Population concentration in United States city-systems from 1790 to 2000: historical trends and current phases.

ABSTRACT Among the industrialised nations of the world, the USA has a relatively short history of urbanisation. This fact and the ready availability of reliable historical data have made the USA a fertile place for studying the nature of urban and regional growth from its earliest beginnings. This paper analyses the patterns of city and hinterland, or city-system, population concentration in the United States from 1790 to 2000. The Hoover index is employed to calculate population concentration in 46 city-systems for each federal census. A model showing three phases in city-system population concentration is proposed. Recent population trends are then used to map the current concentration phases of the US city-systems. Much of the central part of the country and the mountain west should concentrate in population during the next decade while many of the Northeastern, Florida, and Californian city-systems are more likely to experience population deconcentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]