7 ms·

I think one of the 'problems' in viewing the South as a homogeneous whole is that it is so huge and so sparsely populated. Austin, Dallas, and Atlanta (and to a

by shas3 11y ago

I think one of the 'problems' in viewing the South as a homogeneous whole is that it is so huge and so sparsely populated. Austin, Dallas, and Atlanta (and to an extent, Houston) are pretty tech-y, but they are all so far apart, unlike the Eastern Seaboard, SF-SV, SoCal, or Portland-Seattle. Mid-west has Raleigh-RTP-type pockets of science/tech in Minneapolis and Chicago, otherwise expanse is a problem in Dakotas, Iowa, etc. too. This expanse should be less and less of a problem as telecommuting becomes more prevalent. But geography is still a pretty big challenge to overcome.

bluedino 11y ago
Raleigh, NC is in the Midwest?
- sremani 11y ago
  He said Mid-west has Raleigh RTP type pockets.
jacobolus 11y ago
The South isn’t really sparsely populated by US standards. Here’s a choropleth map of 2010 population density by county: http://ecpmlangues.u-strasbg.fr/civilization/geography/maps/US%20Population%20density,%202010.png http://ecpmlangues.u-strasbg.fr/civilization/geography/maps/...
- shas3 11y ago
  Good point, there are two notable contiguous bands: Atlanta-Greenville-Charlotte-RTP and Florida Atlantic coast. A couple of things to add: in the south, distance between dense counties is large elsewhere- not too many contiguous regions/clusters. Then, there's also the question: is density sufficient to create a tech hub? Density is surely a factor, but far from sufficient. Edit: I feel compelled to add this image from Wikipedia: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/MapofEmergingUSMegaregions.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/MapofEme...
  - blahedo 11y ago
    The map is slightly deceptive when it comes to Virginia; here the cities are independent of the counties that often completely surround them, and so "city or county" is an equivalent-level government. So you see all the darkest-red dots running up the western part of Virginia? If the population in those cities were shared with the surrounding county and the density recalculated, you'd get a lot more of the middle-reds you see in western NC and SC. So the "Atlanta-Greenville-Charlotte-RTP" band that you see really continues all the way up to DC (where it becomes even denser and turns in to the Northeast Corridor Metroplex).

by shas3 11y ago

bluedino 11y ago

Raleigh, NC is in the Midwest?

sremani 11y ago
He said Mid-west has Raleigh RTP type pockets.

jacobolus 11y ago

The South isn’t really sparsely populated by US standards. Here’s a choropleth map of 2010 population density by county: http://ecpmlangues.u-strasbg.fr/civilization/geography/maps/US%20Population%20density,%202010.png http://ecpmlangues.u-strasbg.fr/civilization/geography/maps/...

shas3 11y ago
Good point, there are two notable contiguous bands: Atlanta-Greenville-Charlotte-RTP and Florida Atlantic coast. A couple of things to add: in the south, distance between dense counties is large elsewhere- not too many contiguous regions/clusters. Then, there's also the question: is density sufficient to create a tech hub? Density is surely a factor, but far from sufficient. Edit: I feel compelled to add this image from Wikipedia: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/MapofEmergingUSMegaregions.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/MapofEme...
- blahedo 11y ago
  The map is slightly deceptive when it comes to Virginia; here the cities are independent of the counties that often completely surround them, and so "city or county" is an equivalent-level government. So you see all the darkest-red dots running up the western part of Virginia? If the population in those cities were shared with the surrounding county and the density recalculated, you'd get a lot more of the middle-reds you see in western NC and SC. So the "Atlanta-Greenville-Charlotte-RTP" band that you see really continues all the way up to DC (where it becomes even denser and turns in to the Northeast Corridor Metroplex).