Metropolitan area
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/* Lists of metropolitan areas */
[[Image:Urban sprawl as seen from Tokyo tower towards West.jpg|thumb|Metropolitan area in Western [[Tokyo]] as seen from [[Tokyo Tower]]]]
[[Image:San Diego-Tijuana Metro 3D Map.jpg|thumb|right|A 3D rendered image of the [[San Diego-Tijuana metropolitan area]], a bi-national [[urban agglomeration]].]]
A '''metropolitan area''' is a large population center consisting of a large [[metropolis]] and its adjacent zone of influence, or of more than one closely adjoining neighboring central [[city|cities]] and their zone of influence. One or more large cities may serve as its [[hub]] or hubs, and the metropolitan area is normally named after either the largest or most important central city within it.
==General definition==
A metropolitan area usually combines an [[agglomeration]] (the contiguous built-up area) with peripheral zones not themselves necessarily urban in character, but closely bound to the center by employment or commerce; these zones are also sometimes known as a '''commuter belt''', and may extend well beyond the urban periphery depending on the definition used. It is mainly the area that is not part of the city but is connected to the city. For example, [[Pasadena, California]] would be added to [[Los Angeles, California]]'s metro area. While it isn't the same city, it is connected.
The core cities in a polycentric metropolitan area need not be physically connected by continuous built-up development, distinguishing the concept from [[conurbation]], which requires urban contiguity. In a metropolitan area, it is sufficient that central cities together constitute a large population nucleus with which other constituent parts have a high degree of integration.
In practice the parameters of metropolitan areas, in both official and unofficial usage, are not consistent. Sometimes they are little different from an urban area, and in other cases they cover broad regions that have little relation to the traditional concept of a city as a single urban settlement. Thus all metropolitan area figures should be treated as interpretations rather than as hard facts. Metro area population figures given by different sources for the same place can vary by millions, and there is a tendency for people to promote the highest figure available for their own "city". However the most ambitious metropolitan area population figures are often better seen as the population of a "metropolitan region" than of a "city".
===Differences in terminology by country ===
The term metropolitan area is sometimes abbreviated to 'metro', for example in [[Metro Manila]] and [[Washington, DC Metro Area]], which in the latter case should not be mistaken to mean the [[metro|metro rail system]] of the city. Although it can be compared in composition to many of the world's metropolitan areas, in [[France]] the term for the region around an urban core linked by commuting ties is an ''[[aire urbaine]]'' (officially translated as "urban area"). In [[Japan]] that would be {{nihongo|''toshiken''|都市圏||extra=lit. bloc of cities}}.
===Country official unique definitions===
==== Australia ====
[[Image:Perthsky.jpg|thumb|right|[[Perth, Western Australia|Perth]] is arguably the most isolated metropolitan area in the world.]]
In [[Australia]], Statistical Divisions (SDs) are defined by the [[Australian Bureau of Statistics]] as areas under the unifying influence of one or more major towns or cities. Each capital city forms its own Statistical Division, and the population of the SD is the most-often quoted figure for that city's population. Statistical Districts are defined as non-capital but predominantly urban areas. The statistical divisions that encompass the capital cities are commonly though unofficially called 'metropolitan areas'.<ref>''[http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/7d12b0f6763c78caca257061001cc588/32eb1b908521ad75ca2571220079feee!OpenDocument#M 1217.0.55.001 - Glossary of Statistical Geography Terminology, 2003]'', Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2003</ref>
==== United States ====
The [[Office of Management and Budget]] defines "Core Based Statistical Areas" used for statistics purposes among federal agencies. Each CBSA is based on a core urban area and is composed of the [[County (United States)|counties]] which comprise that core as well as any surrounding counties that are tightly socially or economically integrated with it. These areas are designated as either [[United States metropolitan area|metropolitan]] or [[United States micropolitan area|micropolitan statistical area]]s, based on population size; a "metro" area has an urban core of at least 50,000 residents, while a "micro" area has less than 50,000 but at least 10,000.<ref>[http://www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/metroarea.html Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas], [[U.S. Census Bureau]]</ref>
==Additional terms==
At the turn of the 19th century only 3 percent of the world was urbanized. During the 20th and into the 21st century the presence of humans in urban areas has increased dramatically. Within the first quarter of the 21st century it is expected that more than half of the world's population will live in urban areas, if this is not already the case.<ref>[http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9070726 The world goes to town]</ref>
By 2025, according to the ''Far Eastern Economic Review'', Asia alone will have at least 10 hypercities, those with 20 million or more, including [[Delhi]] (~20 million), [[Jakarta]] (24.9 million people), [[Dhaka]] (25 million), [[Karachi]] (26.5 million), [[Shanghai]] (27 million) and [[Mumbai]] (33 million).<ref>[http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/HE20Aa01.html Planet of Slums by Mike Davis]</ref> [[Lagos]] has grown from 300,000 in 1950 to an estimated 15 million today, and the Nigerian government estimates that city will have expanded to 25 million residents by 2015.<ref>[http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/places/cities/city_lagos.html Lagos, Nigeria facts - National Geographic]</ref>
If several metropolitan areas are located in succession, metropolitan areas are sometimes grouped together as a '''[[megalopolis]]''' (plural ''megalopoleis'', also ''megalopolises''). A megalopolis consists of several interconnected [[cities]] (and their suburbs), between which people commute, and which are so close together that suburbs can claim to be suburbs of more than one city. Another name for a [[megalopolis (city type)|megalopolis]] is a [[metroplex]] (short for metropolitan complex) or [[conurbation]].
This concept was first proposed by the French geographer [[Jean Gottmann]] in his book ''Megalopolis'', a study of the northeastern United States. One famous example is the [[BosWash|BosWash megalopolis]] consisting of [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]], [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]], [[Hartford, Connecticut|Hartford]], [[New York City]], [[Newark, New Jersey|Newark]], [[Philadelphia]], [[Wilmington, Delaware|Wilmington]], [[Baltimore, Maryland|Baltimore]], [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]], and vicinity.
The biggest one is the [[Taiheiyō Belt]] (the Pacific Megalopolis) in Japan consisting of Tokyo MA, Shizuoka MA, Nagoya MA, Osaka MA, Okayama MA, Hiroshima MA, Fukuoka MA and vicinity. [[Guangdong Province]]'s [[Pearl River Delta]] is a huge megalopolis with a population of 48 million that extends from [[Hong Kong]] and [[Shenzhen]] to [[Guangzhou]]. Some projections assume that by 2030 up to 1 billion people will live in [[China]]'s urban areas. Even rather conservative projections predict an urban population of up to 800 million people. In its most recent assessment, the UN Population Division estimated an urban population of 1 billion in 2050.<ref>[http://english.people.com.cn/200409/16/eng20040916_157275.html China's urban population to reach 800 to 900 million by 2020: expert]</ref>
The megalopoleis in Europe are the [[Ruhr Area]] in Germany, the [[Randstad]] (Knooppunt Arnhem-Nijmegen and Brabantse Stedenrij are counted with the Randstad) in the Netherlands, the [[Flemish Diamond]] in Belgium, [[Ile de France]] in France and the metropolitan area of [[London]], as well as several 'smaller' [[agglomeration]]s, such as the Meuse-Rhine Euregion, the Ems-Dollart Euregion, the Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai Euregion and Metropoly of [[Upper Silesia]] in Poland (17 cities around Katowice with a total population of over 2 million). Together this megalopolis has an estimated population of around 50 million.
[[Africa]]'s first megalopolis is situated in the urban portion of [[Gauteng]] Province in [[South Africa]], comprising the conurbation of [[Johannesburg]], and the metropolitan areas of [[Pretoria]] and the [[Vaal Triangle]], otherwise known as the PWV.
It has been suggested that the whole of south-eastern, Midland and parts of northern [[England]] will evolve into a megalopolis dominated by [[London]]. Clearly when usage is stretched this far, it is remote from the traditional conception of a city.
[[Megacity]] is a general term for agglomerations or metropolitan areas which usually have a total [[population]] in excess of 10 million people. In [[Canada]], '''megacity''' can also refer informally to the results of merging a central city with its suburbs to form one large municipality. A Canadian "megacity", however, is not necessarily an entirely urbanized area, as many cities so named have both rural and urban portions. Moreover, Canadian "megacities" do not constitute large metropolitan areas in a global sense.
Census population of a metro area is not the city population. However, it better demonstrates the population of the city. [[Los Angeles]] may only have a city population of near 4,000,000, but has two metropolitan area populations, depending on definition, 13 million in the core area and 18 million in the Combined statistical area.
==References==
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== See also ==
*[[Developed Environments]]
===Terms===
*[[Amalgamation (politics)]]
*[[Combined Statistical Area]]
*[[Consolidated city-county]]
*[[Conurbation]]
*[[Ecumenopolis]]
*[[Industrial region]]
*[[Metrobus]]
*[[Metropolis]]
*[[Megacity]]
*[[Megalopolis (city type)]]
*[[Overpopulation]]
*[[Urban sprawl]]
*[[Urban area]]
*[[World largest cities]]
===Lists of metropolitan areas===
*[[List of urban areas by population]]
*[[List of metropolitan areas by population]]
*[[List of metropolitan areas that overlap multiple countries]]
*[[United States metropolitan areas]]
*[[Metropolitan Regions of China]]
*[[List of most populous metropolitan areas in India]]
*[[List of Japanese cities by population]]
*[[Metropolitan areas in ROC (Taiwan)]]
*[[Larger Urban Zones (LUZ) in the European Union]]
*[[Largest urban areas of the European Union|List of the 59 largest urban areas of the European Union]]
*[[Largest European cities and metropolitan areas]]
*[[List of conurbations in the United Kingdom|United Kingdom metropolitan areas]]
*[[aire urbaine|List of fifteen largest metropolitan areas of France]]
*[[Metropolitan Regions of Germany]]
*[[Metropolitan Areas of Sweden]]
*[[Metropolitan Regions of Norway]]
*[[Metropolitan areas in Romania]]
*[[Metropolitan areas of Mexico|Metropolitan Areas of Mexico]]
*[[Largest metropolitan areas in the Americas]]
*[[List of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in Canada]]
*[[Census Metropolitan Area]] (Canada)
*[[List of cities in Australia by population]]
* [[Metropolitan areas of Egypt]].
=== Metropolitan Planning Theories ===
* [[Smart Growth]]
* [[new urbanism]]
* [[Transit Oriented Development]]
== External links ==
*[http://www.MetroFYI.com/ MetroFYI.com] - Travel and Tourism information for North America
*[http://www.metropolis.org/ metropolis.org] - An organisation of world metropolises
*[http://www.urban.e.u-tokyo.ac.jp/UEA/index_e.htm Urban Employment Areas in Japan] (Metropolitan Employment Areas in Japan)
*[http://www.turismo.fvg.it/poli] (Metropolis read by maps in Friuli Venezia Giulia - Northeast of Italy - EU)
[[Category:Metropolitan areas| ]]
[[Category:Urban geography]]
[[ar:تجمع حضري]]
[[bg:Метрополис]]
[[ca:Àrea metropolitana]]
[[da:Metropolregion]]
[[de:Metropolregion]]
[[es:Área metropolitana]]
[[fr:Aire urbaine]]
[[gl:Área metropolitana]]
[[id:Metropolitan]]
[[it:Area metropolitana]]
[[he:מטרופולין]]
[[mk:Метрополитенска област]]
[[nl:Metropool]]
[[ja:都市圏]]
[[pl:Obszar metropolitalny]]
[[pt:Região metropolitana]]
[[sk:Metropola]]
[[fi:Metropolialue]]
[[sv:Metropolis]]
[[vi:Vùng đô thị]]
[[uk:Метрополія]]
[[zh:城市群]]