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.

Megalopolis is used in urban studies as a term to link the metropolitan Combined Statistical Areas of Boston–Worcester–Manchester, MA–NH; Providence, RI-Fall River, MA-New Bedford, MA; 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.

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. 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.

Distribution of world population in 1994.

North America

• Boston–Manchester-Worcester-Providence–Hartford–Springfield-Albany-New York–Newark–Trenton-Philadelphia–Wilmington–Baltimore–Washington, D.C.-Northern Virginia, known as the Northeast Megalopolis or the Northeast Corridor, the most populous and largely developed area in the Western Hemisphere (55 million)

Europe

• London-Birmingham-Sheffield-Leeds-Manchester-Liverpool. (40 million, or roughly two-thirds of the population of the United Kingdom).
• Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp-Brussels-Lille-Strasbourg-Cologne-Essen-Hanover. Known as Am-Brus-Twerp(59,3 million).

South America

• Campinas-Jundiaí-Sorocaba–São Paulo–Santos–São José dos Campos–Taubaté-Volta Redonda–Rio de Janeiro in Brazil (43 million)

Asia

• Indo-Gangetic plain: Ahmedabad, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, Kolkata, Dhaka, Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Multan, Hyderabad and Karachi in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. (200 million)

• Pearl River Delta: Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Guangzhou, Foshan, Jiangmen, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Macau in China (120 million)

• Yangtze River Delta: Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Yangzhou, Taizhou, Nantong, Huzhou, Jiaxing, Shaoxing, Zhoushan in China (80 million)

• Taiheiyō Belt – Ibaraki, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Shizuoka, Aichi, Gifu, Mie, Osaka, Hyogo, Wakayama, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka, and Oita in Japan. (80 million)

See also

• Merger (politics)
• Arcology
• Conurbation
• Ecumenopolis
• Ekistics
• Global city

• Settlement types:
  • Hamlet
  • Village
  • Town
  • City
  • Metropolis
  • Types of inhabited localities in Russia

• List of megalopoleis
• Megacity
• Megapolitan Area
• Metroplex
• Metropolitan area
• Transborder agglomeration
• Urban agglomeration

• Developed environments:
  • Exurban
  • Rural
  • Suburban
  • Urban