Spatial Isolation and Punching Above Denver’s (Population) Weight

One of the reasons the Denver Metro area is such an interesting and exciting place is that it has a disproportionately large concentration of urban economic activity and amenities compared to most areas its size. According to the 2000 United States Census, the Denver Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA) was the 19th largest CMSA in the country. However, as the following illustrative list shows, it ranks much higher than its population would suggest in many important urban dimensions:

• The Denver central business district is the 11th largest downtown in the country as measured by total employment.
• Denver International Airport (DIA) is currently the 5th busiest airport in the United States.
• Metro Denver has the second largest number of federal government employees of any metro area in the U.S.
• The Denver metro area is one of only 13 areas to have a professional sports “grand slam” with teams in each of the four major leagues. Metro Denver has the smallest population of any metro area with a grand slam. Additionally, the Mile High City is one of only four cities which have a team from each league located within the city’s municipal border.
• The Denver Center for the Performing Arts is the second largest performing arts complex in the country.
• The Denver Public Library - Blair Caldwell African American Research Library is the only facility of its kind between Detroit, Michigan and Oakland, California.
• Denver hosts one of the largest Cinco de Mayo Festivals in the United States.
• Combined, The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News have the 8th largest newspaper circulation in the United States.

So why does Metro Denver “punch above its weight” in terms of these economic activities and urban amenities? Historical, political and other factors play a part. For example, Denver’s role as the capital city for the State of Colorado – a relatively rare position for the largest city in a state – promotes the metro area’s economic and cultural success. Additionally, well run local governments in the City and County of Denver and the surrounding jurisdictions also make an important contribution.

However, I believe that the central reason for Denver’s strong rankings compared to other cities is its geographic location. Of all the metro areas with populations over 2 million people in the United States, Denver is the farthest from other such areas. The closest metro area to Denver with a population of more than 2 million is Kansas City which is more than 600 miles away to the east. Other cites – Phoenix (800 miles southwest), Minneapolis (900 miles northeast), Chicago (1000 miles northeast), Portland (1300 miles northwest), and San Francisco (1300 miles west) – are even further away. There are no areas with populations greater than 2 million directly north or south from Denver in the continental United States. Denver fills a very large population void in the western central portion of the country.

Denver’s physical isolation from other large population centers means that for a very geographically large region of the United States, Denver is the nearest major metropolitan center – as is accurately implied by two of its nicknames “the Queen City of the Plains” and “Capital of the Rocky Mountain Empire.” The Denver Metro area has a strong centripetal economic and cultural pull throughout the Rocky Mountain West and parts of the Mid-West.

Denver’s central location makes it an ideal transportation, logistics and distribution junction, as shown by its hub status in the national railroad and air transportation networks. This role as a transportation hub is particularly notable given that Denver is one of only a few major cities to develop without access to a navigable body of water such as an ocean, great lake or river.

When policy makers and civic leaders in Metro Denver are planning economic development strategies they should leverage Metro Denver’s geographic location and spatial isolation and be aware of the drawbacks of isolation (e.g less economic spillover from other large nearby cities). The public sector investments in developing DIA and the regional collaboration with other cities in the Rocky Mountain and Sun Belt West used to secure the 2008 Democratic National Convention for Denver are two outstanding examples of promoting economic development by playing to Metro Denver’s geographic strengths.