In one of the most densely populated countries in the world, you wouldn't think that there would be very many vast regions with zero population. However, there are many and designer Nik Freeman highlights them in his map of the U.S. titled 'Nobody Lives Here.'
The map details the areas in the U.S. that have a population of zero, which reveals that 47% of the country is reportedly unoccupied. Those areas are depicted with green-coloring on Nik's map. The majority of the green is on the western side of the country. Of course, a lot of the regions have good reasoning for being unoccupied because of geographical challenges and legalities, but other areas are questionable. Notably, Northern Maine is conspicuously uninhabited despite being one of the earliest settled regions in North America.
What's Driving This Trend
- Zero Population Areas
- Opportunity to develop innovative strategies for utilizing and revitalizing unoccupied regions.
- Geographical Challenges
- Potential for disruptive innovations in addressing the geographical obstacles that prevent occupation of certain areas.
- Questionable Uninhabited Regions
- Opportunity to explore the reasons behind uninhabited areas and devise solutions to make them more livable.
Who This Affects Most
- Urban Planning
- Opportunity for urban planning professionals to design sustainable communities in unoccupied regions.
- Renewable Energy
- Potential for renewable energy companies to establish infrastructure in remote, uninhabited areas.
- Real Estate Development
- Opportunity to create new markets for real estate developers by revitalizing unoccupied regions.
