The Urban Archipelago

Imagine the great cities of our nation as a string of islands, floating, separated from the wheezing, helpless sunburned heartland. This is a sketch for a new set of maps and a new kind of patriotism.
THE URBAN ARCHIPELAGO

Analyzing the slanted data visualization of the map on the left, and offering a more incremental view, Dan Savage brings us a few new geographic ideas, and a huge pile of controversial logical conclusions.

It's time to state something that we've felt for a long time but have been too polite to say out loud: Liberals, progressives, and Democrats do not live in a country that stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Canada to Mexico. We live on a chain of islands. We are citizens of the Urban Archipelago, the United Cities of America. We live on islands of sanity, liberalism, and compassion--New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle, St. Louis, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and on and on.

I'll bring in a few of his numerical snippets:

according to the 2000 Census, 226 million people reside inside metropolitan areas--a number that positively dwarfs the 55 million people who live outside metro areas. The 85 million people who live in strictly defined central city limits also outnumber those rural relics.

Take a state like Wyoming, the arid, under-populated home of our glowering vice president Dick Cheney. Wyoming receives the second-highest amount of federal aid in the nation per capita (Alaska, another red state, is number one), and it ranks second lowest in federal taxes paid (behind only South Dakota). Overall, the federal government spent about $2,413 per capita in Wyoming for the fiscal year 2002 (the last year for which data is available), compared with almost exactly half that amount, or $1,205 per capita, for Washington State. This ridiculous disparity extends even to Homeland Security funds, which ought to be targeted toward the most vulnerable areas--coastlines, big city landmarks, porous borders. But landlocked Wyoming, with exactly zero important strategic targets, merits $38.31 per capita in Homeland Security funds. New York state residents get a measly $5.47. An urban agenda would argue for kicking Wyoming off the federal dole. States should pay their own way, not come to cities begging for handouts.

A pair of the more fiery conclusions/tactics/exampls he provides:

[On] Air pollution, for instance: We should be aggressive. If coal is to be burned, it has to be burned as cleanly as possible so as not to foul the air we all have to breathe. But if West Virginia wants to elect politicians who allow mining companies to lop off the tops off mountains and dump the waste into valleys and streams, thus causing floods that destroy the homes of the yokels who vote for those politicians, it no longer matters to us.

and:

If red-state dads aren't concerned enough about their own children to put trigger locks on their own guns, it's not our problem. If a kid in a red state finds his daddy's handgun and blows his head off, we'll feel terrible (we're like that), but we'll try to look on the bright side: At least he won't grow up to vote like his dad.

Wow, this is the kind of chatter that is bound to get some people riled up.

The article isn't all controversy though, Savage provides thoughtful ideas on the nurturing of a political image based around the urban environment, mass transit, state and local political spending, identity and stem cell research.

I highly recommend checking the article out, if not for actual consideration of politics in 21st century America, at least for the geographical images of THE URBAN ARCHIPELAGO.

Comments

[Tracy Rolling]

I saw this map a while back, too. It's pretty interesting.

As for the flames, I think they're unfortunate. The divisive red/blue thing is annoying. The idea that we're not all in this together, no matter who you vote for, is just as deep on both sides of the spectrum, and it's a real shame. People don't vote for the Republicans because they are dumb. So, why do they? Some of the reasons might be good.

[Scootdown]

I saw something similar to this right after the election. It showed how simplified the abstract map can be. I guess we're more of a "Purple" country than we thought.

For some though, these maps can be a helpful guide to choosing where to live. First the state, then the city area. "Birds of a feather..."