Population tables of world cities

World's largest cities

World's largest cities proper

World's largest municipalities

World's largest urban areas

World's largest metropolitan areas

World's largest conurbations

World's largest urban agglomerations

World megacities

World megalopolises

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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 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 1957, to describe the huge metropolitan area along the eastern seaboard of the U.S. extending from Boston through New York City; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland and ending in Washington, D.C.

Definitions

A megapolis is a Greek word that derived from Greek: μέγας - great and Greek: πόλις - city therefore literally a great city. The metric prefix mega- represents the number of million (1,000,000) in the metric system.

A megalopolis, also known as a megaregion, is a clustered network of cities with a population of about 10 million or more.¹²³ America 2050,⁴ a program of the Regional Plan Association, lists 11 megaregions in the United States and Canada.¹ Literally, megalopolis in Greek means a city of exaggerated size where the prefix megalo- represents a quantity of exaggerated size.⁵ Megapolitan areas were explored in a July 2005 report by Robert E. Lang and Dawn Dhavale of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech.⁶ A later 2007 article by Lang and Nelson uses 20 megapolitan areas grouped into 10 megaregions.⁷ The concept is based on the original Megalopolis model.³

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.⁸

Europe

The Blue Banana

The Golden Banana

"Blue Banana" (also known as Hot Banana, Dorsal, European Megalopolis or European Backbone):⁹ Liverpool–Manchester–Leeds–Birmingham–London–Brussels–Antwerp–Amsterdam–Rotterdam–The Hague–Luxembourg–Rhine-Ruhr–Frankfurt am Main–Munich–Stuttgart–Basel–Zürich–Turin–Milan (110,000,000).¹⁰

• Greater London (Larger Urban Zone) - London and surrounding urban area of South East England (14 million).¹¹
• Chain of large towns in Northern England and English Midlands - Blackpool (261,088), Preston (335,000), Blackburn (136,655), Burnley (149,796), Liverpool (1,365,900), Warrington (158,195), Manchester (2,629,400), Leeds (2,161,200), Sheffield (1,299,400), Chesterfield (100,879), Mansfield (158,114), Nottingham (666,358), Derby (236,738), Leicester (441,213), Nuneaton (132,236), Coventry (336,452), Birmingham (2,284,093), Telford (138,241), The Potteries (362,403) - Total (13,283,000).
• Rhine-Ruhr in the western part of Germany, including Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund and Essen (11.5 million).
• Flemish Diamond - Brussels, Antwerp, and the central provinces of Flanders (5.5 million).
• The Randstad in the Netherlands is a conurbation with approximately 7.5 million inhabitants. It consists of the four largest Dutch cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht), and the surrounding areas. If the adjacent Brabantse Stedenrij (Eindhoven, Tilburg, Breda, 's Hertogenbosch and Helmond) is included, its population would be around 9.5 million.
• Milan metropolitan area in Italy - With 3,7 million.¹² According to OECD, with approximately 7.5 million. Potentially some parts of the Swiss Canton Ticino can be considered within the metropolis, thus making it a transnational city; however, this is not recognized by the OECD definition.

"Golden Banana" (or European Sunbelt):⁹ Turin–Genoa–Lyon–Monaco–Nice–Toulon–Marseille–Nîmes–Montpellier–Narbonne–Perpignan–Toulouse–Andorra–
Manresa– Girona–Barcelona–Tarragona–Castellón de la Plana–Sagunt–Valencia–Alicante–Murcia–Cartagena (30,000,000).

• Turin economic region in Italy: Piedmont centre and south area (4,100,000).
• Genoa metropolitan area in Italy (1,500,000).
• Lyon economic region in France: Rhône-Alpes river area (5,500,000).
• Nice metropolitan area in France: Monaco is included due to its economy importance (1,100,000).
• Toulon metropolitan area in France (600,000).
• Marseille metropolitan area in France (1,800,000).
• Montpellier metropolitan area in France (500,000).
• Toulouse economic region in France: Andorra is included due its economy importance (1,500,000).
• Perpignan metropolitan area (300,000).
• Greater Barcelona: Coastal area of Catalonia (6,100,000).
• Valencia economic region in Spain: Including Sagunt area (2,200,000).
• Murcia-Alicante economic region in Spain: including Cartagena and Benidorm (1,900,000).¹³

"Green Banana" (also known as East Banana, New Banana, Young Banana, East Poland-Centrope-Adriatic or Vistula-Danube Economic River): Gdańsk–Bydgoszcz–Warsaw–Łódź–Kielce–Kraków–Katowice–Ostrava–Olomuc–Brno–Wien–Bratislava–Budapest–Zagreb–Ljubljana–Trieste–Koper (21,000,000).

• Centrope in Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary, usually included is Budapest but is not oficially part of it (11,000,000).

Middle East

• 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.

North America

The United States and Canada¹¹⁴

Phoenix in the Arizona Sun Corridor

Oakland in Northern California

Quebec City in Quebec City – Windsor Corridor

Mexico

• Greater Mexico City - Mexico City plus 60 municipalities in the State of Mexico, Mexico City, State of Hidalgo in Mexico (almost 25 million)

• 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 35 million.

• The "Región Metropolitana 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.¹⁷

Asia

South East Asia

Largest megalopolis in South East Asia (in decreasing order of population): Jakarta (28,000,000), Manila (21,000,000), Bangkok (14,000,000), and Saigon (8,000,000).

China

Emerging megacities in China (in decreasing order of population):

• Pearl River Delta Megapolis (珠江三角洲): (Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Guangzhou, Foshan, Jiangmen, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Macau, Huizhou) (120,000,000)¹⁸¹⁹

• Yangtze River Delta (長江三角洲): (Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Suzhou, Jingjiang, Wuxi, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Yangzhou, Taizhou, Nantong, Huzhou, Jiaxing, Shaoxing, Jiangyin, Haimen, Zhangjiagang, Zhoushan, Ma'anshan) (88,000,000)²⁰

• Beibu Gulf Economic Rim and Red River Delta (环北部湾经济圈): Greater Nanning (Nanning, Beihai, Yulin, Qinzhou, Chongzuo, Binhai, Fangchenggang) and the Red River Delta in Vietnam (Hanoi, Hai Phong, Thanh Hóa, Nam Dinh, & Hai Duong)(33,700,000)²¹²²

• Bohai Economic Rim (环渤海经济圈): Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Anshan, Fushun, Dandong, Sinuiju, Tangshan, Yantai, Shenyang, Jinan, Qinhuangdao, Qingdao, Weihai (66,400,000)²³

• Coastal cities of Fujian Province: Xiamen, Fuzhou, Wenzhou, Shantou, Jieyang, Chaozhou (35,000,000)

• Central Plain (中原): Kaifeng, Xinxiang, Zhengzhou, Luoyang (24,170,000)

• 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.

• Northeastern Cities or the Harbin–Changchun Area (哈尔滨长春地区): 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) or the 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 (16,722,000)

• Greater Changsha Metropolitan region (长株潭城市群): 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 – Ibaraki, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Shizuoka, Aichi, Gifu, Mie, Osaka, Hyōgo, Wakayama, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka, and Ōita in Japan. (80,000,000)

Republic of Korea

• Seoul National Capital Area - Seoul, Incheon, Suwon, Goyang, Yongin, and the rest of Gyeonggi-do

(24,000,000)^{citation needed}

• Southeast Economic Belt - Busan, Daegu, Pohang, Ulsan, Changwon, and the rest of South Gyeongsang Province

(8,500,000)^{citation needed}

Africa

• Cairo–Giza–Qalyubia–Helwan–6th of October City (Greater Cairo), Egypt (16 million) The area around the Nile is also very densely populated.

• The Gauteng City Region (PWV), which includes the urbanised portion of Gauteng Province (Pretoria, Centurion, Midrand, Johannesburg and the Vaal Triangle, with a population of over 10 million)²⁴²⁵²⁶

• The region including ElJadida-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.^{citation needed}

Brazil

• The Rio de Janeiro—São Paulo Megalopolis: which includes parts of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo states, that spreads throughout much of the Southeast Region of the country, a conurbation which brings together more than 450 cities - defined primarily by metropolitan areas of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo and the whole catchment area around and between them (separated by about 300 km) is by far the most urbanized and industrialized in the country and Latin America; Projects to include the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte, in Minas Gerais, the third largest in the country (and the largest in the state of Minas Gerais, the second most populous in Brazil), and thus the entire area of influence established by linking it with the existing Rio-São Paulo megalopolis, now being studied. If approved, the megalopolis population crowd would jump from 45 million today to more than 60 million (2011 est.); Official population 2011 Census: 45,678,990;^{citation needed}

See also

Look up megalopolis in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

References

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