Township of Mount Laurel, New Jersey

AT A GLANCE TOWNSHIP OF MOUNT LAUREL, NEW JERSEY WHAT: Urban-suburban “edge city”; population 43,000 WHERE: Near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania WEBSITE: www.mountlaurel.com REL, E dge cities are interesting places. A term coined by Washington Post reporter Joel Garreau to designate any rapidly densified suburban business district, these fringe cities often have to work harder to produce their place identity than do the major metropolises they sit next to. Given that edge cities function primarily as zones of consumerism – most of them owe their genesis story either to an expressway or a shopping mall – they tend to be great places to conduct business. But not-so-great places to live, visit, or raise a family. Then again, not all edge cities are created equal. With a population just shy of 43,000 (a figure that swells to 100,000 during the workweek), the urbanization of Mount Laurel Township, New Jersey was a by-product of the New Jersey Turnpike. Incorporated in 1872 from portions of neighboring Evesham Township to the south, it was originally named after a tree-covered hill The edge city, reimagined