We Americans are going through the most radical change in a century in how we build our world, and most of us don't even know it. From coast to coast, every metropolis that is growing is doing so by sprouting strange new kinds of places: Edge Cities...Most of us now spend our entire lives in and around these Edge Cities, yet we barely recognize them for what they are. That's because they look nothing like the old downtowns; they meet none of our preconceptions of what constitutes a city. Our new Edge Cities are tied together not by locomotives and subways, but by freeways, jetways and jogging paths. Their characteristic monument is not a horse-mounted hero in the square, but an atrium shielding trees perpetually in leaf at the cores of our corporate headquarters, fitness centers, and shopping plazas...The wonder is that these places, these curious new urban cores, were villages or corn stubble just 30 years ago.
What are the edge cities around Cleveland? Garreau's book lists the I-271 and Chagrin Boulevard area as a full-blown edge city. The I-77 and Rockside Road area is listed as an emerging edge city. In addition, one should add the Great Northern area.
