A megalopolis (sometimes called a megapolis or megaregion) is defined as an extensive metropolitan area or a long chain of roughly continuous 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; 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. [edit] 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. - Paris (approximately 12 million)
- 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.
- Taiheiyō Belt – Ibaraki, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Shizuoka, Aichi, Gifu, Mie, Osaka, Hyogo, Wakayama, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka, and Oita in Japan. (roughly 82.9 million)
- 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 [3][4][5]
[edit] Emergent or potential megalopolis [edit] Brazil - São Paulo–Campinas–Santos–Rio de Janeiro–Belo Horizonte, in Brazil, with approximately 49 million inhabitants (includes the Sorocaba, Jundiaí, Jacareí, São José dos Campos, Taubaté, Volta Redonda, Juiz de Fora, Barbacena, Conselheiro Lafaiete, Divinópolis, Campos dos Goytacazes areas).
[edit] Canada - The Pearl River Delta (PRD) in Guangdong region, China could be considered a megalopolis, as it is dense and contains 11 cities including Hong Kong (7 million), Macau (0.5 million), Guangzhou (over 10 million), Shenzhen (over 7 million), Zhuhai (1.3 million), Dongguan (6.6 million), Foshan (5.5 million), Jiangmen (4.1 million), parts of Zhaoqing (3.4 million), parts of Huizhou (3.3 million) and Zhongshan (2.4 million).[citation needed] Total 50 million, migrant workers included.
- The Yangtze River Delta between southern Jiangsu province and northern Zhejiang, China could also be considered a megalopolis, though less developed compared to the Pearl River Delta. It contains at least 16 cities including Shanghai (over 15 million), Nanjing (6.4 million), Hangzhou (6.4 million), Ningbo (5.5 million), Nantong (7.7 million), Suzhou (6.1 million), Taizhou (5.5 million), Taizhou (5.0 million), Yangzhou (4.5 million), Wuxi (4.5 million), Shaoxing (4.4 million), Changzhou (3.5 million), Jiaxing (3.3 million), Zhenjiang (2.7 million), Huzhou (2.6 million) and Zhoushan (1 million). Total 80 million.
- 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]
[edit] Europe - The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area containing the Ruhr Area is with approximately 11.8 million inhabitants the only megacity in Germany.
[edit] Republic of India - The industrial-IT hub between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai with a total population of around 1.6 crore (16 million) can also be 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 which is called is Greater Hyderabad is having the population of 10 million
[edit] Pakistan Karachi with a population of about 18 million Lahore with a population of about 11 million [edit] 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.
[6] [edit] United States - The Northeast Megalopolis, extends from Boston to Washington, D.C.. Some of the cities included in this chain are Boston, Providence, Hartford, New Haven, New York City, Newark/Jersey City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Alexandria, Virginia, plus the urban county of Arlington, Virginia. Depending on the definition, the megalopolis could extend further through Fredericksburg, Virginia, then Richmond, Virginia, and finally into the Seven Cities of Hampton Roads.
- The ChiPitts Megalopolis includes many major cities throughout the Great Lakes/Upper Midwest/Northeast region, including: Green Bay, Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, as well as dozens of other smaller and medium sized cities and their metropolitan areas. This megalopolis is estimated to have a population of at least 54 million.
- Studies by two U.S. universities – Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech – identify much of the southern two thirds of Florida as an emergent megalopolis, which the Virginia Tech study calls "Peninsula". It includes the core metropolitan areas of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Melbourne, Orlando, Daytona Beach, Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Fort Myers, along with suburban and rural counties linked through economic and commuting patterns.[1][7] As of 2005[update], the population of the region is 13.7 million.[1]
- The I-85 Corridor in the Southeastern United States: the same pair of studies define this areas as an "emergent" megalopolis including the primary cities of Birmingham, Atlanta, Greenville, Spartanburg, Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Durham and Raleigh.[8] Both studies refer to the area as the Piedmont megalopolis; the Georgia Tech survey defines the region narrowly, focusing on the urban, suburban and rural counties between Birmingham and Raleigh. The Virginia Tech study proposes a broader definition, which would also include Columbus, Macon, Huntsville, Augusta, Columbia, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Johnson City, Asheville and a number of smaller cities; the western extent of this definition is somewhat disconnected by the Appalachian Mountains range. Both reports highlight the "emergent" nature of this possible megalopolis, noting comparatively low urban densities, but also noting a pattern in growth (in the individual, component urban areas) towards each other. As of 2005[update], this region (as defined in the Virginia Tech study) has a population of 19 million [1][8].
- The I-35 Corridor in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas beginning in San Antonio (2.0 million) and extending through Austin–Round Rock (1.6 million), Temple–Killeen (350,000), Waco (225,000), Dallas-Fort Worth (6.0 million), Oklahoma City (1.3 million), Tulsa (850,000), Wichita, Kansas (550,000), and the bi-state Kansas City Metropolitan Area (2.0 million).[9] As of 2005[update], the population of this region is 15.2 million.[1]
- The I-70 Corridor in Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois, including the cities of Topeka, Kansas (226,268), Lawrence, Kansas (112,123) and Columbia, Missouri (162,314), plus Greater St. Louis (3.0 million) and the Kansas City Metropolitan Area (2.0 million) is another potential megalopolis[1].
- Southern Illinois, Eastern Missouri and North Tenessna Mississippi Valley has about 8 million people.
- The Gulf Coast corridor along I-10 in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama beginning in Houston (5.5 million) and extending through Beaumont–Port Arthur, Texas (383,443), Lake Charles, Louisiana (192,316), Lafayette, Louisiana (254,432), Baton Rouge (790,000), New Orleans (1.3 million), Gulfport–Biloxi, Mississippi (396,784), and Mobile, Alabama (540,258).[10] The Virginia Tech study, which refers to this region as the Gulf Coast megalopolis, expands this definition somewhat, focusing on an area stretching from Brownsville, Texas to Panama City in Florida, encompassing a total population of 13 million.
- 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].
- Cascadia, which includes the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada centred on the metro of Vancouver, Canada-Bellingham, Washington, Everett-Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia, Washington, Portland–Vancouver, Salem, Oregon, Albany–Corvallis, Oregon, and Eugene–Springfield, Oregon[7]. As of 2005[update], the total population of this region is over 9 million.
- The Northstar Corridor, which includes the Minneapolis – Saint Paul metro area and the communities along I-94 and U.S. Route 10 between the St. Cloud metro area and Minneapolis-Saint Paul (including Elk River, Monticello, Big Lake, Clearwater, Clear Lake and the St. Cloud area). The corridor has a population of approximately 3.6 million. Also, in Minnesota, the Rushline Corridor has seen a significant amount of sprawl in recent years as well, which some feel might eventually form a megalopolis between the Minneapolis – Saint Paul metro area and the Twin Ports metro area. It runs between St. Paul and Hinckley and includes the cities of Forest Lake, North Branch, Rush City and Pine City.
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