Megalopolis

A megalopolis (/ˌmɛɡəˈlɒpəlɪs/), sometimes called a megapolis; also megaregion, city cluster or supercity,[1] 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.[2]

For other uses, see Megalopolis (disambiguation).

A satellite view of the U.S. Northeast megalopolis, the second most populous megalopolis in the Western Hemisphere (after the Great Lakes Megalopolis), home to over 50 million people, displayed at night.

Etymology

The term was coined by Patrick Geddes in his 1915 book Cities in Evolution,[3][4] 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.[5][6][7] The term has been interpreted as meaning "supercity".[1] In 1994 the magazine National Geographic (Vol 186, No.1 July 1994) featured a "Double Map Supplement: Megalopolis" of Boston to Washington Circa 1830 and on the flip-side a contemporary (1994) 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

Northeast megalopolis (United States) (top) and Taiheiyō Belt (Japan) (bottom).

Megalopolis is often spelled Megapolis. Both are derived from μέγας (mégas) in Ancient Greek meaning 'great' and πόλις (pólis) meaning 'city', therefore literally a 'great city' (compare "megacity"). 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 megalo- represents a quantity of exaggerated size.[8] 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.[9] Doxiadis defined a small megalopolis a similar cluster with a population of about 10 million.[10][11][12] America 2050,[13] a program of the Regional Plan Association, lists 11 megaregions in the United States and Canada.[10] 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.[14] A later 2007 article by Lang and Nelson uses 20 megapolitan areas grouped into 10 megaregions.[15] The concept is based on the original Megalopolis model.[12]

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.[16]

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". In Standard for basic terminology of urban planning (GB/T 50280—98) 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" (都市圈) 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 (Greater Cairo), Egypt (16 million) The area around the Nile is also very densely populated.
• Nile River Delta Governorates (Alexandria, Beheira, Kafr el-Sheikh, Gharbia, Monufia, Qalyubia, Dakahlia, Damietta, Al Sharqia, and Port Said) 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 (PWV) in South Africa, which includes the urbanised portion of Gauteng Province (Pretoria, Centurion, Midrand, Johannesburg and the Vaal Triangle, with a population of over 14 million)[17][18][19]
• 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 (Kajiado-Kiambu-Nairobi-Machakos-Murang'a) in Kenya, which have a combined population of 8 million people.[20]

North America

Transnational

Megalopolis name	Population in millions 2011	Population in millions 2025 (projected)	Population percent growth 2011 - 2025 (projected)	Major cities
Cascadia	8.4	8.8	5.0%	Canada: Abbotsford, Vancouver (BC), Victoria  United States: Eugene, Portland (OR), Salem, Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane, Tri-Cities, Vancouver (WA)
Great Lakes	55.5	60.7	9.4%	Canada: Hamilton, London, Montreal, Niagara Falls, Oshawa, Ottawa, Quebec City, Toronto, Vaughan, Windsor  United States: Akron, Ann Arbor, Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Des Moines, Detroit, Duluth, Erie, Flint, Fort Wayne, Green Bay, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Kalamazoo, Kansas City, Lansing, Louisville, Madison, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Omaha, Pittsburgh, Quad Cities, Rochester (NY), Rochester (MN), Rockford, Traverse City, Saginaw, St. Louis, Saint Paul, South Bend, Toledo
Southern California	24.4	29	18.9%	Mexico: Tijuana  United States: Anaheim, Bakersfield, Las Vegas, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oceanside, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego

Canada

Quebec City in Quebec City–Windsor Corridor

Calgary in Calgary–Edmonton Corridor

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
Calgary–Edmonton Corridor	2.7	4	48.1%	Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, St. Albert, Airdrie	Calgary Region, Edmonton Capital Region, Central Alberta

Mexico

Mexico City megalopolis

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

Further information: Megaregions of the United States

Midtown Manhattan facing toward Lower Manhattan, New York City, in the Northeast megalopolis

Downtown Dallas, the largest metro of the Texas Triangle

Aerial view of Seattle with Lake Union in the foreground, part of Cascadia

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 Texas Triangle).[10][21]

Megalopolis name	Population in millions 2010	Percent of U.S. Population (2010)	Population in millions 2025 (projected)	Population percent growth 2010 - 2025 (projected)	Major cities
Arizona Sun Corridor[22][23]	5.6	2%	7.8	39.3%	Mesa, Phoenix, Tucson, Prescott, Scottsdale
Northern California	14	5%	16.4	17.1%	Fresno, Modesto, Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose, Stockton, Berkeley, Cupertino, Fremont, Reno, Sacramento, Santa Rosa
Southern California	24.4	8%	29	18.9%	Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, Riverside, Bakersfield, Las Vegas, Long Beach, Tijuana
Cascadia	12.4	3%	13.5	8.2%	Abbotsford, Boise, Eugene, Portland (OR), Salem, Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane, Tri-Cities, Vancouver (BC), Vancouver (WA), Victoria
Florida	17.3	6%	21.5	24.3%	Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, Fort Myers, Orlando, Gainesville, Palm Bay, Pensacola
Front Range	5.5	2%	6.9	26%	Albuquerque, Cheyenne, Colorado Springs, Denver, Pueblo, Salt Lake City, Santa Fe
Great Lakes	59.1	18%	65.7	10%	Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Louisville, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Montreal, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Rochester, St. Louis, Toronto
Gulf Coast	13.4	4%	16.3	21.6%	Baton Rouge, Corpus Christi, Houston, McAllen, Brownsville, Mobile, Gulfport, Biloxi, New Orleans, Pensacola
Northeast	52.3	17%	58.4	11.7%	Allentown-Bethlehem, Atlantic City, Baltimore, Boston, Harrisburg, Hazleton, Knowledge Corridor (Springfield and Hartford), Manchester (NH), Nashua, New Haven, New York, Newark, Norfolk, Ocean City, Philadelphia, Portland (ME), Pottsville, Providence, Richmond, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Trenton, Virginia Beach, Washington, Waterbury, Wilmington, Worcester
Piedmont Atlantic	17.6	6%	21.7	23.3%	Atlanta, Charlotte, Research Triangle, Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Greenville, Huntsville, Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis, Birmingham, Montgomery, Clarksville, Murfreesboro, Tuscaloosa
Texas Triangle	19.7	6%	24.8	25.9%	Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio

South America

Argentina

Satellite image of Greater Buenos Aires at night. Urban sprawl created a vast conurbation of 12,801,365 inhabitants including the City of Buenos Aires, a third of the total population of 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

Megalópole Rio SP

|-

Expanded Metropolitan Complex of São Paulo, Brazil

Megalopolis Name	Population in 2015[24]	Major cities	Other cities
Rio de Janeiro–São Paulo Megalopolis	+51,500,000	São Paulo Macrometropolis and Greater Rio de Janeiro	Região Geográfica Intermediária de Pouso Alegre and Região Geográfica Intermediária de Varginha and Região Geográfica Intermediária de Juiz de Fora
São Paulo Macrometropolis	+34,500,000	Metropolitan Region of São Paulo and Metropolitan Region of Campinas and Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte	Metropolitan Region of Sorocaba, Jundiaí Urban Agglomeration, Regional Unit of Bragança Paulista city, Piracicaba Urban Agglomeration and Metropolitan Region of Baixada Santista
Greater Rio de Janeiro	+13,000,000	Rio de Janeiro and São Gonçalo	Nova Iguaçu, Duque de Caxias, Niterói, Belford Roxo and São João de Meriti
Greater Belo Horizonte	+5,800,000	Belo Horizonte and Contagem	Betim, Nova Lima and Sete Lagoas
Greater Porto Alegre	+4,200,000	Porto Alegre and Canoas	São Leopoldo, Novo Hamburgo and Gravataí
Recife metropolitan area	+3,900,000	Recife and Jaboatão dos Guararapes	Olinda, Paulista, Cabo de Santo Agostinho, Camaragibe, Igarassu, São Lourenço da Mata, Abreu e Lima, Ipojuca, Moreno, Itapissuma, Ilha de Itamaracá, Araçoiaba and Goiana
Salvador metropolitan area	+3,900,000	Salvador and Camaçari	São Francisco do Conde, Lauro de Freitas, Simões Filho, Candeias, Dias d'Ávila, Mata de São João, Pojuca, São Sebastião do Passé, Vera Cruz, Madre de Deus and Itaparica
Greater Curitiba	+ 3,500,000	Curitiba and São José dos Pinhais	Araucária, Colombo, Fazenda Rio Grande, Lapa and Pinhais

Colombia

The following megaregions in Colombia are expected to have nearly 93% (55 Million people) 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 (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[25] 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

Peru

Megalopolis name	Population in 2013	Major cities	Other cities
Lima-Callao Megalopolis	10,523,796	Lima and Callao	Cono Norte, Cono Sur, and Cono Este

Venezuela

Megalopolis name	Population in 2013	Major cities	Other cities
Caracas-Valencia Megalopolis	+9,000,000	Caracas, Valencia, and Maracay	Cagua, Maiquetía, and Guatire

East Asia

• 
  Taipei, Taiwan
• 
  Seoul, South Korea
• 
  Kaohsiung, Taiwan
• 
  Hong Kong
• 
  Taichung, Taiwan
• 
  Singapore
• 
  Shanghai, China

China

Further information: Megalopolises in China

Yangtze River Delta

Jingjinji Metropolitan Region is the central part of Bohai Economic Rim

• Pearl River Delta Megalopolis (珠江三角洲) a.k.a. Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (粤港澳大湾区): Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Guangzhou, Foshan, Jiangmen, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Macau, Huizhou (55,000,000).[26][27] Pan-Pearl River Delta further includes provinces adjacent to Guangdong.
• Yangtze River Delta Megalopolis (长江三角洲): Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Suzhou, Jingjiang, Wuxi, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Yangzhou, Taizhou, Nantong, Huzhou, Jiaxing, Shaoxing, Jiangyin, Haimen, Zhangjiagang, Zhoushan, Ma'anshan (88,000,000)[28]
• Bohai Economic Rim (环渤海经济圈): Beijing, Shenyang, Tianjin, Dalian, Anshan, Fushun, Dandong, Sinuiju, Tangshan, Yantai, Jinan, Qinhuangdao, Qingdao, Weihai (66,400,000)[29]
• Western Taiwan Straits Economic Zone (海峡西岸经济区): Xiamen, Fuzhou, Wenzhou, Shantou, Jieyang, Chaozhou (25,000,000)
• Central Plain (中原): Kaifeng, Xinxiang, Zhengzhou, Luoyang (14,170,000)
• Central-Southern Liaoning (辽中南): 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 but began to decline in the 1980s.
• Harbin-Changchun Megalopolis (哈长城市群) a.k.a. Northeastern Cities (东北城市群): Harbin, Qiqihar, Daqing, Changchun, Jilin City, Siping including Rason in North Korea and Vladivostok in Russia (21,832,000)
• Sichuan basin (四川盆地) a.k.a. Chengyu Megalopolis (成渝都市圈): Chengdu, Chongqing, Zigong, Luzhou (20,878,000)
• Greater Wuhan Megalopolis (大武汉都市圈): Wuhan, Huangshi, Xinyang, Jiujiang, Yueyang (20,000,000)
• Guanzhong (关中): Xi'an, Xianyang, Baoji, Weinan (16,722,000)
• Changzhutan Megalopolis (长株潭城市群) a.k.a. Greater Changsha Metropolitan Region (大长沙都市圈): Changsha, Zhuzhou, Xiangtan (12,994,400 in 2000)

In July 2012, the Economist Intelligence Unit brought out a report entitled; Supersized cities: China’s 13 megalopolises, which pinpoints the 13 emerging megalopolises in China, and highlights the demographic and income trends that are shaping their development.

Japan

Taiheiyō Belt

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. (81,859,345)[30][31]
  • Greater Tokyo Area - Part of the larger Kantō region, broadly including Tokyo and Yokohama, Japan's two most populous cities. (38,000,000)[32]
  • Keihanshin - Part of the larger Kansai region, includes Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe. (19,341,976)[33]

South Korea

• Seoul National Capital Area - Seoul, Incheon, Suwon, Goyang, Yongin, Seongnam, and the rest of Gyeonggi-do: (25,000,000)[34]

Taiwan

Skyline of Taipei, capital city of Taiwan in 2016.

• West Coast of the island of Taiwan - Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan, and Kaohsiung: (18,000,000)

South Asia

Dhaka, Bangladesh; part of the emerging chain of cities in the Bengal region

India

• Kolkata Megalopolis[35] - Some areas of Presidency, Medinipur and burdwan divisions. Population 65 million.
• Delhi Megalopolis[36] - National Capital Region (India). Population 46 million.
• Mumbai Megalopolis[37] - Mumbai Megalopolis includes Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Pune Metropolitan Region and Nashik Metropolitan Region. This area is also known as golden Triangle of Maharashtra.[38][39] Population 80 million.

Bangladesh

• Dhaka (Greater Dhaka Megalopolis consists four city Corporations: Dhaka South, Dhaka North, Gazipur, and Narayanganj and five municipals: Savar Upazila (A class), Dohar Upazila (A class), Dhamrai Upazila (A class), Tongi (Special Class), Sonargaon (B class) (17,000,000)[40]

Southeast Asia

Rank	Megalopolis Name	Country	Population in millions	Major cities
1	Java	Indonesia	145[41]	Serang, Tangerang, South Tangerang, Jakarta, Bekasi, Depok, Bogor, Sukabumi, Cimahi, Bandung, Tasikmalaya, Cirebon, Tegal, Pekalongan, Semarang, Surakarta, Yogyakarta, Madiun, Kediri, Mojokerto, Surabaya, Batu, Malang, Pasuruan, Probolinggo
2	Mega Manila	Philippines	40+	Manila, Calamba, Angeles, Baguio, Batangas, Dagupan, Olongapo, Bacoor
3	Central Thailand (inc. Eastern Economic Corridor)	Thailand	25+	Bangkok, Ayuthaya, Pattaya
4	Southeast Economic Zone	Vietnam	16+	Đồng Nai, Bình Dương, Ho Chi Minh City, Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu Province, Long An, Tiền Giang

Indonesia

Java island 145,013,573 At 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 (all 44 districts) (10,135,030)
• City of Bekasi (all 12 districts) (2,381,053)
• City of Bogor (all 6 districts) (982,469)
• City of Depok (all 11 districts) (1,631,951)
• City of South Tangerang (all 7 districts) (1,219,245)
• City of Tangerang (all 13 districts) (1,566,190)
• Bekasi Regency (all 23 districts) (3,500,023)
• Bogor Regency (all 40 districts) (5,715,009)
• Cianjur Regency (only 4 districts[42])
• Tangerang Regency (all 29 districts) (3,802,999)

total area 7,062.47 km2 and population 33,430,285 in 2015[43]

Surabaya metropolitan area or Greater Surabaya

• City of Surabaya (all 31 districts) (2,847,480)
• City of Mojokerto (all 2 districts) (125,657)
• Bangkalan Regency (all 18 districts) (953,659)
• Gresik Regency (only 16 districts, excluding Bawean) (1,255,042)
• Lamongan Regency (all 27 districts) (1,187,742)
• Mojokerto Regency (all 18 districts) (1,079,499)
• Sidoarjo Regency (all 18 districts) (2,114,493)

total area 5,925.84 km2 and population 9,570,870 in 2015[44] and having population about 10,500,000 in 2020 estimates

Philippines

Mega Manila

Mega Manila area 50,525.48 km2 is made up of 4 Regions:

• Central Luzon (11,218,117)
• Metro Manila (12,877,253)
• Calabarzon (14,414,774)
• Mimaropa excluding Palawan (2,113,891)

(Regional Centers) San Fernando-Manila-Calamba-Calapan

Total Population of Mega Manila as of 2015: (40,624,035)[45]

Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam

• Bay of Bangkok Economic Rim: Bangkok–Ayutthaya–Pattaya (16,000,000)
• Sijori: Johor Bahru–Singapore–Batam–Bintan (10,000,000) [46][47][48]
• Red River Delta in Vietnam (Hanoi, Hai Phong, Nam Định, & Hải Dương) (10,000,000)[49][50]

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

(all figures extrapolated from end of 2014 and end of 2015 figures of,[51] to middle of year 2016)

• 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 (5 million), Izmir (includes satellites Torbalı-Aliağa-Urla-Manisa to add up to 4 million), Adana-Tarsus-Mersin (3 million), Bursa (2.1 million)

Europe

The Blue Banana, the Golden Banana and the Green Banana.

Transnational (Europe)

Rank	Megalopolis Name	Population in millions	Countries & Respective Cities
1	Blue Banana	110–130[52]	United Kingdom: Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, London  Belgium: Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi, Liège  Netherlands: Randstad (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht), Eindhoven  Luxembourg: Luxembourg  Germany: Rhine-Ruhr, Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Stuttgart, Nuremberg  France: Strasbourg, Lille   Switzerland: Zürich, Basel  Italy: Turin, Milan, Venice
2	Golden Banana	40–45[53]	Italy: Turin, Genoa  France: Lyon, Nice, Toulon, Marseille, Nîmes, Montpellier, Narbonne, Perpignan, Toulouse  Monaco: Monaco  Andorra: Andorra  Spain: Girona, Barcelona, Tarragona, Valencia
3	STRING	12.8[54]	Germany: Hamburg, Kiel, Lübeck, Flensburg  Denmark: Copenhagen, Roskilde, Helsingør  Sweden: Malmö, Landskrona, Helsingborg, Halmstad, Varberg, Borås, Gothenburg, Uddevalla  Norway: Askim, Moss, Fredrikstad, Oslo, Sandvika
4	Green Banana	12	Poland: Warsaw, Kraków, Katowice  Slovakia: Bratislava  Czech Republic: Praha, Brno  Hungary: Budapest, Pécs  Italy: Trieste  Slovenia: Ljubljana
5	Atlantic Axis	10[55][56]	Portugal: Setúbal, Lisbon, Santarém, Leiria, Coimbra, Viseu, Aveiro, Porto, Braga, Viana do Castelo  Spain: Vigo, Ourense, Pontevedra, Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña
6	Gulf of Finland	8	Russia: Gatchina, St.Petersburg, Vyborg  Finland: Kotka, Kouvola, Espoo, Helsinki  Estonia: Tallinn, Narva, Tartu

Oceania

Australia

Megalopolis Name	Population in millions	Major cities
Sydney Region[57]	5.77[58]	Greater Sydney (including Central Coast and Blue Mountains) (4.97 million), Newcastle and Lake Macquarie (501,000), Illawarra (300,000)
Port Phillip Bay Area	4.98[58]	Greater Melbourne (including Mornington Peninsula) (4.7 million), Greater Geelong (233,429), Melton, Victoria (54,455)
South East Queensland	3.52[58]	Brisbane City (1.21 million), Gold Coast (591,300), Tweed Heads (8,200), Logan City (320,500), Redland City (139,600), Moreton Bay Region (450,000), Sunshine Coast (311,000), Noosa (54,600), Ipswich (206,000), Lockyer Valley (40,000), Toowoomba (166,000), Somerset (25,500), Note (excluding Scenic Rim (41,700))

New Zealand

See talk section for discussion on long-term projections for North Island and far long-term South Island.

Fiction

Metropolis

Metropolis is a 1927 German expressionist science-fiction drama film directed by Fritz Lang. Written by Thea von Harbou in collaboration with Lang,[59][60] 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.[61] Filming took place over 17 months in 1925–26 at a cost of over five million Reichsmarks.[62]

Judge Dredd

Judge Dredd (1977) 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 in the Judge Dredd comic book series and its spinoff series. 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.[63] The Architects' Journal placed it at No. 1 in their list of "comic book cities".[64]

Blade Runner

Blade Runner (1982 Film) - 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.

Sprawl Trilogy

In William Gibson's fiction, 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.[65] 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.

See also

Arcology Conurbation Ecumenopolis Ekistics Settlement types: Hamlet Village Town City Metropolis Types of inhabited localities in Russia

Global city Merger (politics) Transborder agglomeration Urban area Developed environments: Exurban Rural Suburban Urban

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External links

• "World Urbanization Prospects: The 2005 revision" (PDF).