Ekistics |
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A megalopolis (/ˌmɛɡəˈlɒpəlɪs/) or a supercity,[1] also called a megaregion,[2] is a group of metropolitan areas which are perceived as a continuous urban area through common systems of transport, economy, resources, ecology, and so on.[2] They are integrated enough that coordinating policy is valuable, although the constituent metropolises keep their individual identities.[2] The megalopolis concept has become highly influential as it introduced a new, larger scale thinking about urban patterns and growth.[3]
The term originates from the Ancient Greek city-state of Megalopolis (from mégas, meaning "great", and pólis, meaning "city")[4][5] founded by Epaminondas of Thebes between 371-368 BCE as a bulwark for the Arcadian League.[6] The Online Etymology Dictionary notes that the term was also used "in classical times as an epithet of great cities (Athens, Syracuse, Alexandria)".
The term has specific geographic definitions dating from 1832, when its meaning was "a metropolis," that is, "a very large, heavily populated urban complex".
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Jean Gottmann, a professor of political science at the University of Paris and member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, directed "A Study of Megalopolis" for The Twentieth Century Fund, wherein he described a megalopolis as a "world of ideas".[7] Gottmann, in his extensive studies, applied the term megalopolis to an analysis of the urbanized northeastern seaboard of the U.S., in particular from Boston, Massachusetts to Washington, D.C. (now commonly referred to as the Northeast Corridor).[7][8] He chose the term megalopolis in consultation with classicists, noting earlier usage "with quite different meaning" (besides by the ancients, by Lewis Mumford with regard to the general trend in history and geography "toward large cities").[7] [Mumford, in his The Culture of Cities (1938), describes their formation as the first stage in urban overdevelopment and social decline.][9] In 1994, William S. Ellis and the editors of the National Geographic, writing about the city of Boston, asserted that Gottmann's c.1961 use of the term for the Northeast megalopolis was the first specific use of the term with the refined meaning of an amalgam of multiple urban areas into a larger area.[10] Yoav Hagler, writing in 2009 for the America 2050 project of the Regional Plan Association (RPA) likewise, in introducing the term historically, states megalopolis as the antecedent of the RPA's preferred term for U.S. examples, which is "megaregion"[2] Pedagogically, the term "supercity" has been offered as a synonym for these two terms.[1]
According to Syracuse University assistant professor of architecture Lydia Kallipoliti (and her students, citing Volker Welter's Biopolis: Patrick Geddes and the City of Life), the first modern use of the term megalopolis was by Patrick Geddes in his 1915 book, Cities in Evolution,[11][12][13] and that it was then used by Oswald Spengler in his 1918 book The Decline of the West.[14]
A megalopolis and its synonym megaregion, following the work of Gottmann, refer to two or more roughly adjacent metropolitan areas that, through commonality of systems—e.g., of transport, economy, resources, and ecologies—experience a blurring of the boundaries between the population centers,[2] such that while some degree of separation may remain, their perception as a continuous urban area is of value, e.g., "to coordinate policy at this expanded scale".[2] Simply put, a megalopolis (or a megaregion[15]) is a clustered network of big cities. Gottmann defined its population as 25 million,[16] while Doxiadis defined a small megalopolis a similar cluster with a population of about 10 million.[15][17] America 2050,[18] a program of the Regional Plan Association (RPA), 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.[19] A later 2007 article by Lang and Nelson uses 20 "megapolitan" areas grouped into 10 megaregions.[20] The concept is based on the original "Megalopolis model".[17]
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, a term coined by Davide Gadren and Stefan Berteau.[21]
In Brazil, the term megarregião has a legal meaning, different from the English word megaregion: mesoregions of Brazil (mesorregião) and microregions of Brazil (microrregião). In China, the official term corresponding to the meaning of "megalopolis" is '城市群' (chéngshì qún), which literally means "city cluster". City cluster '城市群' is defined as "[a]n area in which cities are relatively densely distributed in a certain region".[22][23] Until 2019, and the publication of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) guidelines, there was no clear distinction between "megalopolis" and "metropolitan area" (都市圈) in China.[24]
Further information: Megalopolises in China |
In July 2012, the Economist Intelligence Unit brought out a report that described 13 emerging megalopolises in China, highlighting the demographic and income trends that are shaping their development.[29] Eleven Chinese megalopolises (not necessarily drawn from the preceding source), are:
Japan is made up of overlapping megapolises. The Taiheiyō Belt megapolis itself includes both the Greater Tokyo Area and Keihanshin megapoles.
Rank | Megalopolis name | Country | Population in millions |
Major cities |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Java Megalopolis | ![]() |
148+ | Jakarta metropolitan area, Surabaya metropolitan area, Bandung metropolitan area, Semarang metropolitan area, Yogyakarta, Malang, Surakarta, Cirebon |
2 | Mega Manila | ![]() |
40+ | Manila, Calamba, Angeles City, Baguio, Batangas, Dagupan, Olongapo, Bacoor |
3 | Southeast Economic Zone | ![]() |
16+ | Đồng Nai, Bình Dương, Ho Chi Minh City, Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province, Long An, Tiền Giang |
Mega Manila area 50,525.48 km2 is made up of 4 Regions:
Regional centers:
Total Population of Mega Manila as of 2015: (40,624,035)[47]
The Blue Banana, also known as the European Megalopolis or the Liverpool-Milan axis, is a discontinuous corridor of urbanization spreading over Western and Central Europe, with a population of around 111 million.
Megalopolis name | Population in millions 2011 |
Population in millions 2025 (projected) |
Population percent growth 2011 - 2025 (projected) |
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, Quebec |
Megalopolis name | Population in millions |
Major cities | Related articles |
---|---|---|---|
Mexico City megalopolis | 30.8 | Mexico City, Puebla, Cuernavaca, Toluca, Pachuca, Tula, Tlaxcala, Cuautla, Tulancingo | Mexico City megalopolis |
Bajío | 11 | Guadalajara, León, Querétaro, Aguascalientes, Celaya, Irapuato, San Juan del Río, Salamanca | Bajío |
Note: Tijuana, Mexico is part of the Southern California megalopolis.
Further information: Megaregions of the United States |
Constituent urban areas of each megalopolis are based on reckoning by a single American organization, the Regional Plan Association (RPA). 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, (the Gulf Coast and the Texas Triangle). 77% of the U.S. population lives in at least one of the megalopolises listed below.[citation needed][51][page needed]
Megalopolis Name | Population in 2013 |
Major cities | Other cities |
---|---|---|---|
Greater Buenos Aires | 14,967,000[54] | Buenos Aires; Merlo, Moreno; Quilmes; Florencio Varela, La Matanza | Lanús; Lomas de Zamora, San Martin; Avellaneda; Zárate; San Pedro; San Nicolás de los Arroyos |
The following megaregions in Colombia are expected to have nearly 93% (55 million people) of its population by 2030, up from the current 72%[citation needed]. There are currently four major megaregions in Colombia.
Megalopolis name | Population in 2015 | Population in 2030 (projected) | 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[56] show that another megaregion may be considered:
Megalopolis name | Population in 2015 | Population in 2030 (projected) | Major cities |
---|---|---|---|
Golden Triangle | 29,500,000 | 41,000,000 | Bogotá, Soacha, Medellín, Cali, Bello, Manizales, Armenia |
Megalopolis Name | Population in 2017 | Major Cities | Other Cities |
---|---|---|---|
Santiago-Valparaíso | +8,000,000 | Santiago, Valparaíso-Viña del Mar and Rancagua | Quillota, Quilpué, La Calera, Villa Alemana, Lampa, Los Andes |
Megalopolis name | Population in 2013 |
Major cities | Other cities |
---|---|---|---|
Lima-Callao Megalopolis | 10,523,796 | Lima and Callao | – |
Megalopolis Name | Population in 2013 |
Major Cities | Other Cities |
---|---|---|---|
Caracas-Valencia | +9,000,000 | Caracas, Valencia, and Maracay | Los Teques, La Guaira, Cagua, Maiquetía, Guacara, La Victoria and Guatire |
Maracaibo Lake Narrows | +3,500,000 | Maracaibo, Cabimas and Ciudad Ojeda | Lagunillas, Tiajuana, Santa Rita, La Concepción, El Moján and Los Puertos de Altagracia |
Main article: Transborder agglomeration |
Metropolis is a 1927 German expressionist science-fiction drama film directed by Fritz Lang. Written by Thea von Harbou in collaboration with Lang,[68][69] it stars Gustav Fröhlich, Alfred Abel, Rudolf Klein-Rogge and Brigitte Helm. Erich Pommer produced it in the Babelsberg Studios for Universum Film A.G. (Ufa). The silent film is regarded as a pioneering science-fiction movie, being among the first feature-length movies of that genre.[70] Filming took place over 17 months in 1925–26 at a cost of over five million Reichsmarks.[71]
In the Judge Dredd (1977) comic book series and its spinoff series, Mega-City One is a huge fictional megalopolis-size city-state covering much of what is now the Eastern United States and some of Canada. The exact geography of the city depends on which writer and artist has done which story, but from its first appearance it has been associated with New York City's urban sprawl; originally it was presented as a future New York, which was retconned as the centre of a "Mega-City One" in the very next story.[72] The Architects' Journal placed it at No. 1 in their list of "comic book cities".[73]
Blade Runner is a 1982 neo-noir science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos. It is a loose adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968). The film is set in a dystopian future Los Angeles of 2019, in which synthetic humans known as replicants are bio-engineered by the powerful Tyrell Corporation to work on off-world colonies. When a fugitive group of replicants led by Roy Batty (Hauer) escapes back to Earth, burnt-out cop Rick Deckard (Ford) reluctantly agrees to hunt them down.
In William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy, "the Sprawl" is a colloquial name for the "Boston-Atlanta Metropolitan Axis" (BAMA), an urban sprawl environment on a massive scale, and a fictional extension of the real Northeast megalopolis. The Sprawl is a visualization of a future where virtually the entire East Coast of the United States, from Boston to Atlanta, has melded into a single mass of urban sprawl.[74] It has been enclosed in several geodesic domes and merged into one megacity. The city has become a separate world with its own climate, no real night/day cycle, and an artificial sky that is always grey.