American Metropolitan Evolution, by John R. Bochert, offers us a view of how America’s configuration of metropolitan areas has emerged in tandem with epochs of transportation and energy innovations. It draws on historical technological developments to describe the forces by which these urban areas established themselves and subsequently developed. Though populations and hierarchical status may change, the present configuration of major urban centers in America was set at the beginning of the ???? epoch.
Rather than focusing on the urban growth of a single metropolitan area, the author develops the idea that America’s population centers represent a single system with the American (conterminous United States) landmass as a substrate. It also sets itself apart from other works in urban geography by suggesting that previous examinations of systems of cities have lacked a historical context.
It describes four eras of technological innovations and uses them to contextualize the hierarchies. It discusses four major transportation/energy innovations in American history and how together, those led to the pattern of American urbanization as of 1967. The four technological innovations and associated eras are:
- The Sail-Wagon Era (1790 to 1830)
- The Steamboat and Iron Horse Era (1830 to 1870)
- Steel Rail and Electric Power Era (1870 to 1930)
- Auto-Air-Amenity (1930 - ) Note: characterized by the internal combustion engine and a shift to a service based economy
The maps show a westward moving frontier that transforms a sparsely populated landmass by depositing human settlements along the way.
In addition to the westward movement of population, in each era technologies developed that reinforced a shift from agricultural to urban population growth. For example, the internal combustion engine meant, with tractors, the food production system would require fewer number farmers to produce the food requirement for an urban area. In turn, the labor needs shifted from rural areas to urban.
Once the historical context is established, the author categorizes metropolitan areas by size and develops rankings and comparisons within each of the four technological epochs described above. In doing so, the author provides a framework to observe the westward expansion of the American population and its settlement patterns.
OBSERVATIONS
The scope of this article encompasses the entirety of American history, its westward expansion and pattern of population settlement. It does leave out many details, but does so by working at a national scale where such omissions/generalizations are required. However, these generalizations provide us with a cartographic narrative for how the American landscape transformed into urbanized space in tandem with major eras of technological innovation.
The author provides the reader with a blend of historical context and sound methodology. The first third of the paper describes in detail the technological eras and their impact on urbanization. The next third is a description of method for how metropolitan areas ranked within each technological epoch. The final third is observation and discussion.
What is notable is this paper’s readability. With a few exceptions, technical jargon is at a minimum and concepts beyond the grasp of the average reader are few.
