ABSTRACT
In Europe, Japan, and many other parts of the world, the growth of multi-city regions is being managed by government policies that restrict development of historic and environmentally sensitive areas protect farmland, and center development around stations on rail transportation systems. In the United States most of the urbanization predicted for counties around the multi-city regions will be supported only by highways and local roads and there will be few protections for unurbanized land. The continued urbanization of the counties surrounding rapidly growing multi-city regions, as predicted in the population projections, will be a national disaster if growth follows the trend and takes place without conservation policies and is supported only by roads and highways. The Multi-City Region in the Pacific Northwest is projected to have an 83 percent increase in population by 2050 and an increase in the number of urbanized counties from 17 to 24.
