This is Volume II of a series of six on Urban and Regional Economics originally published in 1960. This study discusses the future of urban developments in America. Has they already have megapolitan belts, sprawling regions of quasi-urban settlement stretching along coast lines or major transportation routes, current concepts of the community stand to be challenged. What will remain of local government and institutions if locality ceases to have any historically recognizable form? The situations described in this book pertain to the mid-century United States of some 150 million people. What serviceable image of metropolis and region can we fashion for a country of 300 million? The prospect for such a population size by the end of the twentieth century is implicit in current growth rates, as is the channeling of much of the growth into areas now called metropolitan or in process of transfer to that class.

Preface, Chapter I. Metropolis and Region: A Mid-Century Bench, Part I. The Metropolis and Its Functions, Part II. Metropolitan Dominance: Hinterland Activities, Part Ill. Industry Structure and Regional Relationships, Part IV. Fifty Major Cities and Their Regional Relationships, Appendix: Sources and Adjustment of Data, Bibliography, Index.