Planetizen: Megaregions and Megaproblems

From Planetizen: 

As America's metropolitan areas meld into "megaregions", officials and policymakers will need to figure out how to deal with their shared and growing infrastructure problems. Consider the ball rolling. The growing population of America is creating major metropolitan regions that can span state lines and encompass tens of millions of people. These emerging regions are projected to continue to grow, and as they do, their infrastructure is expected to struggle to keep up with the pace of expansion. In areas like transportation, energy and water, how these regions meet the needs of the near future is a question nobody quite knows how to answer.  What's needed is a "third century vision", says Mark Pisano, West Coast Director of America 2050, an effort to develop a nationwide infrastructure strategy. The group has been holding collaborative conferences with policymakers in each of the 11 "megaregions" forming in the U.S. to try to jumpstart regional thinking and cooperation . Due to their cross-border nature, these megaregions are seen by the group as stepping stones towards development of a national policy on infrastructure.