Great Lakes Megalopolis

1907 Canadian major internal and cross border shipping routes

Map of the emerging American-Canadian megaregions as defined by America 2050.[2] This interpretation excludes the eastern part of the Windsor-Quebec City urban corridor from the Great Lakes Megalopolis.

The region was partially outlined as an emergent megalopolis in the 1961 book Megalopolis: The Urbanized Northeastern Seaboard of the United States by French geographer Jean Gottmann. Gottmann envisaged the development of other megalopolises in the U.S.: from Boston to Washington, D.C., from Chicago to Pittsburgh, and from San Francisco to San Diego.

In 1965, futurist Herman Kahn speculated about the three megalopolises in the year 2000.[3] In the 1960s and 1970s, urban planner and architect Constantinos Doxiadis wrote books, studies, and reports about the growth potential of the Great Lakes Megalopolis.[4] Doxiadis envisioned Detroit (on the U.S.-Canada border across from Windsor) as the central urban area in this megalopolis, which he defined as extending "from Milwaukee and Chicago to Detroit, Pittsburgh and Buffalo and into Canada from Windsor to Montreal and Quebec".[4][5]

In 2005, the Virginia Tech Metropolitan Institute's Beyond Megalopolis, an attempt to update Gottmann's work, outlined a similar "Midwest" megapolitan area as one of ten such areas in the United States (Canada is discussed tangentially).[6] Over 200 million tons of cargo are shipped annually through the Great Lakes.[7][8][9] The America 2050 project identified 11 Megaregions of the United States, including the Great Lakes Megalopolis.[10]^[A] The Canadian part of the region is also referred to as the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor, and the densest part in Southern Ontario has long been known as the Golden Horseshoe.

There are multiple government jurisdictions throughout the megalopolis. In addition to the federal governments of the United States and Canada, there are multiple U.S. state and two Canadian province jurisdictions, and many county and local governments. Most of the states have joined the provinces in forming the Conference of Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers to coordinate economic and environmental strategies throughout most of the region.[11]

According to the Brookings Institution, if it stood alone as a country, the economy of the Great Lakes region, which includes most of the Great Lakes Megalopolis, would be one of the largest economic units in the world with a $4.5-trillion gross regional product, roughly equal to Japan's. The five Great Lakes contain one-fifth of the world's surface fresh water and have a combined shoreline of 10,210 miles (17,017 km). About 200 million tons of cargo are shipped through the Great Lakes each year.[8][12][13]

Tourism is important to the region's economy. The Great Lakes Cruising Coalition supports passenger ship cruises through a joint U.S-Canadian venture to Great Lakes Ports and the Saint Lawrence Seaway.[14][15]

The Chicago metropolitan area, also called Chicagoland, is the largest metro economy in the Great Lakes Megalopolis. Chicago has one of the largest global urban area economies.[16]

The Great Lakes Megalopolis is home to several of the most prestigious universities in the United States, including the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, University of Michigan, University of Chicago, Northwestern University, University of Notre Dame, Washington University in St. Louis, and Case Western Reserve University. The region also contains large public universities such as The Ohio State University, University of Minnesota, University of Toronto, University of Wisconsin, University of Missouri, Indiana University, Purdue University, Michigan State University, and the University at Buffalo.

The Great Lakes Megalopolis includes the following major inter-urban corridors that are provided with freeway and passenger rail service in both the core and fringe areas of the mega-region. Major waterways for shipping and cruising are also indicated where applicable. Amtrak in the United States and Via Rail in Canada offer rail passenger service, while most Class I freight rail services also connect these points. A major rail shipping service in both Canada and the United States is provided on tracks owned by Canadian National Railway Company.

Several corridors have interstate highways but no comprehensive passenger rail service. These highway routes pass through both core and fringe areas of the Great Lakes megalopolis. The upper Great lakes region has a marine corridor that connects Lakes Superior, Huron, and Michigan. However, this route does not include parallel Amtrak passenger rail or interstate highway service.

An enlargeable map of the U.S. statistical areas along the Great Lakes. The lighter area shows the Great Lakes Basin watershed

Along the Great Lakes, there are 27 United States statistical areas - 13 Combined Statistical Areas, 3 Metropolitan Statistical Areas, and 12 Micropolitan Statistical Areas, as defined by the Office of Management and Budget.

The following sortable table lists the 27 statistical areas of the United States located on the Great Lakes with the following information:

1. Statistical areas on this table are based off the map to the right. All of these statistical areas are located along the Great Lakes.
2. Populations are based on lists from: Combined Statistical Areas, Metropolitan Statistical Areas, and Micropolitan Statistical Areas.
3. This list excludes Canadian cities along the Great Lakes.

The following four sortable tables list the 27 census statistical areas of the United States located on the Great Lakes, by lake, with the following information:

1. Populations are based on lists from: Combined Statistical Areas, Metropolitan Statistical Areas, and Micropolitan Statistical Areas.
2. The list excludes Canadian cities along the Great Lakes.

• Megalopolis (city type)
• Conference of Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers
• Megaregions of the United States
• Great Lakes
• Quebec City – Windsor Corridor
• Conurbation
• Combined Statistical Area
• Census Metropolitan Area

A. ^ ^a Various sources include Quebec City, Montreal and Ottawa in the Great Lakes Megalopolis, while excluding Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Louisville, and Columbus.[21] All these partial-consensus and non-consensus cities lie at the eastern, western, and southern fringes of the megalopolis.

• 
  Green Bay (right) to Indianapolis (far lower left)
• 
  Lakes Erie (right) and Ontario (left)
• 
  Indianapolis (left) to St. Louis (right)
• 
  Saint Paul
• 
  Fox Cities
• 
  Duluth
• 
  Cleveland
• 
  Jackson Wisconsin