They've decided that regions are the fundamental unit of marketplace. When they market, they don't market to 187 cities, they market to regions. They think of a unified labor force. They think of a unified system. In Orfield's view, this economic reality points to a common social responsibility.
Regions have benefits of being together.
They also have responsibilities together. To the extent that regions can deal with the benefits and responsibilities of regional growth and regional poverty together, they're healthier. Social and environmental problems are driving businesses and middle-class families, key sources of tax revenue, to outer suburbs. Polarization within regions is creating its own self- reinforcing dynamic. For example, the outer southwestern quadrant of the Twin Cities, with 25 percent of regional population, gained 60 percent of new jobs and tax base added in the 1980s.