Megalopolis
A megalopolis, sometimes called a megapolis; also megaregion, city cluster or supercity, is typically defined as a group of two or more roughly adjacent metropolitan areas, which may be somewhat separated or may merge into a continuous urban region. The megalopolis concept became highly influential as it introduced a new, larger scale in thinking about urban patterns and urban growth.
Etymology
The term was coined by Patrick Geddes in his 1915 book Cities in Evolution, and used by Oswald Spengler in his 1918 book The Decline of the West, and 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 his landmark 1961 study, Megalopolis: The Urbanized Northeastern Seaboard of the United States, to describe what is now commonly known as the Northeast megalopolis a.k.a. BosWash. The term has been interpreted as meaning "supercity". In 1994 the magazine National Geographic featured a "Double Map Supplement: Megalopolis" of Boston to Washington Circa 1830 and on the flip-side a contemporary map of the same region to coincide with the 33 page feature article "Breaking New Ground: Boston" by William S. Ellis Photographs Joel Sartore. The contemporary 1994 map cites the term Megalopolis being first used in 1961 to refer to the BosWash region.Definitions
Megalopolis is often spelled Megapolis. Both are derived from in Ancient Greek meaning 'great' and meaning 'city', therefore literally a 'great city'. Because in Greek, πόλις is feminine, the etymologically correct term is megalopolis. Literally, megalopolis in Greek means a city of exaggerated size where the prefix represents a quantity of exaggerated size. The Ancient Greek city of Megalopolis was formed by the Arcadian League by bringing together smaller communities.A megalopolis, also known as a megaregion, is a clustered network of cities. Gottmann defined its population as 25 million. Doxiadis defined a small megalopolis a similar cluster with a population of about 10 million. America 2050, a program of the Regional Plan Association, lists 11 megaregions in the United States and Canada. Megaregions of the United States were explored in a July 2005 report by Robert E. Lang and Dawn Dhavale of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech. A later 2007 article by Lang and Nelson uses 20 megapolitan areas grouped into 10 megaregions. The concept is based on the original Megalopolis model.
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 informally called megaloping. This term was coined by Davide Gadren and Stefan Berteau.
In Brazil, the term megarregião has a legal meaning, different from the English word megaregion: Mesoregions of Brazil and Microregions of Brazil.
In China, the official term corresponding to the meaning of "megalopolis" is 城市群, which literally means "city cluster". In Standard for basic terminology of urban planning issued in 1998, 城市群 is defined as "An area in which cities are relatively densely distributed in a certain region" but wrongly translated as "agglomeration". In addition, there used to be no clear distinction between "megalopolis" and "metropolitan area" in Chinese context until National Development and Reform Commission issued Guidelines on the Cultivation and Development of Modern Metropolitan Areas on 19 February 2019 and clarified the definition of a metropolitan area.
Africa
- Cairo–Giza-Qalyubia-Helwan-6th of October City, Egypt The area around the Nile is also very densely populated.
- Nile River Delta Governorates have a combined population of 41,045,135. The total area of these Governorates is 18,199 square miles making the population density 2,255.4 per square mile.
- The Gauteng City Region in South Africa, which includes the urbanised portion of Gauteng Province
- The region in Morocco including El Jadida-Casablanca-Rabat-Salé-Kenitra, concentrating in the long coastal belt, on around 250 km with a depth of 40 to 50 km, more than 11 million inhabitants.
- The Nairobi Metropolitan Region consisting of the counties of in Kenya, which have a combined population of 8 million people.
North America
Transnational
Canada
| Megalopolis name | Population in millions 2011 | Population in millions 2025 ' | Population percent growth 2011 - 2025 ' | Major cities | Related articles |
| Quebec City–Windsor Corridor | 18.4 | 21 | 14.1% | Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Mississauga, Montreal, Oshawa, Ottawa, Peterborough, Quebec City, Toronto, Trois-Rivières, Vaughan, Windsor | Southern Ontario |
| Calgary–Edmonton Corridor | 2.7 | 4 | 48.1% | Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, St. Albert, Airdrie | Calgary Region, Edmonton Capital Region, Central Alberta |
Mexico
| Megalopolis name | Population in millions | Major cities | Related articles |
| Mexico City megalopolis | 28 | Mexico City, Puebla, Cuernavaca, Toluca, Pachuca, Tula, Tlaxcala, Cuautla, Tulancingo | Mexico City megalopolis |
| Bajío | 11 | León, Querétaro, Aguascalientes, Celaya, Irapuato, San Juan del Río, Salamanca | Bajío |
| Monterrey-Saltillo-Monclova megalopolis | 5.3 | Monterrey, Saltillo, Monclova | |
| Guadalajara-Puerto Vallarta-Ocotlán megalopolis | 5 | Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, Ocotlán | |
| Veracruz-Xalapa-Córdoba megalopolis | 1.8 | Veracruz, Xalapa, Córdoba | |
| San Luis Potosí-Rioverde-Ciudad Fernández megalopolis | 1.2 | San Luis Potosí, Rioverde, Ciudad Fernández | |
| Matamoros-Nuevo Laredo megalopolis | 0.87 | Matamoros, Nuevo Laredo | |
| Acayucan-Coatzacoalcos-Minatitlán megalopolis | 0.81 | Acayucan, Coatzacoalcos, Minatitlán |
Note: Tijuana, Mexico is part of the Southern California megalopolis.
United States
Constituent urban areas of each megalopolis are based on reckoning by a single American organization, the Regional Plan Association. The RPA definition of the Great Lakes Megalopolis includes some Canadian metropolitan areas with the United States including some but not all major urban centres in the Windsor-Quebec City Corridor. Note that one city, Houston, is listed in two different Megalopolis regions as defined by the RPA,.South America
Argentina
| Megalopolis Name | Population in 2013 | Major cities | Other cities |
| Greater Buenos Aires | 13,641,973 | Buenos Aires; Merlo, Moreno; Quilmes; Florencio Varela, La Matanza | Lanús; Lomas de Zamora, San Martin; and Avellaneda |
Brazil
, BrazilColombia
The following megaregions in Colombia are expected to have nearly 93% of its population by 2030, up from the current 72%. There are currently 4 major megaregions in Colombia.| Megalopolis name | Population in 2015 | Population in 2030 ' | Major cities |
| Bogota National Capital Metropolis | 17,000,000 | 26,500,000 | Bogotá, Soacha, Facatativá, Chía, Tunja, Fusagasugá, Zipaquirá, Madrid, Funza, Cajicá, Ubaté, Sibaté, Guaduas, Villa de Leyva and Tocancipá |
| Pacific Belt | 9,000,000 | 14,000,000 | Medellín, Cali, Bello, Pereira, Manizales, Armenia, Itagüí, Yumbo, and Palmira |
| Northeast Atlantic Region | 6,000,000 | 10,500,000 | Barranquilla, Cartagena, Santa Marta, Ciénaga, Malambo, Baranoa and Turbaco |
| Santander Belt | 3,000,000 | 5,200,000 | Bucaramanga, Cúcuta, Ocaña, and Pamplona |
Other sources show that another megaregion may be considered:
| Megalopolis name | Population in 2015 | Population in 2030 ' | Major cities |
| Golden Triangle | 29,500,000 | 41,000,000 | Bogotá, Soacha, Medellín, Cali, Bello, Manizales, Armenia |
Peru
Venezuela
East Asia
China
- Pearl River Delta Megalopolis a.k.a. Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area : Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Guangzhou, Foshan, Jiangmen, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Macau, Huizhou. Pan-Pearl River Delta further includes provinces adjacent to Guangdong.
- Yangtze River Delta Megalopolis : Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Suzhou, Jingjiang, Wuxi, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Yangzhou, Taizhou, Nantong, Huzhou, Jiaxing, Shaoxing, Jiangyin, Haimen, Zhangjiagang, Zhoushan, Ma'anshan
- Bohai Economic Rim : Beijing, Shenyang, Tianjin, Dalian, Anshan, Fushun, Dandong, Sinuiju, Tangshan, Yantai, Jinan, Qinhuangdao, Qingdao, Weihai
- Western Taiwan Straits Economic Zone : Xiamen, Fuzhou, Wenzhou, Shantou, Jieyang, Chaozhou
- Central Plain : Kaifeng, Xinxiang, Zhengzhou, Luoyang
- Central-Southern Liaoning : Within 150 km from its center Shenyang, it has Fushun, Anshan City, Benxi, Liaoyang, Yingkou, Panjin, and Tieling, with a total population of 23 million. And it can be further extended to Dalian, Fuxin and Dandong. This area used to be the most industrialized region in China but began to decline in the 1980s.
- Harbin-Changchun Megalopolis a.k.a. Northeastern Cities : Harbin, Qiqihar, Daqing, Changchun, Jilin City, Siping including Rason in North Korea and Vladivostok in Russia
- Sichuan basin a.k.a. Chengyu Megalopolis : Chengdu, Chongqing, Zigong, Luzhou
- Greater Wuhan Megalopolis : Wuhan, Huangshi, Xinyang, Jiujiang, Yueyang
- Guanzhong : Xi'an, Xianyang, Baoji, Weinan
- Changzhutan Megalopolis a.k.a. Greater Changsha Metropolitan Region : Changsha, Zhuzhou, Xiangtan
Japan
Japan is made up of overlapping megapolises. The Taiheiyō Belt megapolis itself includes both the Greater Tokyo Area and Keihanshin megapoles.- Taiheiyō Belt – Ibaraki, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Shizuoka, Aichi, Gifu, Mie, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, Wakayama, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Fukuoka, and Ōita in Japan.
- * Greater Tokyo Area - Part of the larger Kantō region, broadly including Tokyo and Yokohama, Japan's two most populous cities.
- * Keihanshin - Part of the larger Kansai region, includes Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe.
South Korea
- Seoul National Capital Area - Seoul, Incheon, Suwon, Goyang, Yongin, Seongnam, and the rest of Gyeonggi-do:
Taiwan
- West Coast of the island of Taiwan - Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan, and Kaohsiung:
South Asia
India
- Kolkata Megalopolis - Some areas of Presidency, Medinipur and burdwan divisions. Population 65 million.
- Delhi Megalopolis - National Capital Region. Population 46 million.
- Mumbai Megalopolis - Mumbai Megalopolis includes Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Pune Metropolitan Region and Nashik Metropolitan Region. This area is also known as golden Triangle of Maharashtra. Population 80 million.
Bangladesh
- Dhaka, Dohar Upazila, Dhamrai Upazila, Tongi, Sonargaon
Southeast Asia
Indonesia
island 145,013,573At over 1,100 people per km² in 2014, it is also one of the most densely populated parts of the world, on par with Bangladesh. Every region of the island has numerous volcanoes, with the people left to share the remaining flatter land. Because of this, many coasts are heavily populated and cities ring around the valleys surrounding volcanic peaks.
The population growth rate more than doubled in economically depressed Central Java in the latest 2010–2015 period vs 2000–2010, indicative of migration or other issues; there were significant volcanic eruptions during the earlier period. Approximately 45% of the population of Indonesia is ethnically Javanese, while Sundanese make a large portion of Java's population as well.
Jakarta metropolitan area is made up by several regency and city:
- Special Capital Region of Jakarta
- City of Bekasi
- City of Bogor
- City of Depok
- City of South Tangerang
- City of Tangerang
- Bekasi Regency
- Bogor Regency
- Cianjur Regency
- Tangerang Regency
Surabaya metropolitan area or Greater Surabaya
- City of Surabaya
- City of Mojokerto
- Bangkalan Regency
- Gresik Regency
- Lamongan Regency
- Mojokerto Regency
- Sidoarjo Regency
Philippines
area 50,525.48 km2 is made up of 4 Regions:- Central Luzon
- Metro Manila
- Calabarzon
- Mimaropa excluding Palawan
Total Population of Mega Manila as of 2015:
Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam
- Bay of Bangkok Economic Rim: Bangkok–Ayutthaya–Pattaya
- Sijori: Johor Bahru–Singapore–Batam–Bintan
- Red River Delta in Vietnam
West Asia
Iran
- Greater Tehran: A region located in Iranian Tehran and Alborz Province in central Northern Iran with its influence expanding in Qom Province, Qazvin Province and Mazandaran Province, home for at least 15 million people, it is one of the most populous urban areas in the Greater Middle East and the surrounding regions. Tehran was a small village 200 years ago when it was first chosen as the Capital city and it has been growing at a very fast rate.
Turkey
- Greater Istanbul: Includes Istanbul city proper, with continuous urbanization spilling over to neighboring provinces, as well as nearby dense population and highly industrialized areas. Istanbul, eastern counties of Tekirdağ province, entire coast of Izmit bay, and Adapazarı add up to 17.5 million population.
- Other major cities: Ankara, Izmir, Adana-Tarsus-Mersin, Bursa
Europe