Megacity

A megacity is usually defined as a recognized metropolitan area with a total population in excess of 10 million people. 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.

Megacities around the world

In 1950, New York was the only area with a population of over 10 million New York City population statistics. There are 25 such areas as of October, 2005 Population statistics, 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 Greater Tokyo population statisticsTokyo metropolitan area population statistics.

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

Mexico City, Mexico (22,800,000)
Seoul, South Korea (22,300,000)
New York City, USA (21,900,000)
São Paulo, Brazil (20,200,000)
Mumbai (Bombay), India (19,850,000)
Delhi, India (19,700,000)
Shanghai, China (18,150,000)
Los Angeles, USA (18,000,000)

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

Others include Beijing, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Dhaka, Istanbul, 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), Rio de Janeiro-São Paulo, and the The Golden Horseshoe (within the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor).

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.

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, featured in the comic 2000 AD.

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.

The Matrix trilogy takes place in a megacity, which is referred to merely as "The City" and is a virtual amalgamation of the generic features of contemporary cities (street names mentioned in the first Matrix correspond to streets in the Chicago Loop). 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.

Naming scheme for megalopolises

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

References

External links

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division
Megacities Task Force
Maps of US Megacities from radicalcartography.net

Urban studies and planning | Human habitats