Nearly one in six Americans lives in "Megalopolis," an area of the northeastern United States along the I-95 corridor that includes the cities of Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. Liquid City is the first book to examine the major changes that have taken place in this "Main Street of the Nation" over the last half century. In 1957, geographer Jean Gottman used the term "Megalopolis" to denote the Boston-to-Washington corridor. His seminal book, Megalopolis: The Urbanized Northeastern Seaboard of the United States, described the social, economic, and demographic characteristics of one of the largest city regions in the world. John Rennie Short juxtaposes Gottman's work with his own examination, providing a comprehensive assessment of the region's evolution. Particularly important is Short's use of the 2000 census data and his discussion of Megalopolis as a source of identity for the area's forty-nine million inhabitants. This clear and accessible book focuses on five main aspects of change in the region: population redistribution from cities to suburbs; economic restructuring as exemplified by the suburbanization of employment; the role of immigration; patterns of racial/ethnic segregation; and the processes of globalization that have made Megalopolis one of the world's most influential economies.

John Rennie Short is professor of public policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.