ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses major demographic and housing trends, employment and development projections, the extent of economic dependency, attractiveness characteristics, and major planning and development challenges in Mountain Megapolitan Cluster. The Mountain megapolitan cluster is composed of two bands of metropolitan complexes, both extending along Rocky Mountain ranges. Most of the growth in the Mountain megapolitan cluster during the period 2010–2040 will be attributable to minorities. Essentially, all of the Mountain megapolitan cluster's population lives in metropolitan counties, with 95 percent living in metropolitan areas of more than 250,000 residents. More than 80 percent of the megapolitan cluster's population lives in a knowledge class county—the highest rate in the nation. The Mountain megapolitan cluster could support about 1.9 billion square feet of nonresidential space including industrial, commercial, and institutional uses, in 2010. Growth-related and replaced space will be roughly equivalent to 1.6 times the nonresidential space existing in 2010.
