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charon writes:

Geographers from Dartmouth College and the University of Sheffield provide new insight into the economic geography of commuter megaregions in the U.S., by using an empirical approach that combines visual interpretation with statistical analysis. The findings appear in PLOS One and shed light on an old geographic problem: how to divide space into coherent unit areas.

These emerging "megaregions" reflect the economic links woven by millions of commuters traveling to and from work each day. They map out complex networks in which economic systems, natural resources and infrastructure are linked. Understanding the way functional geographic connections cross over the existing borderlines of states and regions is vital for developing institutional forms that match the patterns of the contemporary world.

"We know just how interconnected people are across vast distances in the modern economy—that's one of the basic principles of globalization," says co-author Garrett Dash Nelson, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of Geography and the Society of Fellows at Dartmouth College. "But we still need bounded areal units for things like regional administration and transportation planning. Our paper offers a new way of thinking about how these economic flows and megaregional boundaries are related."

They also have an AMA (Ask Me Anything) about their research on reddit [reddit.com].

An Economic Geography of the United States: From Commutes to Megaregions, PLOS ONE (2016). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0166083 [doi.org]

Original Submission