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Megalopolis

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For other uses, see Megalopolis.

Northeast Megalopolis, Taiheiyō Belt

A megalopolis (sometimes called a megapolis or megaregion) is typically defined as a chain of roughly adjacent 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 metropolitan area along the eastern seaboard of the U.S. extending from Boston, Massachusetts through New York City; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Baltimore,Maryland and ending in Washington, D.C.. A megalopolis is also frequently a megacity, megapolitan area, or a metropolitan area with a total population in excess of 10 million people.

Megalopolis is used in urban studies as a term to link the metropolitan Combined Statistical Areas of Boston–Worcester–Manchester, MA–RI–NH; Springfield, MA–Holyoke, MA, Hartford–West Hartford–Willimantic, CT; New York–Newark–Bridgeport, NY–NJ–CT–PA; Philadelphia–Camden–Vineland, PA–NJ–DE–MD; and Washington, D.C.–Baltimore–Northern Virginia, DC–MD–VA–WV.

The Pittsburgh–Chicago Corridor is an urban studies term that describes the area running through the Rust Belt from the Mid-Atlantic States to the Western Great Lakes region, although great spans of agricultural land and woodlots separates the urban areas. Within this megalopolis, the Steel City Corridor describes the area connecting Cleveland to Pittsburgh via Youngstown and Warren, Ohio, and Sharon–Farrell–New Castle, Pennsylvania. Historically, these areas are known as the Steel Valleys (along the Mahoning and Shenango rivers).

Modern interlinked ground transportation corridors, such as rail and highway, often aid in the development of megalopolises. Using these commuter passageways to travel throughout the megalopolis is called megaloping.

Extension of term

Although U.S.-based demographers did not look beyond the U.S. and Canada, there exists roughly the same concept and structures worldwide, namely "long chains of roughly continuous metropolitan areas". A 2005 study by The Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech attempted to create strict, contemporary criteria for definition as a megalopolis or megaregion; within the United States, the criteria included cultural links, commuting patterns, a contiguous regional configuration, and a population within a precisely defined area of at least 10 million.[1] The study identified 10 areas in the U.S. that would meet this strict definition of a present or emergent megalopolis.

The concept exists conceptually in other nations, though not always called by the U.S. term megalopolis. The following is a list of dense, built up areas of multiple large cities each with suburbs that coalesce into one large urban zone or corridor, with few or little rural areas in between. Like U.S. megalopolises, they often have a strong interlinked ground transportation backbone (rail, highway, etc.) aiding in their growth. In nighttime aerial photographs, these areas are artificially lit and stand out from their surroundings. They can be thought of as a worldwide (non-U.S. centric) extension of the term megalopolis.

This is a list of continuously built up areas. Population estimates are a general guide, but the criteria are not meant for comparison. Significant variation applies when comparing chains of metropolitan areas – as there can be several metropolitan areas definitions even for the same city – and methods differ from city to city, nation to nation, and year to year.

North America

Europe

  • Paris (approximately 12 million)
  • Milan metropolitan area, as recognized by the OECD. (7,400,000 in Italy, that is more than one tenth of the national population). Potentially some parts of the Swiss Canton Ticino can be considered within the metropolis, thus making it a transnational city; this isn't recognized by the OECD definition, though.
  • The Randstad in the west (including Brabantse Stedenrij) of the Netherlands (approximately 10.5 million)
  • The megapolis of Athens, Greece (about 4.5 million), covering the most of the basin of the district of Attica.

South America

Asia

Africa

  • The Gauteng City Region (PWV), which includes the urbanised portion of Gauteng Province (Johannesburg, Pretoria and the Vaal Triangle, with a population of over 10 million), and urban areas outside the province which are functionally linked, such as Witbank-Middelburg, Secunda, Rustenburg, and Potchefstroom-Klerksdorp, pushing the population up to between 15 and 20 million [2][3][4]

Emergent or potential megalopolis

Australia

Brazil

Canada

China

  • The central Liaoning city cluster in China. Within 150 km from its center Shenyang (7.2 million), it has Fushun (3 million), Anshan City (3.6 million), Benxi (1.5 million), Liaoyang (1.8 million), Yingkou (2.2 million), Panjin (1.2 million), and Tieling (3.4 million), with a total population of 23 million. And it can be further extended to Dalian (6.2 million), Fuxin (2 million) and Dandong (2.4 million). This area used to be the most industrialized region in China. It declined during 1980s-1990s, but in recent years, it has rapidly revived.[citation needed]

European Union

  • The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area containing the Ruhr Area is with approximately 11.8 million inhabitants the only megacity in Germany.

Republic of India

  • The industrial-IT hub between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai with a total population of around 1.6 crore (16 million) is considered a megalopolis.
  • The Kolkata metropolitan region with a population of 1.4 crores (14 million)
  • The Bengaluru-Hosur corridor with a population of 70 lakh (7 million) may soon be a megalopolis with the current rate of increase in population.
  • The Hyderabad-Secunderabad stretch, called Greater Hyderabad, has a population of 10 million.

Pakistan

Karachi with a population of about 18 million

Lahore with a population of about 11 million

Mexico

  • The Megalopolis of central Mexico was defined to be integrated by the metropolitan areas of Mexico City, Puebla, Cuernavaca, Toluca and Pachuca. The megalopolis of central Mexico is integrated by 173 municipalities (91 of the state of Mexico, 29 of the state of Puebla, 37 of the state of Tlaxcala, 16 of Morelos and 16 of Hidalgo) and the 16 boroughs of the Federal District,[7] with an approximate total population of almost 30 million people.
  • The “corredor del Bajío” in Northern Central Mexico is a chain of settlements that stretches 334 km (208 mi) in four states (Querétaro, Guanajuato, Jalisco, and Aguascalientes). Federal Highway 45 works as the backbone for this megalopolis, which includes 4 metro areas (León (ranked 7th nationwide), Querétaro (11th), Aguascalientes (13th) and San Francisco del Rincón (53rd)) and 5 medium sized cities (Lagos de Moreno, Irapuato, Salamanca, Celaya, and San Juan del Río). Route 45 runs through 5 more municipalities (Encarnación de Díaz, Cortazar, Villagrán, Apaseo el Grande, and Pedro Escobedo). This system of 21 municipalities has a population of 5.141 million people and high levels of growth. However, some other cities could be included in this megalopolis (such as San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato) since even if they are not located on Route 45 they are close enough to interact heavily with the system. It is expected that in 2040, this corridor will fuse with the megalopolis of Central Mexico.

[5]

United States

  • Southern Illinois, Eastern Missouri and North Tenessna Mississippi Valley has about 8 million people.
  • California's Bay Area and Central Valley; this region, with a total population of 14 million, is referred to as NorCal in the Virginia Tech study, and includes the Bay Area, the Monterey area, and a sizable portion of California's Central Valley and Sierra foothills; the region (which largely corresponds to the most developed portions of the Sacramento and San Joaquin drainage basins) also extends eastward to include Carson City and Reno in Nevada. Apart from the Bay Area cities, core cities in this region would include Sacramento, Monterey, Stockton, Modesto, Salinas, Fresno and Reno, and are primarily linked by Interstates 5 and 80, and California's route 99[1].

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g MegaCensusReport.indd
  2. ^ http://www.joburg.org.za/2006/aug/aug30_globalcity.stm
  3. ^ http://www.joburg.org.za/2006/july/jul20_cityregion.stm
  4. ^ M Shilowa to debate Gauteng's position on global city region, 29 Aug
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ a b c Georgia Institute of Technology :: CQGRD : MegaRegions
  7. ^ a b Georgia Institute of Technology :: CQGRD : MegaRegions
  8. ^ MegaCensusReport.indd
  9. ^ USATODAY.com - Population boom spawns super cities
  10. ^ Population statistics for California counties
  11. ^ Link to Megapolitan: Arizona’s Sun Corridor from Arizona State University's Morrison Institute for Public Policy
  12. ^ When Phoenix, Tucson merge
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