Modern society, by virtue of many global processes, is becoming increasingly urbanized. Therefore, the question of studying and describing megacities and metropolitan areas is more than relevant. The article describes the largest agglomerations in the world, and also defines the term “agglomeration”.
What is agglomeration
Most modern encyclopedias define agglomeration as a large cluster of settlements, which are mainly urban, and in exceptional cases, rural entities, which are combined into one whole due to economic, political and cultural ties. The largest agglomerations of the world began to form in the middle of the twentieth century, when urban growth took place everywhere. In the 21st century, the process of urbanization intensified and continued in a new form.
Agglomeration can form around one big city and be called monocentric. Examples of such agglomerations are New York and Paris. The second type of agglomeration is called polycentric, which means that the composition of the agglomeration includes several large settlements, which, independently of one another, are central. A vivid example of polycentric agglomeration is the Ruhr region in Germany.
In 2005, there were about 400 agglomerations around the world, the number of inhabitants in each of them exceeded 2 million people. The largest agglomerations of the world on the map are located rather unevenly, but their greatest concentration is observed in economically developed countries. In the ten largest agglomerations in the world, more than 230 million people live (much more than the population of the Russian Federation).
Tokyo and Yokohama
Of course, the largest metropolitan area is the capital of Japan, Tokyo. Its population today is approaching 38 million people, which exceeds the population of many European countries (Switzerland, Poland, the Netherlands and others). Agglomeration is inherently polycentric and unites two central cities - Yokohama and Tokyo, as well as a huge number of small towns. The area of the agglomeration is 13.5 thousand km 2.
The center of this huge agglomeration is three urban areas that are located around the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. In addition, the city has 20 more districts and several prefectures (Gumma, Kanagawa, Ibaraki, etc.). This whole structure is usually called Greater Tokyo.
London
At the moment, there are many definitions of the territory in which the city of London is located. Among them are Greater London, London County, and even the London Postal or Telegraph District. Scientists usually share in the territorial structure of the British capital the historical center (City), Inner London (13 city blocks), Outer London (suburban old areas). All these territorial elements form such a structure and population that the largest agglomerations of the world possess.
The administrative boundaries of the London agglomeration occupy about 11 thousand km 2 with a population of about 12 million people. This territory also includes the so-called satellite cities of London: Bracknell, Harlow, Basildon, Crowley and others. And also directly those territories that are adjacent to the capital: Essex, Surrey, Kent, Hertfordshire.
Paris
Administratively, the city of Paris is only one of the departments in the Ильle-de-France region. But the capital has long crushed all eight departments, the administrative division is currently conditional. And Paris is an urban center that has the same qualities as the largest metropolitan areas and megacities of the world. In particular, Paris has a significant number of satellite cities that built and merged into the capital back in the 1960s.
The construction of the so-called new cities - specially created satellites of Paris, began in a big crown in the 1960s.
Paris, as the capital of France, together with the so-called new cities and crowns forms a huge agglomeration, or Greater Paris. The area of the metropolis is 12 thousand km 2, and the population is more than 13 million people. Paris represents the largest agglomerations of the world on a map of Europe.
