ABSTRACT
Many regions of interest to T&D planners are heavily populated and as a result very well developed in terms of roads, infrastructure, and buildings. Others are only sparsely populated, and have far fewer roads and infrastructure, as well as development. This chapter looks at the spectrum of regional types from sparse to urban core from the standpoint of the process of growth, and how it is best modeled. What characteristics of the growth process are important to the load forecaster? Are there fundamental differences in how and why a rural area grows as opposed to an urban area? How and when does a “rural area” make the transition to “suburban” and what characteristics does that process have?
