A Megasite or Mega-site is a

land development Land development is the alteration of landscape in any number of ways, such as: * Changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or House, housing * subdivision (land), Subdividing real estate into Lot ( ...

by private developers, universities, or governments to promote

business cluster A business cluster is a geographic concentration of interconnected businesses, suppliers, and associated institutions in a particular field. Clusters are considered to increase the productivity with which companies can compete, nationally and gl ...

s. These organizations develop the land so that it is "

shovel ready In politics, a shovel ready construction project (usually larger-scale infrastructure) is where planning and engineering is advanced enough that—with sufficient funding—construction can begin within a very short time. The term was popularized ...

" for

big business Big business involves large-scale corporate-controlled financial or business activities. As a term, it describes activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things". In corporate jargon, the concept is commonly ...

, by improving the

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and pri ...

(roads, utilities, landscape, and

hydrology Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and drainage basin sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is called a hydro ...

). Megasites can be an

industrial district Industrial district (ID) is a place where workers and firms, specialised in a main industry and auxiliary industries, live and work. The concept was initially used by Alfred Marshall to describe some aspects of the industrial organisation of nat ...

business park A business park or office park is a designated area of land in which many office buildings are grouped together. These types of developments are often located in suburban areas where land and building costs are more affordable, and are typically ...

research park The following is a list of science park, technology parks and biomedical parks of the world, organized by continent. Asia China Mainland China * Shanghai Pudong Software Park (Shanghai) * Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park (''aka'' Zhangjiang Drug ...

science park A science park (also called a "university research park", "technology park", "technopark", "technopolis", "technopole", or a "science and technology park" TP is defined as being a property-based development that accommodates and fosters ...

commercial district Commercial area, commercial district or commercial zone in a city is an area, district, or neighborhoods primarily composed of commercial buildings, such as a strip mall, office parks, downtown, central business district, financial district, " ...

, tourist park or a combination of these.

Location

Megasites are located in

suburban A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

areas, in contrast to

business district Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." A business entity is not necessar ...

s located in downtown city centers. These sites are typically created close to pre-existing transportation infrastructure ( interstates, railroads, intermodal ports,

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

s, and

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s) and

public utilities A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and r ...

(

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

, substations,

Three-phase electric power Three-phase electric power (abbreviated 3ϕ) is a common type of alternating current (AC) used in electricity generation, transmission, and distribution. It is a type of polyphase system employing three wires (or four including an optional n ...

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewerage, sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged fro ...

, fixed-line, and

Broadband In telecommunications, broadband or high speed is the wide-bandwidth (signal processing), bandwidth data transmission that exploits signals at a wide spread of frequencies or several different simultaneous frequencies, and is used in fast Inter ...

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

services from

Coaxial cable Coaxial cable, or coax (pronounced ), is a type of electrical cable consisting of an inner Electrical conductor, conductor surrounded by a concentric conducting Electromagnetic shielding, shield, with the two separated by a dielectric (Insulat ...

fiber-optic An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...

and

Mobile broadband Mobile broadband is the marketing term for Wireless broadband, wireless Internet access via mobile network, mobile (cell) networks. Access to the network can be made through a portable modem, wireless modem, or a Tablet computer, tablet/smartp ...

). It's also located close to

human capital Human capital or human assets is a concept used by economists to designate personal attributes considered useful in the production process. It encompasses employee knowledge, skills, know-how, good health, and education. Human capital has a subs ...

such as large populations, universities, or

trade school A vocational school (alternatively known as a trade school, or technical school), is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational ...

s. Land area for these sites can range from several hundred to several thousand acres.

Examples

Government

Memphis Regional Megasite, Golden Triangle (Mississippi), and Research Triangle Park (North Carolina) are examples of government initiated Megasites in America.

Private

CenterPoint Properties, Eastman Business Park, and Denver Tech Center are examples of private Mega-Sites.

University

Stanford Industrial Park (now

Stanford Research Park Stanford Research Park (SRP) is a technology park established in 1951 as a joint initiative between Stanford University and the Palo Alto, California, City of Palo Alto. It was the world's first university research park. It has more than 150 com ...

) was the first university to facilitate a private Megasite, that helped in the creation of

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

Military bases to megasites

Decommissioned military bases have been converted in the past to economic hubs. They repurpose the buildings and redevelop the land while working with and selling/leasing the land to private developers. Military bases are secessioned from the state, hence they don't have to pay sales taxes at the exchanges. If they were to keep that land partitioned from the state, business and property would be exempt from local and state taxes, making it a boom for business clusters.

References

{{reflist Economic geography Strategic management Planned industrial developments