Cities: the pattern of incorporated municipal units
The nucleus of the Memphis metro area consists of 16 cities, which form a continuous urban pattern. The only break in continuity of this pattern is caused by the Mississippi River, which separates the western section of the metro (West Memphis and Marion, Arkansas) from its eastern section in Tennessee and Mississippi. Each of these contiguous cities is a distinct political unit and lies in one of three counties located in different states. Urban growth extends beyond the incorporated cities into Tipton and Fayette counties to the north and east in Tennessee. At the center of the region is the city of Memphis, which is surrounded by a series of 15 other municipalities. Seven of the metro cities, including the center city of Memphis, are located in Shelby County, Tennessee. Two additional cities are in Tennessee, five in Mississippi and two in Arkansas. The cities range in size from Memphis with more than 500,000 people to Piperton with fewer than 1,000 residents.

The central city of Memphis was established at the juncture of the point where the river joins with the radial pattern of transportation corridors. The 15 other communities were grouped along different corridors. Along the I-40 corridor are the cities of Bartlett, Lakeland, and Arlington, while along the Poplar/Bill Morris Parkway corridor are Germantown, Collierville and Piperton. A series of municipalities is located in DeSoto County, along and between the US-61, US-78 and I-55 include Olive Branch, Hernando, Horn Lake and Southaven. To the north along the US-51 corridor is the stand-alone city of Millington. Beyond the metro edge and between the US-51, I-40 and US-78 corridors are cities that are beginning to experience the effects of metro growth. They will ultimately become adjacent metro cities.

Growth: the pattern of metro expansion and change
The Memphis metro area has a growth pattern that is unusual for major metro areas of a comparable size. It is unusual in that the suburban areas experiencing high growth outside the I-240 beltway are not heavily biased to one side, but rather equally distributed on the three sides of the I-240 beltway. This pattern of suburban expansion is filling in the space between formerly independent cities and is creating an increasingly large and low-density metro area. The pattern within the beltway is unusual, since it is experiencing both growth and chronic decline. Chronic urban deterioration, defined here as population loss, is concentrated in a small group of dispersed pockets and not in a pattern of massive continuous areas typical of most inner beltway zones of most large metro areas.

The forces shaping the future growth pattern are the major transportation projects (especially the construction of the outer beltway) and the development of new employment centers like the proposed Chickasaw Trail Industrial Park located in both Mississippi and Tennessee near the junction of the Bill Morris Parkway and TN 385. The combination of a beltway with an adjacent major employment center will generate extensive residential growth along this outer belt. Countering the outward expansion is a series of projects inside the parkways aimed at strengthening the medical complex, tourism, sports and convention facilities. These activities are being combined with a center city residential strategy, which should increase the stability and balance of the center city population.

The position of each of the 16 cities within the metro will significantly affect their growth potential and strategy. Those with a location in Shelby County at the center of the metro (including Memphis, Germantown and Bartlett) will eventually have fixed boundaries with no further growth potential due to the proximity of surrounding cities, while the other metro cities have the potential to grow almost indefinitely. Those with fixed city limits will have to depend on various revitalization and re-urbanization strategies, while those with indefinite growth potential will face a host of major infrastructure, education and service issues.

Proximity: the relationships between the major centers
Throughout the metro area are a series of dense urban concentrations or centers. The traditional urban centers are typically mixed-use, while the new commercial centers are typically more specialized in areas such as retail, office space, industrial or transportation. As the metro area grows, these centers evolve, reacting to market and sub-market conditions related to demographic changes, new transportation investments, and other government policies and investments.

The spacing and relationship of these centers have a powerful effect on the metro transportation and growth pattern. The centers represent the greatest concentrations of employment and form the destination points for passenger and cargo traffic. Centers typically are measured in terms of use, employment and square footage.

The principal centers are located in a series of six rings at 3.5, 7, 10, 15, 22 and 30 miles from the traditional downtown. Along the I-40 corridor beyond the beltway is a series of centers at each of the outer three rings. The largest concentration of centers is east of the Mississippi River, with the traditional downtowns of West Memphis at 7 miles and Marion at 10 miles to the west.

As the metro area expands farther outward, development activity is blurring the distinction between the downtown and midtown and forming a single consolidated and massive "metro center." The largest, most functionally diverse and continuous series of centers is located along the Poplar Avenue corridor at every ring except the 30-mile ring. The construction of the interstate highways and the beltway has generated another group of centers, two of which have become mega-centers. The Memphis International Airport, located to the south along the beltway between the seven- and 10-mile ring, forms a mega-center with its concentration of transportation, administrative, hotel and distribution facilities, while the large mixed use office, hotel and retail concentration at the intersection of the beltway and the Poplar corridor is a second growing mega-center.

Corridors: a description of the metro corridor pattern
The pattern of corridors forms the primary structure upon which the urbanization of the metro takes place. A combination of interstate and arterial, radial and beltway corridors and the Mississippi River forms the corridor pattern of the Memphis metro. The central joint in the corridor structure is comprised of the road and rail links across the Mississippi River located near and in downtown Memphis. From this central joint, the interstates, rails and major arterial patterns fan out across the metro area. Wrapping around the eastern section of the radial corridor pattern is the beltway, roughly rectangular in shape, formed by the combination of I-40 and I-240 and bisected vertically by I-55. Within the beltway, the most significant of several important arterial radial corridors is the Poplar Avenue corridor that has long formed the backbone of Memphis' development pattern. The principal corridors, which extend beyond the beltway, are I-40 and US 64 to the east and west, the south and north segments of the I-55 corridor and the Bill Morris Parkway. The other important structural elements are the US-61 corridor south to Tunica, the US-78 corridor to Byhalia and the US-51 corridor to Millington.

On the east side of the Mississippi River, plans are under way to build the structural support necessary for the expanding metro area. The new corridors in planning and under construction are the MS-304 in Mississippi and the TN-385 in Tennessee. These two segments will connect the Paul W. Barret Parkway and the Bill Morris Parkway. This beltway will be 20 to 35 miles from the center of the metro and will enable low-density development across a wide geography. Despite the vast enlargement of the eastern corridor structure of the Memphis metro area, there are no planned corridors to strengthen the linkage of the eastern part of the metro area to the western part located in Arkansas, such as a third intermodal bridge. In addition to the planned roads, a light rail transit system is being contemplated that would connect three areas to downtown Memphis. Light rail along the Poplar corridor would connect to Germantown, which would strengthen this corridor. A second line would provide a vital link to Memphis International Airport, while Millington would be connected by a third link.

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