Megapolitan: Arizona's Sun Corridor

Publication Date: May 2008

Publisher: Morrison Institute for Public Policy

Author(s): Grady Jr. Gammage; Nancy Welch; Rob Melnick; Robert Lang; John Stuart Hall

Research Area: Economics; Environment; Population and demographics

Keywords: regional planning; Megapolitan; urban growth; demographics

Type: Report

Coverage: Arizona

Abstract:

Megapolitan: Arizona's Sun Corridor examines Arizona's Sun Corridor as one of 20 'megapolitan' areas in the U.S. and offers a bold new picture of Arizona's geography and its future opportunities and 'megaton' challenges.
Arizonans have predicted for 50 years that Phoenix and Tucson would grow together into a giant desert conglomerate. That possibility has been seen as exciting, intriguing, and distressing. While a solid city along Interstate 10 is unlikely given the diverse land ownership in central and southern Arizona, the two metro economies are already merging.

Megapolitan: Arizona's Sun Corridor, one of the first reports on a single megapolitan area, recognizes a more sophisticated technique for analyzing urban growth--that shared economic and quality of life interests are more important than physically growing together.