Megapolitan Round-up

1. Megapolitan America> Where the next 100 million people will live .:. http://bit.ly/cyn9V
2. 22nd Century America> U.S. home to 600 million by 2109, says Metropolitan Institute; South and West will boom.:. http://bit.ly/FCWM4
3. Population Boom> U.S. 3rd most populous country; by 2050, 439 million people will live here .:. http://bit.ly/XSpPb
4. Arcologies for Innovation> Nations invest big in research & tech parks to attract corporations .:. http://bit.ly/1oTWPu
5. Ur-Mega> Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is a harbinger of things to come; Austin and San Antonio best watch out .:. http://bit.ly/1CQ2OL

St. Patrick's Architects

Mapping "green" commercial real estate in the Texaplex

In honor of St. Patty's Day, presented here is a list of the more than 300 commercial buildings in the Texas Triangle that have achieved Energy Star ratings.

Not included here are government buildings, K-12 institutions, and supermarkets. HEB has more than 187 Energy Star grocery stores across the 66 counties of the Texaplex, plus another 55 throughout the remainder of the state.

There are more than 6,000 buildings in the United States named on EnergyStar.gov site. Recently, Houston and Dallas were highlighted for being two of the top five cities by number of green buildings. .:.

Nano Cities

With as vastly complex as metropolitan areas are, it takes some creativity to get your mind around them. But the pay off appears to be worth the effort. .:.

read more | digg story

Shock and Awe>Houston and Dallas Top 5 for Green Buildings

Texas comes away big winner in ranking of Top 10 cities for green buildings, which focuses on commercial and industrial buildings that cut down on greenhouse gases and energy requirements. Such structures can account for 45% of the country's greenhouse gas emissions and 50% of energy use. .:.

read more | digg story

Megapolitan Case Studies & Reports-Updated

Texas


• The Texas Triangle as Megalopolis [Houston Business]


• The Simple Economics of the Texas Triangle [Houston Business; PDF]


• Texas Urban Triangle [Texas A&M; 35MB, 150pg PDF]


• Opportunity Urbanism [Houston] (43pg PDF)


• Megaregions: Literature Review of the Implications for U.S. Infrastructure Investment and Transportation Planning [FHWA.dot.gov]


• Economic Progress in the Texas Economy [Houston Business, PDF]


• Economic Development Opportunities For U.S. Mega-Regions


• Connecting the Texas Triangle [whitepaper; RPA.org]


• Beyond the Metroplex [Dallas-Fort Worth]


• Austin-San Antonio Metroplex


• America 2050: Texas Triangle


United States


• Beyond Megalopolis [U.S. megapolitan areas, PDF]


• Bright Lights, Big City [NASA study of urbanization]


• Cascadian Ecopolis [Portland-Seattle-Vancouver, 2MB+ PDF]


• Do Regional Economies Need Regional Coordination? (Edward Glaser) [3MB+ PDF]


• Megalopolis Unbound [Northeast, 8MB+ PDF]


• Nor Cal - California's mega of the north


• Opportunity Urbanism (Houston) by Joel Kotkin [43pg PDF]


• The New Megalopolis (Newseek.com) [good overview]


• Third California by Joel Kotkin [20pg PDF]

Boom, Crash, Presto

Creative Class' Florida envisions how crash will reshape America... and Texas

Not everyone favorite's urban theorist, Richard Florida always manages to be provocative. In the coming March 2009 issue of The Atlantic, Florida's cover story discusses how the boom will reshape the urban topology of America.

He notes that in a recent survey of 381 metro areas by Moody's Investor Services, 302 were already in recession, 64 were at risk, and only 15 were continuing to expanding. Guess where?

"Notable among them were the oil- and natural-resource-rich regions of Texas and Oklahoma, buoyed by energy prices that have since fallen; and the Greater Washington, D.C., region, where government bailouts, the nationalization of financial companies, and fiscal expansion are creating work for lawyers, lobbyists, political scientists, and government contractors."

That may no longer be true, but it means Texas and our energy kith and kin to the north got some reprieve from the heartache affecting most of the country.

Also worth noting is a fantastic map detailing data for hundreds of cities including population change since 1860, patents issued since 1975, and income change since 2001. .:.

Olympian Kickstart

Celebrity endorsement gives Austin venture big boost

The Wall Street Journal "How Phelps Became the Face of PureSport - WSJ.com" reports that 8-time gold medal winner Michael Phelps is a pitchman and equity stakeholder in Human Performance Labs LLC, an Austin-based startup with a protein energy drink. The company is led by Michael Humphrey, a former sales executive with Broadcast.com and CBS Corp.'s Simon & Schuster.

Because of Phelps, the company received $5 million from Terry Gilmore, an oil, gas and real estate investor, in January.

The Journal article describes what would be every startup's dream come true: "In Beijing, every time Mr. Phelps emerged from the pool at the Water Cube, a coach handed him a plastic bottle filled with PureSport's protein and carbohydrate-filled cocktail. 'About halfway through the meet, people started knocking on my door asking me what I was drinking and if they could have some,' Mr. Phelps said during a recent interview." .:.

Gaming Venture Pockets $10M

Latest round gives Austin firm ready cash

Game maker Challenge Online Games Inc. takes $10 million round of venture capital, reports VentureWire Alert. The company's main product is an online game called "Duels."

The current round follows close on the heels of a $4.5 million round in July 2008 from Sequoia Capital. The Austin-based company was founded in 2006 by Andrew Busey, who retains role as CEO. .:.

Emergence of Transnational City States

New York and London new form of city

A recent Financial Times article argues New York and London have emerged as a unique global city state that transcends national boundaries. GEO

Mega Watching

Creative Class proponent releases study of mega regions

Richard Florida who argues that cities should work to retain their "creative class" as a key to economic prosperity has released a new report looking at the world's 40 largest mega-regions, in the U.S., Europe, Middle East, and Asia. The report ranks the regions and includes interesting qualitative data as the number of patents issued to the region. GEO

Texas Triangle Sightings [1.1]

Some new posts over at Houston Strategies by Tony Gattis, whose urban planning site regarding Houston is quite impressive.

• High-speed rail in Texas Triangle - Refers to article in The Houston Chronicle that argues for rail links within the TXT.
  
• Texas Triangle Top 10 Global Region - Discusses report publicized by Richard Florida, known for his work "The Rise of the Creative Class" that lists top 40 megaregions. .:.

Texas Triangle Sightings [1.0]

Two recent posts from Elise Bright, an urban planning professor at Texas A&M, at 4D Planning. The links reference an extensive survey of the TXT region:

• Texas Triangle
• Urban Megaregions .:.
  

Growth Engines

Inc. Magazine debuts new super list

Having previously published the Inc. 500, the New York-based publication recently upped the ante by publishing the Inc. 5,000. The list includes 325 Texas-based companies for 2007, which can be viewed here. The state of New York had just 288 listees, while California had 667. .:.

Desperately Seeking Creatives

New empirical study looks for Europe's "creative class"

The JENA Economic Research Papers group released a paper that tries to identify where Europe's creatives reside, and what impact they have on the economy. The study seeks to put numbers to Richard Florida's book, The Rise of the Creative Class, which argues that the so-called creative class is important to urban and economic development. Lures for such creatives include cultural and social institutions, and a diverse environment open to potentially hedonistic ideas. Florida argues strongly against social capital thinkers like Robert Putnam in Bowling Alone. His hypotheses are not without critics, which includes Joel Kotkin, author of The City. GEO