By Eric Horgos

As a teenager living in exile from our four-state region, it in 1986 that I lucked upon a (then) 3 year old National Geographic article on Philadelphia, of all things, that went a long way in shaping my civic and geographic identity. Someone being interviewed by the article’s author explained why Philadelphia suffered in the shadow of New York City. Obviously, its proximity to the urban superpower of Gotham was mostly to blame, but the interviewee also lamented that “[Philadelphia] was not even a regional capital like Boston or Pittsburgh, which both enjoy large spheres of influence.”

It felt like every light bulb (and lightning bug) on earth came on that day. While I was already aware that urban areas were something which, for the most part, superseded the city limits that revelatory quote introduced me to the notion of a relationship city (or town) and its hinterland or trade area. As a fully engaged citizen 25 years later, I proclaim my geographic identity as that of a Pittsburgher and a Central Appalachian, and to me they are one and the same: a regional city-state similar to ancient Athens and its hinterland of Attica. In place of my civic loyalty belonging to just the City of Pittsburgh and the neighborhood of Lawrenceville, I am, on a civic level, one with “the YO (Youngstown)”; with “Coney” (the small valley coal town of Lonaconing, MD); with “Mo-town (Morgantown, not Detroit), as well as “the Burgh”.

It’s not about seeing my city as being an imperial capital and the surrounding counties as part of an empire that Pittsburgh projects its will upon. As much as the region is within Pittsburgh’s “sphere of influence”, the metropolis itself is an expression of our highland four-state community’s ideals presented in an urban form. Witness how the city’s early 20th century immigrants’ notions of geographic identity transformed from Old World references to Appalachian preferences (e.g.: the Ruska Dolina, or Carpatho-Rusyn Valley, section of Pittsburgh’s Greenfield neighborhood is now referred to by a name that could be anywhere in the Appalachians: “Four Mile Run”). Our region and its largest city are both unpretentious places that are down to earth and not full of self-importance.

This relationship between city and the surrounding area is not a mythical concept; a look around the rest of the nation, and even the world, shows that when a city generates economic power or when the surrounding region is prosperous, that the city and larger region coalesce into a dynamic economic force. Italy’s second city, Milan, is that nation’s first city in terms of industrial and commercial muscle, yet it would not possess the strength it does were it not the “capoluogo” (loosely translated from Italian, “the leading or chief town”), or part of, a prosperous Lombardy region comprised of smaller, yet proud former independent cities that produce goods and services that the rest of the world places a high value upon.

Still, the identities of those proud former city-states do not wither due to the proximity of the heat generated by Milan. People in our region can relate to the Lombards as they are loyal to their individual city, town, or neighborhood.

Over the course of the past 24 or so months, the Power of 32 regional visioning project has made an unprecedented effort to bring greater cohesion and cooperation to a region (or trade area) that, while possessing a similar geography on many different levels (economic, cultural, and physical), is fissured into four different states. This project speaks to me, and I am proud to be a small part of it as an intern, not just because it validates my deeply held loyalty towards our Appalachian city-state (“citistate” as termed by urban affairs commentator Neal Pierce) and gives my beliefs a venue. A more unified and cooperative region can only be achieved if every participant, or would-be participant, feels that they have an equal voice. Because Power of 32 has gone to un-heard-of lengths to give the voice of EVERY SINGLE PERSON in this four-state community equal consideration and weight, that unified region is closer every day.

Want to share why YOU are a part of the Power of 32? Email us at info@powerof32.org!