The Boswash

Northeast Megalopolis

Intro :The Northeast Megalopolis, also called the BosWash runs from Boston to Washington. In a map, it appears almost as a straight line. It's the most heavily urbanized region of the US. 4 of the world's top 100 urban areas are in the Megalopolis (New York, Washington, Philadelphia and Boston). But how does the northeast megalopolis give assets to the USA and renforce the american place in globalization ?

I. The Northeast megalopolis has all the functions of a megalopolis

A megalopolis is a very large city, or an urban area that consists of several towns and cities (megalopolis is the greek for large city). This word has been invented in 1961 by the geographer Gottmann to describe this area. He describes it like a region where the cities are independent but uniquely tied to each other through the intermeshing of their suburban zones, taking on some characteristics of a single, massive city.

        A] A major concentration of population

The megalopolis is a 400-mile urban area located on 11 different states in the Northeast of the USA. It includes many major cities like New-York, Boston or Washington with their metropolitan areas and suburbs. From 1950 to 2000, the population of Megalopolis almost doubled, going from 24.5 million persons to 42.4 million. In 2010, there were 52,33 Millions inhabitants.

17% of the US population on less than 2% of its land area, which mean a very high population density : 11,5 times as many as the country's average.. The projections expect the population to grow to 58.1 million people by 2025. 

        B] A major economic place

        The northeast megalopolis is an important economic and financial place for the USA and for the world. With its GDP of practically $3 trillion in 2010, it represents 20% of the american GDP in 2% of the country area. It contains the fisrt stock exchange in the world (New York stock exchange in Wall Street). Moreover, many important TNC have their headquarters in the megalopolis : it's the case of around the third of the 500 first american TNC.

International economic organizations have also their headquarters in the megalopolis : the IMF and the World Bank are based in Washington.

        The BosWash has the greatest concentration of financial powers of America and its  residents receive the nation’s highest average income.

        C] A world diplomatic and military functions

        The megalopolis have a major diplomatic function, especially the city of Washington which is the capital of the US. In this town, there are many important places and institutions ; the White House, the United State capitol, the seat of the legislative branch of the american power., the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the US which decide of the monetary policy of the country, etc.....

Even if Washington has obviously a very important political and diplomatic role, it's not the only one : there are other important politic places in the BosWash like the headquarters of the UN and the UNICEF in NYC.

        The megalopolis is also the military center of the US which has the most powerfull army of the world. It's a major military center on a global scale with the Pentagon, the headquarter of the United States Departement of Defense.

        D] A cultural power

        - Universities : Massachussetts Institute of Technology, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Yale, etc... 8 of them rank in the top 20 of the Shangai ranking.

        - High places of the culture : Broadway and museums :3 of the 5 most visited museums in the world in 2016 are in the megalopolis. (6 in top 20).

        - Popular touristic place with an important role of NY : by itself, it represents 60 million tourists in 2016.

        - Headquarters of the two biggest american newspapers : The New York Times and the Washington Post, and of major media groups like CBS, or ABC.

        E] A hub

        First, all the cities of the Boswash are very connected with each other, especially by roads and trains : the Northeast Corridor railway line is the busiest passenger rail line in the country. The Megalopolis is the main American corridor.

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