Tampa Bay and Central Florida could emerge as a single economic region — and Florida’s dominant economic driver.

In the past, the area stretching from Tampa Bay through Orlando and Central Florida has been called such interesting names as Orlampa or Tamplando. Yet, regardless of the moniker, the potential for economic firepower across the entire area is just beginning to be addressed.

Currently, the Tampa Bay Region has the 19th largest gross domestic product in the United States. The Central Florida Region is right behind, ranking 20th. Combined, the 13-county “super region” has the 10^th-largest economy in the United States, with the potential to be a major global economic competitor. Many forecasts, in fact, suggest that by the year 2050 Tampa Bay and Central Florida will become a single economic region and Florida’s dominant economic driver.

In his first State of the Union address, President Barack Obama made the announcement that high-speed rail is coming to Florida, connecting Tampa and Orlando and providing better connectivity for workers, visitors and freight. But the future success of the super region also requires better connectivity to markets worldwide, building on the success of the super region’s seven commercial service airports, three deepwater seaports and two major intermodal freight terminals, as well as the world-leading spaceport at Cape Canaveral.

Looking toward the future, how will this critical transportation system accommodate additional population and economic growth, plus continue to advance global competitiveness and quality of life?

To gain an understanding of how the 13-county super region could work together and what value that would provide, the Tampa Bay Partnership and the Central Florida Partnership have engaged Professor Jonathan Barnett and his team of graduate students at the PennDesign Studio as consultants for Connecting for Global Competitiveness: Tampa Bay-Central Florida Super Region, an 18-month project managed by myregion.org. Connecting for Global Competitiveness is designed to demonstrate the potential advantages of coast-to-coast connectivity to develop a Super Regional Strategy for transportation and land use, economic and workforce development, environmental sustainability and quality of life issues.

In addition to the Tampa Bay Partnership and Central Florida Partnership, which are the lead partners, other project partners include the Central Florida Development Council; Florida Department of Transportation Districts 1, 5 and 7; Florida High Tech Corridor Council; Progress Energy; University of Central Florida Metropolitan Center for Regional Studies and WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA.

In January, Stuart Rogel, president of the Tampa Bay Partnership; Jacob Stuart, president of the Central Florida Partnership; and Shelley Lauten, president of myregion.org, traveled to Pennsylvania to meet with Professor Barnett and the PennDesign graduate students. Classes had just begun, and the students were already compiling massive volumes of data about the super region.

Members of the “Florida Faculty” — technical experts in transportation, environmental protection and economic development — have also traveled to the University of Pennsylvania to share their expertise.

During the week of March 6-13, Barnett and the PennDesign consultants will meet with Central Florida community leaders to discuss the progress that has been made in analyzing the research data and support materials. While in Central Florida, the consultants also will be looking at the existing transportation systems and proposals for the Central Florida and Tampa Bay metropolitan regions, as well as visiting both current and projected high-speed rail stations sites across the super region, including (but not limited to) St. Petersburg, Sarasota, downtown Tampa, Orlando International Airport, Melbourne and Port Canaveral.

Using computer-aided techniques, PennDesign graduate students will illustrate how these proposals can be joined together to guide population growth and create new economic opportunities across the super region while also helping to safeguard the environment and preserve agriculture.

Between now and May, the PennDesign Studio will:

* Examine the regional visions created through OneBay (a regional development program for the Tampa Bay area) and How Shall We Grow?, as well as the work of the Florida Chamber Foundation, to identify common themes and create a consistent language that can be used when discussing “super regional” issues

* Identify best practices across the globe where regions built public consensus around key super regional actions

* Define the competitive benefits of operating at a super regional scale and show what will be needed to sustain and grow current population and job centers in the super region

* Illustrate the value of a super region on economic prosperity, transportation, education, workforce and quality of life by portraying alternative futures and making illustrative plans of key locations.

Following completion of the PennDesign Studio, phase two of the initiative includes a presentation of the findings at the Super Regional Conference, scheduled for May 26-27.

Editor’s note: To learn more about Connecting for Global Competitiveness: Tampa Bay-Central Florida Super Region, visit www.myregion.org.