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Urban area

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"Built-up area" redirects here. For use of the term in the United Kingdom Highway Code, see Built-up area (Highway Code).
"Urban zone" redirects here. For other uses, see Urban zone (disambiguation).
"Urbanized area" redirects here. For use of the term in relation to the United States Census, see List of United States urban areas.
Greater Tokyo Area, the world's most populous urban area, with about 35 million people.
Urban areas with at least one million inhabitants in 2006. In 1800, 3% of the world's population lived in cities, a figure that had risen to 47% by the end of the twentieth century.
World map showing percent of population living in an urban environment.

An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to the areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.

There are currently about 7.1 billion people living on the planet.[1] In 2009, the number of people living in urban areas (3.42 billion) surpassed the number living in rural areas (3.41 billion) and since then the world has become more urban than rural.[2] This is currently the first time ever that the majority of the world's population lives in a city.[3]

Urban areas are created and further developed by the process of urbanization. Measuring the extent of an urban area helps in analyzing population density and urban sprawl, and in determining urban and rural populations.[citation needed]

Unlike an urban area, a metropolitan area includes not only the urban area, but also satellite cities plus intervening rural land that is socio-economically connected to the urban core city, typically by employment ties through commuting, with the urban core city being the primary labor market.

Definitions

Definitions vary somewhat between nations. European countries define urbanized areas on the basis of urban-type land use, not allowing any gaps of typically more than 200 m, and use satellite imagery instead of census blocks to determine the boundaries of the urban area. In less developed countries, in addition to land use and density requirements, a requirement that a large majority of the population, typically 75%, is not engaged in agriculture and/or fishing is sometimes used.

Argentina

See also: List of cities in Argentina by population

Argentina is highly urbanized.[4] The ten largest metropolitan areas account for half of the population, and fewer than one in ten live in rural areas. About 3 million people live in Buenos Aires City and the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area totals around 13 million, making it one of the largest urban areas in the world.[5]

The metropolitan areas of Córdoba and Rosario have around 1.3 million inhabitants each[5] and Mendoza, Tucumán, La Plata, Mar del Plata, Salta and Santa Fe[5][6] have at least half a million people each.

The population is unequally distributed amongst the provinces: about 60% live in the Pampa region (21% of the total area), including 15 million people in Buenos Aires Province; Córdoba Province Santa Fe Province and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires have 3 million each. Seven other provinces have over one million people each: Mendoza, Tucumán, Entre Ríos, Salta, Chaco, Corrientes and Misiones. Tucumán is the most densely populated with 60 inhabitants/km², the only Argentine province more densely populated than the world average, while the southern province of Santa Cruz has around 1 inhabitant/km².

 
Largest cities or towns in Argentina
(2021 INDEC metro area estimate)[7]
Rank Name Province Pop. Rank Name Province Pop.
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Córdoba
Córdoba 		1 Buenos Aires (Autonomous city) 3,003,000 11 Resistencia Chaco 418,000 Rosario
Rosario
Mendoza
Mendoza
2 Córdoba Córdoba 1,577,000 12 Santiago del Estero Santiago del Estero 407,000
3 Rosario Santa Fe 1,333,000 13 Corrientes Corrientes 384,000
4 Mendoza Mendoza 1,036,000 14 Posadas Misiones 378,000
5 San Miguel de Tucumán Tucumán 909,000 15 San Salvador de Jujuy Jujuy 351,000
6 La Plata Buenos Aires 909,000 16 Bahía Blanca Buenos Aires 317,000
7 Mar del Plata Buenos Aires 651,000 17 Neuquén Neuquén 313,000
8 Salta Salta 647,000 18 Paraná Entre Ríos 283,000
9 San Juan San Juan 542,000 19 Formosa Formosa 256,000
10 Santa Fe Santa Fe 540,000 20 Comodoro Rivadavia Chubut 243,000

Australia

In Australia, urban areas are referred to as "urban centres" and are defined as population clusters of 1000 or more people, with a density of at least 200/km2.[8]

Brazil

Main articles: List of largest cities in Brazil, Municipalities of Brazil, and List of largest cities in Brazil

According to IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) urban areas already concentrate 84.35% of the population, while the Southeast region remains the most populated one, with over 80 million inhabitants.[9] The largest metropolitan areas in Brazil are São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte — all in the Southeastern Region — with 19.5, 11.5, and 5.1 million inhabitants respectively.[10] The majority of state capitals are the largest cities in their states, except for Vitória, the capital of Espírito Santo, and Florianópolis, the capital of Santa Catarina. There are also non-capital metropolitan areas in the states of São Paulo (Campinas, Santos and the Paraíba Valley), Minas Gerais (Steel Valley), Rio Grande do Sul (Sinos Valley) and Santa Catarina (Itajaí Valley).[11]

Canada

Main article: List of the 100 largest population centres in Canada

According to Statistics Canada, an urban area in Canada is an area with a population of at least 1,000 people where the density is no fewer than 400 persons per square km2.[12] If two or more urban areas are within 2 km (1.2 mi) of each other by road, they are merged into a single urban area, provided they do not cross census metropolitan area or census agglomeration boundaries.[13]

In the Canada 2011 Census, Statistics Canada redesignated urban areas with the new term "population centre";[14] the new term was chosen in order to better reflect the fact that urban vs. rural is not a strict division, but rather a continuum within which several distinct settlement patterns may exist. For example, a community may fit a strictly statistical definition of an urban area, but may not be commonly thought of as "urban" because it has a smaller population, or functions socially and economically as a suburb of another urban area rather than as a self-contained urban entity, or is geographically remote from other urban communities. Accordingly, the new definition set out three distinct types of population centres: small (population 1,000 to 29,999), medium (population 30,000 to 99,999) and large (population 100,000 or greater).[14] Despite the change in terminology, however, the demographic definition of a population centre remains unchanged from that of an urban area: a population of at least 1,000 people where the density is no fewer than 400 persons per square km2.

China

See also: List of cities in China, List of cities in China by population, and Metropolitan regions of China

Since 2000, China's cities have expanded at an average rate of 10% annually. It is estimated that China's urban population will increase by 400 million people by 2025,[15] when its cities will house a combined population of over one billion.[16] The country's urbanization rate increased from 17.4% to 46.6% between 1978 and 2009, a scale unprecedented in human history.[17] Between 150 and 200 million migrant workers work part-time in the major cities, returning home to the countryside periodically with their earnings.[18][19]

Today, China has dozens of cities with one million or more long-term residents, including the three global cities of Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai; by 2025, the country will be home to 221 cities with over a million inhabitants.[16] The figures in the table below are from the 2008 census, and are only estimates of the urban populations within administrative city limits; a different ranking exists when considering the total municipal populations (which includes suburban and rural populations). The large "floating populations" of migrant workers make conducting censuses in urban areas difficult;[20] the figures below include only long-term residents.

Finland

See also: List of urban areas in Finland by population and List of cities and towns in Finland

Similar to other Nordic countries, an urban area (taajama in Finnish) in Finland must have a building at least every 200 metres (660 ft)* and at least 200 people. To be considered a town or a city (kaupunki) for statistical purposes, an urban area must have at least 15,000 people. This is not the be confused with the city / town designation used by municipalities.[21][22]

France

The Galeries Lafayette Department store in central Paris
The Gare du Nord railway station in Central Paris is the busiest in Europe

In France,

In France, an urban area is a zone (aire urbaine) encompassing an area of built-up growth (called an "urban unit" (unité urbaine)[23] - close in definition to the North American urban area) and its commuter belt (couronne périurbaine). Although the official INSEE translation of aire urbaine is "urban area",[24] most North Americans would find the same as being similar in definition to their metropolitan area.

The largest cities in France, in terms of urban area population, are Paris (12,223,100), Lyon (2,165,785), Marseille (1,718,281), Toulouse (1,232,398), Lille (1,158,306), Bordeaux (1,127,776), Nice (1,001,295), Nantes (873,133) and Strasbourg (761,042).

Panorama of Paris as seen from the Eiffel Tower as full 180-degree view (river flowing from north-east to south-west, right to left)

Germany

Germany has a number of large cities. There are 11 officially recognised metropolitan regions in Germany – and since 2006, 34 potential cities were identified which can be called a Regiopolis.

The largest conurbation is the Rhine-Ruhr region (11.7 million in 2008), including Düsseldorf (the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia), Cologne, Bonn, Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg, and Bochum.[25]

 
Largest cities or towns in Germany
Rank Name State Pop. Rank Name State Pop.
1 Berlin Berlin 3,596,999 11 Essen North Rhine-Westphalia 571,039
2 Hamburg Hamburg 1,808,846 12 Dresden Saxony 557,782
3 Munich Bavaria 1,478,638 13 Nuremberg Bavaria 522,554
4 Cologne North Rhine-Westphalia 1,017,355 14 Hanover Lower Saxony 513,291
5 Frankfurt Hesse 743,268 15 Duisburg North Rhine-Westphalia 501,415
6 Düsseldorf North Rhine-Westphalia 611,258 16 Wuppertal North Rhine-Westphalia 356,768
7 Stuttgart Baden-Württemberg 610,458 17 Bochum North Rhine-Westphalia 354,288
8 Leipzig Saxony 598,899 18 Bielefeld North Rhine-Westphalia 330,072
9 Dortmund North Rhine-Westphalia 598,246 19 Bonn North Rhine-Westphalia 321,544
10 Bremen Bremen 575,071 20 Mannheim Baden-Württemberg 313,693

India

Kolkata, India

For the Census of India 2011, the definition of urban area is as follows:

  1. All places with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee, etc.
  2. All other places which satisfied the following criteria:
  1. A minimum population of 5,000;
  2. At least 75% of the male main working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits; and
  3. A density of population of at least 400 persons per sq. km.

Source: A PDF file named '1. Data Highlight' accessed on 11 April 2012 from Census of India, 2011[27] The figure below is the population statistic for the year 2011. This is a list of city population and it does not indicate urban agglomeration population.

Panoramic view of Delhi, India

Japan

In Japan urbanized areas are defined as contiguous areas of densely inhabited districts (DIDs) using census enumeration districts as units with a density requirement of 4,000 inhabitants per square kilometre (10,000/sq mi).

Panoramic view of Shinjuku and Mount Fuji taken from Bunkyo Civic Center in Tokyo, the most populous urban area in the world.[29]

The Netherlands

The Netherlands is the 24th most densely populated country in the world, with 404.6 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,048/sq mi)—or 497 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,287/sq mi) if only the land area is counted. The Randstad is the country's largest conurbation located in the west of the country and contains the four largest cities: Amsterdam in the province North Holland, Rotterdam and The Hague in the province South Holland, and Utrecht in the province Utrecht. The Randstad has a population of 7 million inhabitants and is the 6th largest metropolitan area in Europe.

 
Largest municipalities in the Netherlands
Rank Name Province Pop. Rank Name Province Pop.
Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam 		1 Amsterdam North Holland 905,234 11 Apeldoorn Gelderland 165,648 The Hague
The Hague
Utrecht
Utrecht
2 Rotterdam South Holland 656,050 12 Arnhem Gelderland 164,096
3 The Hague South Holland 552,995 13 Haarlem North Holland 162,914
4 Utrecht Utrecht 361,924 14 Enschede Overijssel 160,383
5 Eindhoven North Brabant 238,478 15 Haarlemmermeer North Holland 159,346
6 Groningen Groningen 234,649 16 Amersfoort Utrecht 158,712
7 Tilburg North Brabant 224,702 17 Zaanstad North Holland 157,215
8 Almere Flevoland 218,096 18 's-Hertogenbosch North Brabant 156,599
9 Breda North Brabant 184,716 19 Zwolle Overijssel 130,872
10 Nijmegen Gelderland 179,073 20 Leeuwarden Friesland 127,088

Norway

Statistics Norway defines urban areas ("tettsteder") similarly to the other Nordic countries. Unlike in Denmark and Sweden, the distance between each building has to be of less than 50 m, although exceptions are made due to parks, industrial areas, rivers, and similar. Groups of houses less than 400 m from the main body of an urban area are included in the urban area.[31]

Philippines

With an estimated population of 16.3 M. Metro Manila is the most populous metropolitan area in the Philippines and the 11th in the world. However, the greater urban area is the 5th largest in the world with a population of 20,654,307 people (2010 estimate).[32] Including Metro Manila, the Philippines has twelve metropolitan areas as defined by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). Metro Angeles, Metro Bacolod, Metro Baguio, Metro Batangas, Metro Cagayan de Oro, Metro Cebu, Metro Dagupan, Metro Davao, MetroGuimaras, MetroIloilo, Metro Naga, Metro Olongapo.

Poland

In Poland, official "urban" population figures simply refer to those localities which have the status of towns (miasta). The "rural" population is that of all areas outside the boundaries of these towns. This distinction may give a misleading impression in some cases, since some localities with only village status may have acquired larger and denser populations than many smaller towns.[33] Template:Largest cities of Poland

Russia

In Russia, only the population residing in cities/towns and urban-type settlements is considered to be "urban". The city/town/urban-settlement designation means usually that the majority of the population is employed in areas other than agriculture, but the exact definitions vary from one federal subject to another.

Singapore

Singapore is an island city-state in Southeast Asia. About 5.2 million people live and work within 700 square kilometres (270 sq mi), making Singapore the 3rd-most-densely populated country in the world after Monaco, another city-state. The entire island functions as a single metropolitan area. The city centre near the south of the island is surrounded by satellite towns, parks, reservoirs and industrial estates, which are connected to the centre and each other by a dense network of roads, expressways and metro railway lines dubbed MRT by locals. Singapore has a highly centralised, unitary government with a unicameral legislature (the City Council and the Rural Board were abolished in the 1960s). While there are town councils and mayors in Singapore, these are essentially property managers in charge of the maintenance of public housing within their constituency boundaries. They do not represent local authorities with any legislative or executive autonomy from the national government.

South Africa

 
Largest cities or towns in South Africa
2016 Community Survey [34], World Urbanization Prospects: The 2018 Revision [35]
Rank Name Province Pop.
Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Cape Town
Cape Town 		1 Johannesburg Gauteng 9,167,045 Durban
Durban
Pretoria
Pretoria
2 Cape Town Western Cape 4,004,793
3 Durban KwaZulu-Natal 3,661,911
4 Pretoria Gauteng 2,437,000
5 Gqeberha Eastern Cape 1,263,051
6 Vereeniging Gauteng 957,528
7 Soshanguve Gauteng 841,000
8 East London Eastern Cape 810,528
9 Bloemfontein Free State 759,693
10 Pietermaritzburg KwaZulu-Natal 679,766

South Korea

The largest cities of South Korea have an autonomous status equivalent to that of provinces. Seoul, the largest city and capital, is classified as a teukbyeolsi (Special City), while the next 6 largest cities (see the list below) are classified as gwangyeoksi (Metropolitan Cities; see Special cities of South Korea). Smaller cities are classified as si ("cities") and are under provincial jurisdiction, at the same level as counties (see Administrative divisions of South Korea).

Sweden

Urban areas in Sweden (tätorter) are statistically defined localities, totally independent of the administrative subdivision of the country. There are 1956 such localities in Sweden, with a population ranging from 200 to 1,372,000 inhabitants.[36]

Taiwan

Main article: List of cities in Taiwan

The figures below are the 2011 estimates for the twenty largest urban populations within administrative city limits; a different ranking exists when considering the total metropolitan area populations (in such rankings the Taipei-Keelung metro area is by far the largest agglomeration).

Template:Largest cities of the Republic of China (Taiwan)

United Kingdom

Main article: List of urban areas in the United Kingdom
Apartment buildings in Kensington Gore, London

The United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics has produced census results from urban areas since 1951, since 1981 based upon the extent of irreversible urban development indicated on Ordnance Survey maps. The definition is an extent of at least 20 ha and at least 1,500 census residents. Separate areas are linked if less than 200 m (220 yd) apart. Included are transportation features.[37] The UK has five Urban Areas with a population over a million and a further sixty nine with a population over one hundred thousand.

United States

New York City is the most populous city in the United States and it is also the most populous metropolitan area in the United States.
Main article: United States urban area

In the United States, there are two categories of urban area. The term urbanized area denotes an urban area of 50,000 or more people. Urban areas under 50,000 people are called urban clusters. Urbanized areas were first delineated in the United States in the 1950 census, while urban clusters were added in the 2000 census. There are 1,371 urban areas and urban clusters with more than 10,000 people.

The U.S. Census Bureau defines an urban area as: "Core census block groups or blocks that have a population density of at least 1,000 people per square mile (386 per square kilometer) and surrounding census blocks that have an overall density of at least 500 people per square mile (193 per square kilometer)."

The largest urban area in the United States is the New York City metropolitan area. The population of the core city exceeds 8 million people, its metropolitan statistical area has a population that is over 19 million, and its combined statistical area population is over 22 million. The next five largest urban areas in the U.S. are Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia, and Dallas.[38] About 82 percent of the population of the United States lives within the boundaries of an urbanized area as of December, 2010.[39] Combined, these areas occupy about 2 percent of the United States. Many Americans live in agglomerations of cities, suburbs, and towns that are adjacent to a metropolitan area's largest city.[citation needed]

The concept of Urbanized Areas as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau is often used as a more accurate gauge of the size of a city, since in different cities and states the lines between city borders and the urbanized area of that city are often not the same. For example, the city of Greenville, South Carolina has a city population over 60,000 and an urbanized area population of over 400,000, while Greensboro, North Carolina has a city population over 200,000 and an urbanized area population of around 310,000 — meaning that Greenville is actually "larger" for some intents and purposes, but not for others, such as taxation, local elections, etc.

In the U.S. Department of Agriculture's natural resources inventory, urban areas are officially known as developed areas or urban and built-up areas. Such areas include cities, ethnic villages, other built-up areas of more than 10 ac (4 ha), industrial sites, railroad yards, cemeteries, airports, golf courses, shooting ranges, institutional and public administration sites, and similar areas. The 1997 national resources inventory placed over 98,000,000 ac (40,000,000 ha) in this category, an increase of 25,000,000 ac (10,000,000 ha) since 1982.[40]

See also

Lists:

References

  1. ^ http://www.census.gov/popclock/
  2. ^ http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/urbanization/urban-rural.shtml
  3. ^ http://www.who.int/gho/urban_health/situation_trends/urban_population_growth_text/en/
  4. ^ "Field listing – Urbanization". The World Factbook. CIA.
  5. ^ a b c "Major Cities". Government of Argentina. Archived from the original on 19 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "Ubicación de la ciudad de salta". Directorate-General of Tourism, Municipality of the City of Salta. Archived from the original on 2010-01-17. Template:Es icon
  7. ^ "Encuesta Permanente de Hogares" (PDF). Indec. March 2022. p. 17.
  8. ^ "1216.0 - Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), 2001". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  9. ^ "IDBGE". IBGE. 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-08. Template:Pt icon
  10. ^ 2008 PNAD, IBGE. "População residente por situação, sexo e grupos de idade."
  11. ^ "Principal Cities". Encarta. MSN. Archived from the original on 31 October 2009. Retrieved 2008-06-10. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help) [dubious – discuss]
  12. ^ "Urban area (UA)". Statistics Canada. 2009-11-20. Retrieved 2011-01-21.
  13. ^ "More information on Urban area (UA)". Statistics Canada. 2009-11-20. Retrieved 2011-01-21.
  14. ^ a b "From urban areas to population centres". Statistics Canada, May 5, 2011.
  15. ^ Sridhar, Asha (14 December 2011). "Round and about: Urban planning gone haywire". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  16. ^ a b "Preparing for China's urban billion". McKinsey Global Institute. February 2009. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
  17. ^ "China urbanization (PDF)" (PDF). World Bank Institute. 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
  18. ^ Harney, Alexandra (3 February 2008). "Migrants are China's 'factories without smoke'". CNN. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
  19. ^ Tschang, Chi-Chu (4 February 2009). "A Tough New Year for China's Migrant Workers". Business Week. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
  20. ^ Francesco Sisci. "China's floating population a headache for census". The Straits Times. 22 September 2000.
  21. ^ Statistics Finland Locality
  22. ^ Alueluokkien kuvaukset (Finnish)
  23. ^ Template:Fr icon "Nomenclatures Définitions — Méthodes — Unité urbaine". Retrieved 2007-07-20.
  24. ^ Template:Fr icon "Nomenclatures Définitions — Méthodes — Aire urbaine". Retrieved 2007-07-07.
  25. ^ "Regionales Monitoring 2010 - Daten und Karten zu den Europäischen Metropolregionen in Deutschland" (PDF) (in German). Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung. 2010. p. 10. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
  26. ^ "Ergebnisse des Zensus 2022 - Bevölkerung (15.05.2022)". www.destatis.de (in German). Destatis. 2024-06-25. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
  27. ^ http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/paper2-vol2/data_files/India2/1.%20Data%20Highlight.pdf
  28. ^ Cities having population 1 lakh and above, Census 2011
  29. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16761784
  30. ^ "CBS Statline". opendata.cbs.nl.
  31. ^ "Population statistics. Population and land area in urban settlements, 1 January 2008". Statistics Norway. June 20, 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
  32. ^ "World: metropolitan areas". World Gazetteer. Retrieved 2010-01-22.
  33. ^ Polish official population figures
  34. ^ "Community Survey 2016: Provinces at a Glance" (PDF). Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  35. ^ United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2018). "World Urbanization Prospects: The 2018 Revision, Online Edition". Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  36. ^ "Fortsatt stor ökning av befolkning i tätorter". Statistics Sweden. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
  37. ^ KS01 Usual resident population: Census 2001, Key Statistics for urban areas
    For the OS definition of an Urban Area, see the notes tab on the Excel version.
  38. ^ United States Census Bureau 2010 Census Urban Area List http://www2.census.gov/geo/ua/ua_list_ua.xls 2010 Census Urban Area List. Retrieved May 7, 2013.
  39. ^ [1] - accessed January, 2012
  40. ^ Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from Jasper Womach. Report for Congress: Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition (PDF). Congressional Research Service.
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