Metropolitan Areas Spread Out
Jerry W. Szatan, William Testa
Our population continues to move away from rural areas and into metropolitan areas. As it does so, the shape and governance of metropolitan areas are changing in several significant ways. The density of our living and working space is falling as jobs and people continue to spread outward from the central city. In the process, the central city typically loses population, especially middle class residents, to suburban communities. And as population leaves the central city, a growing share of residents is being represented by small suburban governments plus a multitude of overlapping "special district" governments.
