-II fear of nuclear attack and the spatial defensive measures adopted. If you'll send me an email, I can send you a copy of "The Reduction of Urban Vulnerability: Revisiting 1950s American Suburbanization as Civil Defence" by Kathleen A Tobin, Purdue University, Cold War History, Vol.2, No.2, January, 2002 or you can find it on-line. This is an unrecognized if not forgotten history of the roots of sprawl in the U.S. as a defensive measure. Tom.Christoffel@gmail.com

You just made my week.