[PoshSteve]

I'm not saying Akron isn't an important center on its own, but I would definitely argue that it is a ring city of Cleveland - just like Painesville and Lorain/Elyria, only larger. Akron isn't that much larger than Lorain/Elyria (198k vs 117k). No one would argue now that Lorain/Elyria and Painesville are not ring cities of Cleveland. They're the same distance away, older than Akron, and boomed economically at the same time (steel vs Akron's rubber). The biggest difference is they fully sprawled into Cleveland, while the park is in between Cleveland and Akron. Historically, Akron is more tied to Cleveland than the other ring cities. It was built as a stop on the Ohio-Erie Canal (hence all the Locks that have become the main entertainment district in downtown Akron - very cool area, btw), which linked the river to Cleveland.

Akron is more culturally connected to Canton than it is to Cleveland, being that they share an airport and are physically closer (though not anywhere near bordering eachother), but is not disconnected from Cleveland. We all share a media market and sports teams. Would Akron be an important center without its proximity and connection to Cleveland? Possibly. But I think it would be more like Mansfield than how it is now. The same argument goes for Cleveland - it probably would not be the size it is now without its connections to Akron.

Maybe I am not fully understanding a "ring city" (a city which grew independently, but it now culturally an economically tied to the main center city), but I think Akron fits the bill. Looking at NEO as a whole though, I think we are more analogous to the Ruhr, in that we are a multinodal region (Cleveland, Akron, Lorain/Elyria, Canton, Youngstown, Warren, Painesville, Ashtabula) that are all economically, culturally, and (alot of times with sprawl) physically connected. Unlike the Ruhr though where Essen, Dortmond, and Duisburg are all similarly sized, Cleveland is the undisputed center of this region.