Mountain Megas: America’s Newest Metropolitan Places
A Brookings and Metropolitan Policy Program forum in Denver highlighted opportunities created by the emerging metropolitan areas in the Intermountain West region.
America’s Intermountain West is experiencing some of the highest rates of population growth and economic/demographic change in the country. The region—consisting of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah—has grown nearly three times faster than the United States as a whole over the past two decades, led by triple-digit population growth in Nevada. In short, the Intermountain region is becoming the new American Heartland as more and more people move to the area, making its economy, people, and politics more and more central to the nation.
On Tuesday, July 22, the authors of a new report, “Mountain Megas: America’s Newest Metropolitan Places and a Federal Partnership to Help Them Prosper” held a forum in Denver to discuss their findings. Opening remarks were made by Utah Governor Jon Huntsman and Colorado Governor Bill Ritter. The presentation was followed by a question-and-answer session with regional leaders.
Agenda
Welcome
Tom Clark
Chief Executive Officer - Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation
John Hickenlooper
Governor of Colorado
Opening Remarks
Jon Huntsman Jr.
U.S. Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China
The Honorable Bill Ritter, Jr.
Former Governor of Colorado
Presentation
Robert E. Lang
Senior Fellow - Metropolitan Policy Program
Response
Scott Smith
Former Mayor - City of Mesa
Former Nonresident Senior Fellow - Metropolitan Policy Program
Deanna Archuleta
Commissioner, Bernalillo County, NM
Tom Clark
Chief Executive Officer - Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation
Jacob Snow
General Manager, Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Alan Matheson
Executive Director, Envision Utah
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