Event
Megalopolis, USA
Presenter: Kristian Taketomo, Doctoral Candidate in History
Discussant: Mark Stern, Professor of Social Policy and History
Breafast treats, coffee, and tea in the URBS space, Room 130 McNeil!
Kristian Taketomo will present reasearch from the first chapter of his dissertation on the development and changing meaning of the "urban" classification over time (late-18th century to mid-twentieth century) at the U.S. Census Bureau. While the bulk of his dissertation, "Megalopolis, USA," looks at the more recent past--examining the intellectual origins and the political, economic, and cultural impact of the "mega-region" concept after World War II--this section serves as a jumping off point. In this chapter, Taketomo discussed how the Census Bureau grappled with the question "what constitutes a city?" as American cities grew in size and number, "urban" ways of life proliferated, and statistical science became increasingly specialized.