“Edge city” is one of many terms used to describe the large, sprawling conglomerations of commercial, retail, and residential development that proliferated along the beltways of United States metropolitan peripheries in the 1980s. Coincident with the advances in telecommunications, economic restructuring, and deregulation that began in the 1970s, edge cities exemplify the privatization, decentralization, and dispersion of development that is characteristic of digital media and the global economy. Joel Garreau defined five criteria that characterize a fullblown edge city: “five million square feet of leasable office space or more; six hundred thousand square feet of retail space or more; a population that increases at 9 AM on workdays—marking the location as primarily a work center, not a residential suburb; a local perception as a single end destination for mixed use—jobs, shopping, and entertainment; and a history in which, thirty years ago, the site was by no Entries A–F 729 means ur...