example, is an emerging strip of urban development that extends from San Antonio,
Texas to Kansas City, closely following the interstate highway that links these cities
and a string of others lying in between. The “Valley of the Sun” is a megalopolis
centered on Phoenix, Arizona, while “Piedmont” is the urbanized region emerging
along the southeastern flank of the Appalachian Mountains. But the development
of such “super cities” is not limited to North America, of course. In Japan theTa ihey o
Beltis an enormous urban concentration of more than 80 million people, running
from Tokyo on the island of Honshu to the northern end of the island of Kyushu,
connected by high-speed trains. The Taiheyo Belt represents one of the most dense
concentrations of industrial and financial development in the world, all focused in a
strip of territory the size of southern California between San Francisco and Los
Angeles. Indeed, megalopoli appear to be emerging in many corners of the planet,
and it seems likely that such enormous urban clusters will dominate the urban land-
scape of the future. This will present new challenges in the form of transportation
infrastructure, integration and governance, environmental degradation and quality
of life, and very likely others that have yet to appear. Changes in thecultural land-
scape,as well as incultural identity,also seem inevitable as the megalopolis
evolves into the defining feature of urban life.Mental Maps
Spatial information about the world, carried in one’s mind. Studies in behavioral
geography have shown that all humans utilize mental maps, although to varying
degrees and at different levels of ability. The formation of a mental map is gener-
ally a subconscious process and begins at an early age. This “braincartography”
provides a means of organizing our activities, recognizing our “home” terrain, and
negotiating through places that are new and unfamiliar. Without the ability to form
mental maps, humans would lack the capacity to venture forth to locate food (done
today at a local supermarket, but only a few thousand years ago in a field or forest),
find a mate, and other vital behaviors—in other words, the formation of mental
maps is crucial to human survival. The average person forms a mental map
through experience—as one explores an unfamiliar landscape, various spatial
“cues” or markers are noted and recorded, providing points of reference that later
can be recalled when encountered again. The process works exactly the same way,
whether one is exploring a highly organized and complex urban environment or a
pristine wilderness. Street signs in a city provide the same type of mental bench-
mark as an unusual looking tree, a spring, or a pile of rocks does in a forest—both
allow an individual to organize and traverse a new spatial environment. As that224 Mental Maps