CHICAGO — Two scholars have come up with a new United States of America — one that includes an area they dub "Chicago" that includes the suburbs, parts of Indiana and a piece of Wisconsin.
The pair of researchers built their new map using algorithms based on commuting patterns. While the recent presidential election showed differences in voting from area to area, sometimes even within the same state, their new U.S. map isn't driven by politics, they say.
The academics, Dartmouth College geographer Garrett Nelson and Alisdair Rae of the University of Sheffield, say the new configuration of "mega-regions" reflect economic ties.
Looking at the country this way, instead of current state borders, some created decades if not hundreds of years ago, (Illinois was admitted as a state in 1818) could improve regional planning and help business decisions, they say.
"The researchers argue that these, rather than the current states, are the real units that make up the U.S. economy," according to a review of their work in the Washington Post's feature "Wonkblog."
Their research, published here, is dense. Titled "An Economic Geography of the United States: From Commutes to Megaregions," it uses U.S. Census data on 4 million commutes. A critique of the paper can be found on the National Geographic site here.
Rather than using the map to illustrate differences among Americans, Nelson tells the Post that his research "offers one way of using data to offer a kind of proof that 'we're in this together."
Even if it means some "Chicagoans" are Hoosiers and Cheeseheads.
Using commuting data, two researchers have come up with a new United States of America. Because the area covering Montana and parts of Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada and other states is so sparsely populated, the algorithm the researchers used wouldn't work effectively in setting up new state boundaries there.
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