AINER is at the intersection of three powerful economic regions, regions that happen to spill over the old and outdated jurisdictional boundaries that define politics, but not economies, trade or growth (Figure 4.1). Indeed this is one of the themes of globalisation – the growing mismatch between political jurisdictions and economic footprints. The three regions that surround us are: the Quebec City to Windsor Corridor, the New Atlantic Triangle and Appalachia.

Figure 4.1: Atlantica - the Intersection of Three Major North American Regions

Quebec City to Windsor Corridor:

The QCWC is the industrial, economic and demographic heartland of Canada, and is an increasingly coherent and self-aware economic region (Figure 4.2).

Figure 4.2 Quebec City to Windsor Corridor

New Atlantic Triangle:

According to Michael Gallis and Associates’ study for the state of Connecticut, the Boston and Albany metro regions, together with the New York metro region, form the three points of a distinctive triangular structure called the "New Atlantic Triangle" or NAT (Figure 4.3). The Triangle has enormous economic, institutional and cultural resources. The defining characteristics of NAT are its massive concentrations of economic, institutional and cultural resources not equalled in any other geographic area of the world.

Figure 4.3: New Atlantic Triangle

Appalachian Regional Development Commission:

One of the most successful efforts at regional economic development in the United States, the Appalachian region (Figure 4.4) was originally defined by including only counties that showed objective criteria demonstrating economic distress, such as above average unemployment and out-migration and below average incomes (Figure 4.5). This helped to define a region of common economic interests, but that did not correspond to traditional political (state) boundaries.

Figure 4.4: Appalachian Region

Figure 4.5: County Economic Status in Appalachia, FY 2003

The economic axis of orientation of all of these regions is south and west, not north or east. That has consequences for us in thinking strategically about whom Atlantica’s partners are in its efforts to connect with the emerging continental and global networks.