A metropolitan area is a large population center consisting of a large metropolis A metropolis is a big city, in most cases with over half a million inhabitants in the city proper, and with a population of at least one million living in its urban agglomeration. Big cities belonging to a larger urban agglomeration, but which are not the core of that agglomeration, are not generally considered a metropolis but a part of it. A and its adjacent zone of influence, or of more than one closely adjoining neighboring central cities A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement, particularly a large urban settlement. Although there are no agreed on technical definitions distinguishing a city from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law — for example an article of and their zone of influence. One or more large cities may serve as its hub or hubs, and the metropolitan area is normally named after either the largest or most important central city within it.

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General definition

There has been no significant change in the basic metropolitan area "concept" since its adoption in 1950 [1], though significant changes in geographic distributions have occurred since, and is expected to further evolve through time. [2] Because of the fluidity and evolution of the "term" metropolitan statistical areas, the colloquial reference by the general population and media to define an MSA is with a more familiar reference to "metro service area, metro area, metro, or MSA" and widely intimated to mean the aggregate geographic area inclusive of not only a well known city population, but also its inner city, suburban, exurban and sometimes rural surrounding populations, all of which are influenced by employment, transportation, and commerce of the more largely well known urban city.

A metropolitan area usually combines an agglomeration In the study of human settlements, an agglomeration is an extended city or town area comprising the built-up area of a central place and any suburbs linked by continuous urban area. In France, INSEE the French Statistical Institute, translate it as "Unité urbaine" which means continuous urbanized area. However, because of differences in (the contiguous built-up area) with peripheral zones not themselves necessarily urban in character, but closely bound to the center by employment or commerce. These zones are also sometimes known as a commuter belt, and may extend well beyond the urban periphery depending on the definition used. It is mainly the area that is not part of the city but is connected to the city. For example, Pasadena, California Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States; and is a satellite city of Los Angeles. Famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and the Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home of many leading scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the Jet would be added to Los Angeles, California Los Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and the second largest in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over 498.3 square miles (1,290.6 km2) in Southern California. Additionally, the Los Angeles metropolitan area is home to's metro area. While it isn't the same city, it is connected, and Pasadena is also located in Los Angeles County.

The core cities in a polycentric metropolitan area need not be physically connected by continuous built-up development, distinguishing the concept from conurbation A conurbation is an urban area or agglomeration comprising a number of cities, large towns and larger urban areas that, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban and industrially developed area. In most cases, a conurbation is a polycentric agglomeration, in which transportation has developed to, which requires urban contiguity. In a metropolitan area, it is sufficient that central cities together constitute a large population nucleus with which other constituent parts have a high degree of integration.

In practice the parameters of metropolitan areas, in both official and unofficial usage, are not consistent. Sometimes they are little different from an urban area, and in other cases they cover broad regions that have little relation to the traditional concept of a city as a single urban settlement. Thus all metropolitan area figures should be treated as interpretations rather than as hard facts. Metro area population figures given by different sources for the same place can vary by millions, and there is a tendency for people to promote the highest figure available for their own "city". However the most ambitious metropolitan area population figures are often better seen as the population of a "metropolitan region" than of a "city".[citation needed]

Differences in terminology by country

The term metropolitan area is sometimes abbreviated to 'metro', for example in Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila or the National Capital Region (NCR) (Filipino: Pambansang Punong Rehiyon) is the metropolitan area of the city of Manila, the national capital of the Philippines. Its residential population as of August 2007 Census is 11,553,427. Including suburbs in the adjacent provinces (Laguna, Cavite, Rizal, Bulacan) of Greater Manila, and Washington, DC Metro Area, which in the latter case should not be mistaken to mean the metro rail system A rapid transit, metro, subway, underground, or elevated (railway) system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with high capacity and frequency, and which is grade separated from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically either in underground tunnels or elevated above street level. Outside urban centres rapid transit lines of the city. Although it can be compared in composition to many of the world's metropolitan areas, in France France (pronounced /ˈfræns/ or /ˈfrɑːns/; French: [fʁɑ̃s]), officially the French Republic (French: République française, pronounced: [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the the term for the region around an urban core linked by commuting ties is an aire urbaine The aire urbaine is a statistical region created by the INSEE (the national statistics bureau of France) that is comprised by a commuter belt (couronne périurbaine) surrounding a contiguous urban core (pôle urbain). As defined, it is similar (though not identical) to the more general term, "metropolitan area", used in English (officially translated as "urban area"). In Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters which make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which that would be toshiken (都市圏?, lit. bloc of cities).

Country official unique definitions

Australia

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. With a population of 1,650,000 (2009), Perth ranks fourth amongst the nation's cities, with a growth rate consistently above the national average is arguably the most isolated metropolitan area in the world.

In Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the mainland, which is both the world's smallest continent and the world's largest island, the island of Tasmania, and numerous other islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.N4 It is the only area of land simultaneously considered a continent,, Statistical Divisions (SDs) are defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics The Australian Bureau of Statistics is Australia's national statistical agency. It came into being, as the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics, on 8 December 1905, when the Census and Statistics Act 1905 was given Royal assent. It had its beginnings in section 51 (xi) of the Constitution of Australia. The founding fathers recognised that as areas under the unifying influence of one or more major towns or cities. Each capital city forms its own Statistical Division, and the population of the SD is the most-often quoted figure for that city's population. Statistical Districts are defined as non-capital but predominantly urban areas. The statistical divisions that encompass the capital cities are commonly though unofficially called 'metropolitan areas'.[3]

Republic of India

In India India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the east, India has a coastline of 7,517, the Census Commission defines a metropolitan city as one having a population of over 40 lakh (4 million).[4] Mumbai Mumbai (Marathi: मुंबई, Mumbaī, IPA: [ˈmʊm.bəi] ), formerly Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The city proper is the largest city in India, and the second most populous city in the world with approximately 14 million inhabitants. Along with the neighbouring suburbs of Navi Mumbai and Thane, Mumbai forms the, Delhi Coordinates: 28°37′N 77°14′E / 28.61°N 77.23°E Delhi , known locally as Dilli (Hindi: दिल्ली, Punjabi: ਦਿੱਲੀ, Urdu: دلّی dillī), and also by the official name National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT), is the second-largest metropolis in India. With over 15.9 million residents, it is the eighth largest, Chennai Coordinates: 13°05′N 80°16′E / 13.09°N 80.27°E Chennai , formerly known as Madras (help·info), is the fourth largest city in India and the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, Chennai had a population of 4.2 million in the 2001 census within its municipal corporation, Kolkata Kolkata (Bengali: কলকাতা ; IPA: [ˈkolkat̪a]), formerly Calcutta (help·info), is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal and is the second largest city by area in India, after Mumbai. It is located in eastern India on the east bank of the River Hooghly. When referred to as "Kolkata", it usually includes the suburbs,, Bengaluru Bangalore ( [ˈbæŋɡəloːɾ] ), also known as Bengaluru (Kannada: ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು, [ˈbeŋɡəɭuːɾu] (help·info)), is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and fifth-most populous urban agglomeration, Hyderabad Hyderabad is known for its rich history, culture and architecture representing its unique character as a meeting point for North and South India, and also its multicultural nature, geographically, culturally and intellectually. Also known as The City of Nizams and The City of Pearls, Hyderabad is today one of the fast developing cities in the, Surat Surat is second largest city in the state of Gujarat, India and the administrative headquarters of Surat District. As of 2009, Surat and its metropolitan area had a population of approximately 6.5 million. The Surat Metropolitan Region is the 8th largest in India and 65st largest in World. The city proper is 8th most populous city in India. The, Ahmedabad Coordinates: 23°02′N 72°35′E / 23.03°N 72.58°E Ahmedabad (Gujarati: અમદાવાદ Amdāvād, Hindi: अहमदाबाद Ahmadābād ) is the largest city in the state of Gujarat and one of the largest urban agglomerations in India, with a population of approximately 52 lakhs (5.2 million). Located on the banks of the, Pune Pune (pronounced /puɳeː/, Marathi: पुणे, formerly known as Punawadi or Punya-Nagari, is the eighth largest city in India , and the second largest in the state of Maharashtra, after Mumbai. Situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula and Mutha rivers(Marathi: मुठा) , Pune is the are the nine cities that qualify. Residents of these cities are also entitled to a higher House rent allowance. The figure only applies to the city region and not the conurbation.

United States

The Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget is a Cabinet-level office, and is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). It is an important conduit by which the White House oversees the activities of federal agencies. OMB is tasked with giving expert advice to senior White House officials on a range of defines "Core Based Statistical Areas" used for statistics purposes among federal agencies. Each CBSA is based on a core urban area and is composed of the counties In the United States, a county is a local level of government below the state . Counties are used in 48 of the 50 states, while Louisiana is divided into parishes and Alaska into boroughs. These are considered "county-equivalents", as are some cities not designated as part of a county. The U.S. Census Bureau lists 3,140 counties or which comprise that core as well as any surrounding counties that are tightly socially or economically integrated with it. These areas are designated as either metropolitan In the United States, the Office of Management and Budget has produced a formal definition of metropolitan areas. These are referred to as "Metropolitan Statistical Areas" (MSAs) and "Combined Statistical Areas." An earlier version of the MSA was the "Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area" (SMSA). MSAs are composed or micropolitan statistical areas United States Micropolitan Statistical Areas , as defined by the Census Bureau and the Office of Management and Budget, are urban areas in the United States based around a core city or town with a population of 10,000 to 49,999. The micropolitan area designation was created in 2003. Like the better-known metropolitan area, a micropolitan area is a, based on population size; a "metro" area has an urban core of at least 50,000 residents, while a "micro" area has less than 50,000 but at least 10,000.[5]

Additional terms

At the turn of the 19th century only 3 percent of the world was urbanized. During the 20th and into the 21st century the presence of humans in urban areas has increased dramatically. Within the first quarter of the 21st century it is expected that more than half of the world's population will live in urban areas, if this is not already the case.[6]

By 2025, according to the Far Eastern Economic Review, Asia alone will have at least 10 hypercities Sky City 1000 is a possible future urban supertall skyscraper project aimed at helping put an end to major congestion and lack of greenspace in the Tokyo, Japan metropolitan area, those with 20 million or more, including Delhi Coordinates: 28°37′N 77°14′E / 28.61°N 77.23°E Delhi , known locally as Dilli (Hindi: दिल्ली, Punjabi: ਦਿੱਲੀ, Urdu: دلّی dillī), and also by the official name National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT), is the second-largest metropolis in India. With over 15.9 million residents, it is the eighth largest (~20 million), Jakarta Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. It also has a greater population than any other city in Southeast Asia. It was formerly known as Sunda Kelapa (397–1527), Jayakarta (1527–1619), Batavia (1619–1942), and Djakarta (1942–1972). Located on the northwest coast of Java, it has an area of 661.52 square kilometres (255.41 sq (24.9 million people), Dhaka Dhaka , is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka District. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, has a population of over 12 million, making it the largest city in Bangladesh. Dhaka is known as the City of Mosques and (25 million), Karachi Karachi (Sindhi: ڪراچي, Urdu: کراچی Karāchi) is the largest city, main seaport and the financial capital of Pakistan and the capital of the province of Sindh. It is the 20th largest city of the world in terms of metropolitan population, and is Pakistan's premier centre of banking, industry, and trade. Karachi is also the home of (26.5 million), Shanghai Originally a fishing and textiles town, Shanghai grew to importance in the 19th century due to its favourable port location and as one of the cities opened to foreign trade by the 1842 Treaty of Nanking. The city flourished as a center of commerce between east and west, and became a multinational hub of finance and business by the 1930s. However, (27 million) and Mumbai Mumbai (Marathi: मुंबई, Mumbaī, IPA: [ˈmʊm.bəi] ), formerly Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The city proper is the largest city in India, and the second most populous city in the world with approximately 14 million inhabitants. Along with the neighbouring suburbs of Navi Mumbai and Thane, Mumbai forms the (33 million).[7] Lagos Lagos is the most populous conurbation in Nigeria with 7,937,932 inhabitants at the 2006 census. It is currently the second most populous city in Africa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa (7th fastest in the world), immediately following Bamako. Formerly the capital of Nigeria, Lagos is a huge metropolis which has grown from 300,000 in 1950 to an estimated 15 million today, and the Nigerian government estimates that city will have expanded to 25 million residents by 2015.[8]

If several metropolitan areas are located in succession, metropolitan areas are sometimes grouped together as a megalopolis A megalopolis is defined as an extensive metropolitan area or a long chain of roughly continuous metropolitan areas. The term was used by Lewis Mumford in his 1938 book, The Culture of Cities, which described it as the first stage in urban overdevelopment and social decline. Later, it was used by Jean Gottmann in 1957, to describe the huge (plural megalopoleis, also megalopolises). A megalopolis consists of several interconnected cities A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement, particularly a large urban settlement. Although there are no agreed on technical definitions distinguishing a city from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law — for example an article of (and their suburbs), between which people commute, and which are so close together that suburbs can claim to be suburbs of more than one city. Another name for a megalopolis A megalopolis is defined as an extensive metropolitan area or a long chain of roughly continuous metropolitan areas. The term was used by Lewis Mumford in his 1938 book, The Culture of Cities, which described it as the first stage in urban overdevelopment and social decline. Later, it was used by Jean Gottmann in 1957, to describe the huge is a metroplex (short for metropolitan complex) or conurbation A conurbation is an urban area or agglomeration comprising a number of cities, large towns and larger urban areas that, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban and industrially developed area. In most cases, a conurbation is a polycentric agglomeration, in which transportation has developed to.

This concept was first proposed by the French geographer Jean Gottmann Jean Gottmann (October 10, 1915 – February 28, 1994) was a French geographer who was most widely known for his seminal study on megalopolis, the urban region of the Boston-Washington corridor. His main contributions to human geography were in the sub-fields of urban, political, economic, historical and regional geography. His regional in his book Megalopolis, a study of the northeastern United States. One famous example is the BosWash megalopolis BosWash is a group of metropolitan areas in the northeastern United States, extending from Boston, Massachusetts, to Washington, D.C., including Portland, Maine; Manchester, New Hampshire; Worcester, Massachusetts; Springfield, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven and Stamford, Connecticut; New York City; Camden, consisting of Boston Boston (pronounced /ˈbɒstən/ ) is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England". Boston, Providence Providence is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island, and one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the estimated third-largest citya[›] in the New England region. Despite the city proper only having an estimated population of 172,459 as of 2007, it anchors the, Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located in Hartford County on the Connecticut River, north of the center of the state, 24 miles south of Springfield, Massachusetts. Its 2006 population of 124,512 ranks Hartford as the state's second-largest city, after Bridgeport. New Haven, 40 miles (64 km) to the south, has a, New York City New York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment. As host of the United Nations headquarters, it is, Newark Newark is the largest city in New Jersey, and the county seat of Essex County. Newark has a population of 281,402, making it the largest municipality in New Jersey and the 65th largest city in the U.S. Newark is also home to major corporations, such as Prudential Financial, Philadelphia Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania and the sixth-most-populous city in the United States, Wilmington Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley metropolitan area. Wilmington was named by, Baltimore Baltimore is an independent city and the largest city in the state of Maryland. Baltimore is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore City in order to distinguish it from surrounding Baltimore County. Founded in 1729, Baltimore is a, Washington, and vicinity.

The biggest one is the Taiheiyō Belt (the Pacific Megalopolis) in Japan consisting of Tokyo, Shizuoka, Nagoya, Osaka, Okayama, Hiroshima, Fukuoka and vicinity. The main transportation such as Shinkansen and expressways is constructed along these cities. The population of this megalopolis is around 82.9 million.

Guangdong Province's Pearl River Delta is a huge megalopolis with a population of 48 million that extends from Hong Kong and Shenzhen to Guangzhou. Some projections assume that by 2030 up to 1 billion people will live in China's urban areas. Even rather conservative projections predict an urban population of up to 800 million people. In its most recent assessment, the UN Population Division estimated an urban population of 1 billion in 2050.[9]

The megalopolises in Europe are the Milan metropolitan area (pop. 7.4 millions) in Italy, Ruhr Area (pop. 5.3 millions) in Germany, the Randstad (Knooppunt Arnhem-Nijmegen and Brabantse Stedenrij are counted with the Randstad) in the Netherlands (pop. 7.4 millions), the Flemish Diamond in Belgium(pop. 5.5 millions), Ile de France in France and the metropolitan area of London, as well as several 'smaller' agglomerations, such as the Meuse-Rhine Euregion, the Ems-Dollart Euregion, the Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai Euregion and Metropoly of Upper Silesia in Poland (17 cities around Katowice with a total population of over 2 million). Together this megalopolis has an estimated population of around 50 million.

Africa's first megalopolis is situated in the urban portion of Gauteng Province in South Africa, comprising the conurbation of Johannesburg, and the metropolitan areas of Pretoria and the Vaal Triangle, otherwise known as the PWV.

It has been suggested that the whole of south-eastern, Midland and parts of northern England will evolve into a megalopolis dominated by London. Clearly when usage is stretched this far, it is remote from the traditional conception of a city.

Megacity is a general term for agglomerations or metropolitan areas which usually have a total population in excess of 10 million people. In Canada, "megacity" can also refer informally to the results of merging a central city with its suburbs to form one large municipality. A Canadian "megacity", however, is not necessarily an entirely urbanized area, as many cities so named have both rural and urban portions. It also doesn't need 10 million inhabitants to bear the designation. Moreover, Canadian "megacities" do not constitute large metropolitan areas in a global sense. For example, Toronto has a metropolitan population of 5.5 million but is part of a much larger metropolitan area home to over 8.1 million people.

Census population of a metro area is not the city population. However, it better demonstrates the population of the city. Los Angeles may only have a city population of near 4,000,000, but has two metropolitan area populations, depending on definition, 13 million in the core area and 18 million in the Combined statistical area.

See also

Terms

Lists of metropolitan areas

Metropolitan Planning Theories

References

  1. ^ http://www.census.gov/population/www/metroareas/aboutmetro.html
  2. ^ http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/rewrite/fedreg/msa.html
  3. ^ 1217.0.55.001 - Glossary of Statistical Geography Terminology, 2003, Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2003
  4. ^ Ahmedabad yet to become mega city
  5. ^ Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas, U.S. Census Bureau
  6. ^ The world goes to town
  7. ^ Planet of Slums by Mike Davis
  8. ^ Lagos, Nigeria facts - National Geographic
  9. ^ China's urban population to reach 800 to 900 million by 2020: expert

External links

Categories: Metropolitan areas | Urban geography | Demography | Population

 

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