ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the Cascadia megapolitan cluster in terms of major demographic and housing trends, employment and development projections, the extent of economic dependency, and attractiveness characteristics. Growth in the Cascadia megapolitan cluster and its megapolitan areas will be dominated by minorities, chiefly Hispanics followed by Asians. Between 2010 and 2040, the Cascadia megapolitan cluster will add more than 1.5 million residential units to its inventory. The Cascadia megapolitan cluster as a whole saw an increase three times more than that of the only other megapolitan cluster to see an increase, the Texas Triangle. In 2010, the Cascadia megapolitan cluster could support about 2.2 billion square feet of nonresidential space including industrial, commercial, and institutional uses. Roughly, about two-thirds of the Cascadia megapolitan cluster's population lives in a knowledge class county, and about 90 percent of the megapolitan cluster's population growth will occur in these counties.
