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Megacity

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This article is about the term, describing megacities in general. For other uses of the word see Mega city.

A megacity is usually defined as a recognized metropolitan area with a total population in excess of 10 million people.<ref> "How Big Can Cities Get?" New Scientist Magazine, 17th June 2006, page 41</ref> Some definitions also set a minimum level for population density (at least 2,000 persons/square km). A megacity can be a single metropolitan area or two or more metropolitan areas that converge upon one another. The term metroplex is also applied to the latter. The terms megapolis and megalopolis are sometimes used synonymously with megacity.

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[edit] Megacities around the world

In 1950, New York was the only area with a population of over 10 million <ref>New York City population statistics</ref>. There are 25 such areas as of October, 2005 <ref>Population statistics</ref>, up one from the beginning of 2005. There were 19 megacities in 2004 and only nine in 1985. This increase has happened as the world's population moves towards the high (75-85%) urbanization levels of North America and Western Europe.

Today, the largest megacity is the Greater Tokyo Area. The population of this urban agglomeration includes areas such as Yokohama and Kawasaki, and is estimated to be between 30 and 34 million. The variation in estimates can be accounted for by different definitions of what the area encompasses. While the prefectures of Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama are commonly included in statistical information, the Japan Statistics Bureau only includes the area within 50 kilometers of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices in Shinjuku, thus arriving at a smaller population estimate <ref>Greater Tokyo population statistics</ref><ref>Tokyo metropolitan area population statistics</ref>.

The nine largest megacities in addition to Tokyo according to this criterion are, in decreasing order of population:

Source: Th. Brinkhoff: The Principal Agglomerations of the World, 2006-01-28

Others include Beijing, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Dhaka, Istanbul, Jakarta, Karachi, Kolkata (Calcutta), Lagos, London, Manila, Moscow, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Shenzhen, and Tehran.

United Nations projections indicate a slow down of the emergence of new megacities after 2005. However, the expansion and merging of highly-urbanized zones may remain an important trend, as seen in Boston - New York - Philadelphia - Baltimore - Washington (BosWash), Los Angeles - San Diego (The Southland), Chicago-Milwaukee-Gary, Tokyo-Osaka, Johannesburg-Pretoria (Gauteng Province), San Francisco-Oakland, Rio de Janeiro-São Paulo, and the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor.

[edit] Canadian usage of Megacity

In Canada, the forcible amalgamation of municipal entities into a larger new municipality is labelled as a megacity. Megacities have been agglomerated in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and have resulted in large amounts of acrimony. In Ontario, the former Progressive Conservative administration of Premier Mike Harris was noted for creating a number of megacities among its many reforms.

Examples of megacities in Canada include:

  • Toronto - the municipalities that constituted the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto were merged into a new City of Toronto in 1998.
  • Kawartha Lakes, Ontario - this mainly rural township had its towns and villages merged into a "megacity" in 2000. The area only has a population of 69,179 yet takes up an area of 3,059.22 km² (Toronto only takes up 629.91 km²) giving it a density of only a mere 22.6 persons per km².
  • Ottawa - the municipalities that constituted the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton were merged into a new City of Ottawa in 2001.
  • Gatineau - five municipalities in southwestern Quebec (Gatineau, Hull, Aylmer, Buckingham, and Masson-Angers) were merged into a new City of Gatineau in 2002.
  • Montreal - all of the municipalities on the island of Montreal were merged into a new City of Montreal for a short period of time until January 1st, 2006, when a partial demerger occurred.

For more information on Ontario "megacities," see the article on the Common Sense Revolution.

[edit] Megacities in fiction

Fictional megacities feature in much dystopian science fiction, with examples such as the Sprawl, featured in William Gibson's Neuromancer, and Mega-City One, a megalopolis of over 400 million people across the east coast of the United States, features in the Judge Dredd comic, serialised in 2000 AD.

Demolition Man (1993) features a megacity called "San Angeles", formed from the joining of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Diego and the surrounding metropolitan regions following a massive earthquake.

Planet-wide megacities (ecumenopolises) have been depicted, including Trantor in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series of books, Coruscant in the Star Wars universe and 'City Europe' in David Wingrove's Chung Kuo series of books, and Holy Terra in Warhammer 40,000.

Many of these fictional depictions were inspired by Fritz Lang's 1927 film, Metropolis. Ridley Scott's 1982 film, Blade Runner, features an influential depiction of Los Angeles in 2019.

[edit] Naming scheme for megalopolises

A number of megalopolises use portmanteau words as their names (e.g. ChiPitts, BosWash, and SanSan).

[edit] References

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[edit] See also

[edit] External links

de:Megastadt es:Lista de áreas metropolitanas por población eo:Plej grandaj urboj laŭ enloĝantaro fr:Liste des mégapoles id:Daftar wilayah metropolitan berdasarkan populasi ka:მსოფლიოს უდიდესი აგლომერაციები nl:Lijst van grootste metropolen ja:都市圏人口の順位 pt:Megalópole ru:Мегалополис sk:Zoznam najväčších miest

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