Chapter 1 What’s Wrong with This Picture? 1

The Multi-Centered Metro Region Is the New Spatial Form of Urbanism 4

Lefebvre Anticipates the MCMR 5

Castells Anticipates the Digital Age 6

What Follows 6

Chapter 2 The City Is Dead. Long Live the City 8

The New Form of Urban Space 8

Early Approaches to Regional Multi-Centered Growth: Geddes and Gottmann 9

Metropolitics: One Story of Attempted Regional Policy for the MCMR 10

The Digital Age 13

Chasing After the MCMR by the US Census Over Time 15

Regional Studies as a Better Means of Capturing Social Space 20

Moving On 22

Chapter 3 Henri Lefebvre’s Urbanism: Right and Wrong 23

Lefebvre’s Urbanism Theory 25

The Production of Space: Understanding Why Space Is a Force of Production 28

The Stages of Society and Their Spatial Formations 29

The Second Circuit of Capitalism 31

Capital Logic Theory and Reductionist Marxism 34

The Difference in Returns on Land Between the City and the MCMR 37

The Current Crisis 40

Chapter 4 How the Modernist City of Corporations Transformed into the MCMR 42

Breaking the Ideological Bias Favoring the City 43

The Modern City of Corporate Capitalism 45

The Capitalism of Corporations and the Metropolitan City Form 46

The Burgess Model and Post-war Suburbanization 49

The Chicago School of Sociology 49

The Limited Relevance of Urban Density 53

Mass Suburbanization and the Birth of a Mass Consumer Society 55

The Role of Racism in Mass Suburbanization 57

Mass Suburbanization Leads to the Mass Consumer Society 58

The Shift to the Sunbelt and the Dominance of the MCMR Form 59

The Scale Perspective 62

Chapter 5 How the MCMR Functions as the New Form of Urban Space 68

Deconcentration and Reconcentration—The Dual Forces Creating the MCMR 70

Deconcentration 70

Reconcentration 73

New Spaces of Consumption and Business Anchoring the MCMR 74

The Regional Mall 75

The Airport as a Growth Pole 77

Scientific, Industrial, and Commercial Parks 80

Science and High Tech Mini-centers 81

The Golden Age of Supermarkets, The Commercial Strip: Mini-centers Sustain MCMR Living 81

Theming Sustains Business in the MCMR 83

The MCMR and the Digital Media Revolution 84

Chapter 6 The Space of Flows: Part One: Transportation 86

Poor Public Transportation Is a National Disgrace 87

The Unbelievable Story of Mass Transportation Destruction 87

Creating an Automobile Culture: Power Not Preference Rules the Day 91

Shameful Neglect of Our Historical Mass Transport Legacy 92

Can We Rebalance Our Auto/Mass Transit Society? 93

The Mixed Case of Government Spending on Mass Transit 95

What We Can Learn from Previous Projects Wasting Money and Time 95

High Speed Transport as the New Hope 98

Chapter 7 The Space of Flows: The Digital Age 100

Digital Media and Everyday Life—Negotiating the MCMR Space 102

Manuel Castells and the Network Society 102

Critiques—Relevance to the MCMR 104

Digital Technology and the Smart City 106

Transforming Settlement Space for Smartphone Applications 107

Equality Assessment for Digital Access 108

New Developments Advertising “Wired” Access—the “Smart City” 108

Chapter 8 Affordable Housing and the MCMR 110

The Affordable Housing Crisis 111

What Is the Crisis About? 111

What Are the Causes of Crisis? 113

Housing Speculation and the Truth Inside Lefebvre’s Second Circuit 113

Covid and Inflation as Causes for the Housing Crisis 115

Some Solutions to the Affordable Housing Crisis 117

How the Federal Government Dealt with Housing in the Past-bounty and Corruption Together 118

How Tokyo Created Affordable Housing 121

Some Creative Cases from the US 124

Minneapolis Downzoning 124

Habitat for Humanity 125

Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) 125

How European Cities Created Affordable Rental Housing 126

Chapter 9 The Unhoused Crisis: Shame of a Nation 128

Falling Down the Rabbit Hole of Cruel and Unusual 130

Eviction: Capitalism as Inhumane 131

Some Results of the Study 132

What About Desmond’s Proposed Solutions? 133

Solutions to the Unhoused Crisis: Case Studies 134

UK: Monitoring Is Right and Wrong 134

Finland: A Simple Plan 135

What Worked in Finland Is Attacked in the US 136

Using the MCMR Expanse to Find Shelter for the Unhoused 137

Houston Case Study 137

Cincinnati Case Study 138

The War Against the Unhoused 138

Cities Alone Cannot Bear the Burden 139

Chapter 10 Perpetual Problems: Racism, Segregation, Their Effects, and the MCMR Solution 140

White Racism Is a Cultural Problem; Do Black Culture Changes Help? 141

African American Segregation—the Material Sign of Racism and Poverty 142

The Costs of Involuntary Segregation 142

Measuring Segregation 143

The Taubers 143

Hypersegregation 144

Ghettoization 145

Massey and Denton’s Measure of Isolation 147

The Barrio as Ghetto and Hispanic Segregation 148

Understanding the Barrio 148

Mexican American Urban Removal 149

The Crisis in Mexican American Education 150

The Useless Class and the White, Blue Collar Education Problem 152

Does MCMR Residency Have an Effect on Segregation? 152

Analytical Research of Data says “Yes” 153

America’s MCMRs Are on the Frontline of Racial and Ethnic Neighborhood Change 155

White Racism and the Effect of Central City Gentrification 157

Before and After Covid: Is Gentrification All Bad? 157

Chapter 11 Urban Planning in the MCMR 159

Regional Urban Planning vs. City Urban Planning: Understanding the Differences 160

Defining Regional Urban Planning 160

Defining City Urban Planning 160

The MCMR and Regional Planning 161

The Regional Planning Authority Dilemma 162

Anti-planning Ideologies 163

The Ideology of Privatism 163

Exclusionary Zoning 164

The Ideology of NIMBY 165

How Local Political Control Undercuts Regional Planning 165

Planned Sprawl 166

Zoning and Its Discontents 169

New Urbanism, Old Urbanism, City of the Future: Planning Strategies to Preserve Urban Life 170

New Urban Planning for Pedestrians but Not Local Shops 172

Chapter 12 Architecture and the MCMR – The Crisis of Environmental Sustainability and Landmark Building 173

Urban Heat Islands 173

Environmental Solutions to Mini-center Pollution 174

Climate Change and the Need for Innovation 175

The Important Role of Architecture for Sustainable Building 176

Sustainable Design and Passive Strategies 177

Green Roofs and Walls 177

The Well Building Movement and the European Commission’s New Bauhaus 178

Architecture and the MCMR—Signature Buildings as Landmarks 179

Attracting Consumers to Locations in the MCMR—Themes and Landmarks 180

Signature Architecture vs Landmarks 181

Chapter 13 Public Policy and the MCMR: Political Fragmentation, Social Polarization, and Some Possible Solutions to Regional Governance 186

The Government Eating Itself 187

Fragmentation of Local Government 188

Hung Up by Historical Artifact of Many Local Governments 188

The Lasting Effects of Covid on Regional Governance 190

Failing Infrastructure Cost Outstrips Local Government Resources 190

Some Possible Solutions: 191

Switching to a MCMR Perspective and Using Digital Technology 191

The Need for Professional Local Managers 192

The Mass Immigration Problem Requires a Regional Solution 192

The State vs. City Dilemma Paralyzing Policy Progress 194

An MCMR Solution via “Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration” 195

MSI Morphs to Ethical Considerations 196

Chapter 14 Neoliberalism and Its Failure to Contain Social Problems: The Current Crisis, the Need for Social Action, and the Fallacy of the “Right to the City” 198

The New Regime of Accumulation: Global Capitalism and Neoliberalism 199

Post-1975 Transformation to Neoliberalism—Direct Forms of Intervention for Capital 201

Austerity 202

Why Lefebvre remains important 204

Tax the Super Rich 205

The Right to the City Fallacy and the Importance of Urban Social Movements 206

Castells vs. Lefebvre 207

Bibliography 208

Index 225