Approaches to allocating growth in the region: Regional Geographies
To create four regional growth alternatives for analysis in the DEIS, PSRC distributed the year 2040 forecasts for regional population and employment growth - 1.7 million people and 1.2 million jobs1 - into seven separate geographic categories within the region.
These categories were based on current city boundaries, and reflect how existing population and employment occurs in these areas, how growth is anticipated in current plans, as well as current thinking about the roles these areas might play in the region’s future.
The seven geographic categories are: Metropolitan Cities, Core Suburban Cities, Larger Suburban Cities, Smaller Suburban Cities, Unincorporated Urban Growth Areas, Rural Areas, and Natural Resource Areas (containing Forest, Agriculture, Mineral Resources). These categories are regional and cross county boundaries. The following map classifies the region’s cities and other areas according to these geographic categories
[1]The figures 1.7 million new people and 1.2 million new jobs refer to growth from the base year 2000 (which is needed for modeling and analysis purposes) and the year 2040. When discussing growth from the present (2005), the figures 1.6 million new people and 1.1 million new jobs are used. Throughout the DEIS chapters, the different chapters note which set of figures is being used.
