Illinois and It's Connection to Megalopolis

                                                                                     

Illinois Geographical Divisions

Just like Megalopolis in the Northeastern United States, Illinois also has an incredible population totaling nearly thirteen million. Within Illinois, there are three major geographical regions or divisions.


The first is Northern Illinois which is dominated by the Chicago Metro Area and it includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs, and the adjoining exurban area. The Chicago Metro Area includes several counties in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. Chicago is a cosmopolitan city, densely populated, industrialized, the transportation hub of the nation, and settled by a wide variety of ethnic groups with a population of 9.8 million people.

Southward and westward, the second major division is Central Illinois, which is mostly a prairie area. Known as the Heart of Illinois, it is characterized by small towns and mid-sized cities. Agriculture, particularly corn and soybeans, as well as educational institutions and manufacturing centers are within this region. Cities include Peoria, Springfield, Quincy, Decatur, Bloomington-Normal, and Champaign-Urbana.


The third division is Southern Illinois, comprising the area south of Route 50 near the juncture of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.This region can be distinguished from the other two by its warmer climate, different variety of crops, more rugged topography, as well as small-scale oil deposits and coal mining. The Illinois suburbs of St. Louis comprise the second most populous metropolitan area in Illinois with over 700,000 inhabitants, and are known collectively as the Metro-East. The other significant concentration of population in Southern Illinois is the Carbondale-Marion-Herrin, Illinois, home to 123,272 residents.

Illinois Rail Map

Illinois Highway Map

As is the case with Megaopolis, Illinois has changed over the years with impacts on the land due to agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and population settlement. As urban regions of the state began to become crowded, people started to move out of the city and into the suburbs and exurbs of the state. This has lead to a wider distribution of the population over greater areas leading to a more complex infrastructure of highways, railroads, and roads. Along with a greater population distribution, more manufacturing jobs have moved into the suburbs and exurbs as well as office parks, shopping areas, and other services that were once located within the urban core. Some of the negative impacts that suburbanization has had on the state include longer commute times, traffic congestion, etc. A positive impact has been a more diverse transportation network that allows residents to commute to and from their homes to their jobs in the city.