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California is at a major crossroads. For decades a global leader, inspiring the hopes and dreams of millions, the state now faces the challenge of a multi-billion dollar budget deficit and aging infrastructure. This atlas brings together the latest research and statistics to show a new California in the making, mapping the economic, social and political trends of a state as it struggles to maintain its leadership and continue to offer its citizens the possibility of prosperity.
California is one of the world's largest economies, ranking eighth in the world – ahead of Brazil, Russia and Australia. Silicon Valley, the heart of Northern California, is an international center in technology and innovation. California has a significant presence in mining and aerospace industries. It is the nation’s agricultural powerhouse and leads the US’s emerging movement towards renewable energy and sustainability. Home to Hollywood, California boasts some of the most coveted real estate in the world. Large waves of domestic and international migration from more than sixty nations has made California the most populous and one of the most diverse states in the USA.
Yet as the world’s urban population has just surpassed the fifty percent mark, California’s infrastructure is coming under increasing pressure. Even as the per capita water consumption is declining, water is becoming scarce amidst competing demands between urban, environmental, and agricultural sectors. In spite of its legendary highways, the state is out of capacity and increased congestion is contributing to increased fuel consumption and higher emissions. Once a leader in higher education, access to affordable quality education at all levels is threatened. California’s perpetual budget gridlock is numbing its citizens whilst health and welfare services, particularly for the poor, needy, disabled, and seniors, are at great risk.
Bringing together scholarly research and the latest data in a graphic form that gives shape and meaning to these statistics, this is an indispensable resource for understanding California today and how the state is attempting to forge a new identity as it struggles to survive unprecedented challenges.
is Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is also co-author of The Atlas of Global Inequalities.
is Professor of Geography at the University of California, Berkeley and author of many books, including The Conquest of Bread and The Country in the City.
