ABSTRACT
Metropolitan areas have always been important hubs of economic interaction, fostering and benefiting from innovations in commercial, manufacturing, communications, and transportation technologies. In the twenty-first century, however, only those metropolitan areas that adapt to global economic trends and provide the infrastructure and services that support knowledge-based and technology-driven industries will remain geographic nodes of worldwide business transactions. Relentless technological innovation, especially in globally interconnected digital communications, transportation, and logistics systems, has spawned the rapid growth of service and manufacturing industries linked through virtual networks and supply chains, and is increasing the demand for rapid delivery of high quality goods, services, and information in North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Globalization, the mobility of factors of production, and advances in information and transportation technology are fundamentally and pervasively changing the economic bases of metropolitan areas and the requirements for attracting and retaining competitive economic activities.
