Megacity

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A megacity is a very large city, typically with a population of more than 10 million people. [1] [2] [3] [4] The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) in its 2018 "World Urbanization Prospects" report defines megacities as urban agglomerations with over 10 million inhabitants. [5] A University of Bonn report holds that they are "usually defined as metropolitan areas with a total population of 10 million or more people". [6] Elsewhere in other sources, from five to eight million is considered the minimum threshold, along with a population density of at least 2,000 per square kilometre. [7] The terms conurbation, metropolis, and metroplex are also applied to the latter. [7]

Contents

The total number of megacities in the world varies between different sources and their publication dates. The world had 33 according to UN DESA (in 2018), 25 according to the OCDE, 45 according to CityPopulation.de (in 2023), and 44 according to Demographia (in 2023). A good percentage of these urban agglomerations are in China and India. The other four countries with more than one megacity are Brazil, Japan, Pakistan, and the United States. African megacities are present in Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, Angola and the DRC; European megacities are present in Russia, France, the United Kingdom, and Turkey (also in Asia); megacities can be found in Latin America in the countries of Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Argentina.

Some sources identify the Greater Tokyo Area as the largest megacity in the world, [5] [8] while some others give the title to the Pearl River Delta in China. [9] [10] [11]

List of megacities

MegacityImageCountryRegionEstimated population
Citypopulation.de
(2024) [9]
Demographia
(2023) [8]
UN DESA
(2018) [5]
OECD
(2020) [12]
Bangalore UB City.jpg Flag of India.svg   India South Asia 14,200,00015,257,00011,440,00014,253,019
Bangkok 0008871 - Krung Thep Bridge 001.jpg Flag of Thailand.svg   Thailand Southeast Asia 21,200,00018,884,00010,156,00018,601,400
Beijing Skyline of Beijing CBD with B-5906 approaching (20211016171955).jpg Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg   China East Asia 21,200,00018,883,00019,618,00020,738,738
Bogotá Con-un-bate-y-un-cuchillo-dos-mujeres-fueron-agredidas-en-Chapinero.jpg Flag of Colombia.svg   Colombia South America 10,400,00010,252,00010,574,00010,544,590
Buenos Aires High-rises of Puerto Madero (40022145164).jpg Flag of Argentina.svg   Argentina South America 16,700,00015,748,00014,967,00014,590,526
Cairo Cropped Cairo.jpg Flag of Egypt.svg   Egypt North Africa 22,500,00022,679,00020,076,00027,925,433
Changsha Skyline with Xiang River.png Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg   China East Asia 11,000,0005,065,0004,345,0004,009,195
Chengdu Xue Shan Xia De Cheng Du Shi Tian Ji Xian Chengdu skyline with snow capped mountains.jpg Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg   China East Asia 17,300,00015,016,0008,813,0009,768,500
Chennai Chennai skyline.JPG Flag of India.svg   India South Asia 12,600,00011,570,00010,456,00011,528,915
Chongqing Zhong Qing Shi Yu Zhong Qu Ban Dao .jpg Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg   China East Asia 10,900,00012,653,00014,838,0008,913,804
Delhi Skyline at Rajiv Chowk.JPG Flag of India.svg   India South Asia 34,600,00031,190,00028,514,00033,495,554
Dhaka Dhaka 14th March (32624769393).jpg Flag of Bangladesh.svg   Bangladesh South Asia 22,500,00019,134,00019,578,00022,762,988
Dongguan Dong Wan Shi Huan Cheng Lu Dong Wan Shui Dao Te Da Qiao Hang Pai DJI 0744.jpg Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg   China East Asia Combined with
Guangzhou
10,753,0007,360,000Combined with
Guangzhou
Guangzhou Guangzhou Twin Towers.jpg Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg   China East Asia 70,100,00027,119,00012,638,00045,428,435
Hangzhou 20201012Cong Qian Tang Jiang Jiang Mian Shang Kong Guan Kan Qian Jiang Xin Cheng .jpg Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg   China East Asia 13,900,0009,618,0007,236,0009,013,951
Ho Chi Minh City Saigon skyline night view.jpg Flag of Vietnam.svg   Vietnam Southeast Asia 13,900,00014,953,0008,145,00014,247,593
Hyderabad Manjeera Trinity corporate building, KPHB.jpg Flag of India.svg   India South Asia 11,400,0009,797,0009,482,0009,706,886
Istanbul Istanbul view from Istanbul Sapphire observation deck Aug 2014, p9.JPG Flag of Turkey.svg   Turkey Europe, West Asia 15,900,00014,441,00014,751,00014,693,269
Jakarta SCBD, Jakarta.jpg Flag of Indonesia.svg   Indonesia Southeast Asia 29,200,00035,386,00010,517,00032,513,588
Jieyang Puning Urban Night View from Baierqiutian.jpg Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg   China East Asia Combined with
Shantou
2,516,000-13,891,202
Johannesburg Johannesburg CBD.jpg Flag of South Africa.svg   South Africa Southern Africa 14,600,00015,551,0005,486,0009,497,036
Karachi Skyline view in Karachi after lockdown.jpg Flag of Pakistan.svg   Pakistan South Asia 20,900,00020,249,00015,400,00018,916,709
Kinshasa Boulevard du 30 juin, Kinshasa.jpg Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.svg   DR Congo Central Africa 15,600,00013,493,00013,171,00010,077,694
Kolkata EM Bypass Kolkata.jpg Flag of India.svg   India South Asia 17,700,00021,747,00014,681,00024,106,859
Lagos Lagos skyline.jpg Flag of Nigeria.svg   Nigeria West Africa 20,700,00014,540,00013,463,00012,642,198
Lahore Badshahi Mosquee, Lahore.jpg Flag of Pakistan.svg   Pakistan South Asia 14,500,00013,504,00011,738,00015,696,939
Lima City of Lima, Peru.jpg Flag of Peru.svg   Peru South America 11,800,00010,556,00010,391,00010,496,389
London City of London skyline from London City Hall - Sept 2015 - Crop Aligned.jpg Flag of the United Kingdom.svg   United Kingdom Europe 14,900,00010,803,0009,046,00013,475,297
Los Angeles Los Angeles with Mount Baldy.jpg Flag of the United States.svg   United States North America 17,200,00015,587,00012,458,00016,206,529
Luanda Luanda Bay 5 - panoramio.jpg Flag of Angola.svg   Angola Central Africa 9,350,00010,914,0007,774,00010,212,263
Metro Manila View from Grand Hyatt Manila overlooking Bonifacio Global City and Makati skylines at sunset.jpg Flag of the Philippines.svg   Philippines Southeast Asia 27,200,00024,156,00013,482,00027,327,889
Mexico City Ciudad.de.Mexico.City.- Paseo.Reforma.Skyline CDMX 2016 (cropped).jpg Flag of Mexico.svg   Mexico North America 25,100,00021,905,00021,581,00019,229,491
Moscow Business Centre of Moscow 2.jpg Flag of Russia.svg   Russia Europe 19,700,00017,878,00012,410,00017,217,606
Mumbai orlir ggnraikhik dRshy.jpg Flag of India.svg   India South Asia 27,100,00025,189,00019,980,00023,435,141
Nagoya Meieki from Heiwa Park Aqua Tower.jpg Flag of Japan.svg   Japan East Asia 10,500,0009,439,0009,507,0009,853,994
New York City A view of New York City with the Empire State Building and One World Trade Center from the Rockefeller Center.jpg Flag of the United States.svg   United States North America 22,000,00021,396,00018,819,00020,106,617
Osaka Nakanoshima Skyscrapers in 201504 001.jpg Flag of Japan.svg   Japan East Asia 17,700,00014,916,00019,281,00016,866,788
Paris Eiffel Tower from the Tour Montparnasse 3, Paris May 2014.jpg Flag of France.svg   France Europe 11,500,00011,108,00010,901,00011,249,025
Rio de Janeiro Aerial View of Flamengo 1.jpg Flag of Brazil.svg   Brazil South America 12,500,00012,306,00013,293,00011,068,999
São Paulo SP from Altino Arantes Building.jpg Flag of Brazil.svg   Brazil South America 22,100,00021,486,00021,650,00021,671,857
Seoul Seoul (South Korea).jpg Flag of South Korea.svg   South Korea East Asia 25,100,00023,225,0009,963,00025,199,125
Shanghai Shanghai skyline waterfront pudong 5166168 69 70.jpg Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg   China East Asia 40,800,00024,042,00025,582,00030,504,083
Shenzhen Shenzhen Skyline from Nanshan.jpg Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg   China East Asia Combined with
Guangzhou
17,778,00011,908,000Combined with
Guangzhou
Surabaya Central Surabaya view taken from JW Marriott Surabaya.jpg Flag of Indonesia.svg   Indonesia Southeast Asia 5,900,0006,556,000-10,695,358
Suzhou Dong Fang Zhi Men 1.jpg Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg   China East Asia Combined with
Shanghai
6,091,0006,339,00013,458,006
Taipei Taipei Skyline 2022.06.29.jpg Flag of the Republic of China.svg   Taiwan East Asia 9,950,0009,662,000-10,048,037
Tehran North of Tehran Skyline view.jpg Flag of Iran.svg   Iran West Asia 16,500,00013,382,0008,896,00013,563,316
Tianjin Tianjin Skyline 2009 Sep 11 by Nangua 1.jpg Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg   China East Asia 11,500,00010,047,00013,215,0008,963,397
Tokyo Minato City, Tokyo, Japan.jpg Flag of Japan.svg   Japan East Asia 41,000,00037,785,00037,468,00036,697,549
Wuhan Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge in 2020.jpg Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg   China East Asia 12,200,00010,353,0008,176,0008,947,812
Xiamen Amoy Skyscrapers 2018.jpg Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg   China East Asia 14,900,0005,253,0003,585,0004,261,898
Xi'an Xi'an erhuan southeast.JPG Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg   China East Asia 12,800,00012,211,0007,444,0006,818,858
Zhengzhou 20211224 CBD of Zhengdong New Area.jpg Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg   China East Asia 9,800,00011,068,0004,940,0006,381,637

History

The term "megacity" entered common use in the late 19th or early 20th centuries; one of the earliest documented uses of the term was by the University of Texas in 1904. [13] Initially the United Nations used the term to describe cities of 8 million or more inhabitants, but now uses the threshold of 10 million. [14] In the mid 1970s the term was coined by urbanist Janice Perlman referring to the phenomenon of very large urban agglomerations. [15]

Map showing urban areas with at least one million inhabitants in 2020 2020 1million cities.jpg
Map showing urban areas with at least one million inhabitants in 2020

In 1800, only 3% of the world's population lived in cities, a figure that rose to 47% by the end of the twentieth century. In 1950, there were 83 cities with populations exceeding one million; by 2007, this number had risen to 468. [16] The UN forecasts that today's urban population of 3.2 billion will rise to nearly 5 billion by 2030, when three out of five, or 60%, of people will live in cities. [17] This increase will be most dramatic on the least-urbanized continents, Asia and Africa. Surveys and projections indicate that all urban growth over the next 25 years will be in developing countries. [18] One billion people, almost one-seventh of the world's population, now live in shanty towns. [19] In many poor countries, overcrowded slums exhibit high rates of disease due to unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, and lack of basic health care. [20] By 2030, over 2 billion people in the world will be living in slums. [21] Over 90% of the urban population of Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda, three of the world's most rural countries, already live in slums.

By 2025, Asia alone will have at least 30 megacities, including Mumbai, India (2015 population of 20.75 million people), Shanghai, China (2015 population of 35.5 million people), Delhi, India (2015 population of 21.8 million people), Tokyo, Japan (2015 population of 38.8 million people) and Seoul, South Korea (2015 population of 25.6 million people). In Africa, Lagos, Nigeria has grown from 300,000 in 1950 to an estimated 21 million today.

Growth

Gismondi's model of Rome in the time of Constantine Detail de la maquette de Rome a lepoque de Constantin (5839479770).jpg
Gismondi's model of Rome in the time of Constantine

For almost five hundred years, during the period of the Republic and later of the Empire, Rome was the largest, wealthiest, and most politically important city of the ancient world, rulling over Europe, Western Asia and Northern Africa. [22] [23] It is often stated that its population passed one million people by the end of the 1st century BC, however, its sometimes debated about whether the population actually reached such a large size. [24] [25] Rome's population started declining in 402 AD when Flavius Honorius, Western Roman Emperor from 395 to 423, moved the government to Ravenna and Rome's population declined to a mere 20,000 during the Early Middle Ages, reducing the sprawling city to groups of inhabited buildings interspersed among large areas of ruins and vegetation.

Baghdad was likely the largest city in the world from shortly after its foundation in 762 AD until the 930s, with some estimates putting its population at over one million. [26] Chinese capital cities Chang'an and Kaifeng also experienced huge population booms during prosperous empires. According to the census in the year 742 recorded in the New Book of Tang , 362,921 families with 1,960,188 persons were counted in Jingzhao Fu (京兆府), the metropolitan area including small cities in the vicinity of Chang'an. [27] The medieval settlement surrounding Angkor, the one-time capital of the Khmer Empire which flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, could have supported a population of up to one million people. [28]

During the 19th century, London was transformed into the world's largest city and capital of the British Empire. Trafalgar Square by James Pollard.jpg
During the 19th century, London was transformed into the world's largest city and capital of the British Empire.

From around 1825 to 1918 London was the largest city in the world, with the population growing rapidly; it was the first city to reach a population of over 5 million in 1900. In 1950, New York City was the only urban area with a population of over 10 million. [29] Geographers had identified 25 such areas as of October 2005, [30] as compared with 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.

Since the 2000s, the largest megacity has been the Greater Tokyo Area. The population of this urban agglomeration includes areas such as Yokohama and Kawasaki, and is estimated to be between 37 and 38 million. This 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. [31] [32] A characteristic issue of megacities is the difficulty in defining their outer limits and accurately estimating the populations.

Another list defines megacities as urban agglomerations instead of metropolitan areas. [33] As of 2021, there are 28 megacities by this definition, like Tokyo. [34] Other sources list Nagoya [9] and the Rhein-Ruhr [35] as megacities.

Challenges

Slums

Mumbai's Dharavi slum is home to 1 million residents Mumbai (5356346073).jpg
Mumbai's Dharavi slum is home to 1 million residents

According to the United Nations, the proportion of urban dwellers living in slums or informal settlements decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the developing world between 1990 and 2005. [36] However, due to rising population, the absolute number of slum dwellers is rising. The majority of these are located in informal settlements which often lack sufficient quality housing, sanitation, drainage, water access, and officially recognized addresses. The increase in informal settlement population has been caused by massive migration, both internal and transnational, into cities, which has caused growth rates of urban populations and spatial concentrations not seen before in history.[ citation needed ] These issues raise problems in the political, social, and economic arenas.[ citation needed ] People who live in slums or informal settlements often have minimal or no access to education, healthcare, or the urban economy.

Crime

Most murders in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil are gang related and happen in the favelas View over Complexo do Alemao (Favela) - From Igreja da Penha - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil - 03 (17556920491).jpg
Most murders in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil are gang related and happen in the favelas

As with any large concentration of people, there is usually crime. [37] [38] High population densities often result in higher crime rates, as visibly seen in growing megacities such as Karachi, Delhi, Cairo, Rio de Janeiro, and Lagos. [39]

Homelessness

Megacities often have significant numbers of homeless people. The actual legal definition of homelessness varies from country to country, or among different entities or institutions in the same country or region. [40]

In 2002, research showed that children and families were the largest growing segment of the homeless population in the United States, [41] [42] and this has presented new challenges, especially in services, to agencies. In the US, the government asked many major cities to come up with a ten-year plan to end homelessness. One of the results of this was a "Housing first" solution, rather than to have a homeless person remain in an emergency homeless shelter it was thought to be better to quickly get the person permanent housing of some sort and the necessary support services to sustain a new home. But there are many complications with this kind of program and these must be dealt with to make such an initiative work successfully in the middle to long term. [43] [44]

Traffic congestion

Bangkok is notorious for its traffic congestion. Ratchadamri to Pratunam.jpg
Bangkok is notorious for its traffic congestion.

Traffic congestion is a condition on road networks that occurs as use increases, and is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, increased pollution, and increased vehicular queueing. The Texas Transportation Institute estimated that, in 2000, the 75 largest metropolitan areas experienced 3.6 billion vehicle-hours of delay, resulting in 5.7 billion U.S. gallons (21.6 billion liters) in wasted fuel and $67.5 billion in lost productivity, or about 0.7% of the nation's GDP. It also estimated that the annual cost of congestion for each driver was approximately $1,000 in very large cities and $200 in small cities. [45] Traffic congestion is increasing in major cities and delays are becoming more frequent in smaller cities and rural areas.

Urban sprawl

A flat land area in the Greater Los Angeles Area in the U.S. state of California with houses, buildings, roads, and freeways. Areas constructed to capacity contribute to urban expansion. South-Los-Angeles-110-and-105-freeways-Aerial-view-from-north-August-2014.jpg
A flat land area in the Greater Los Angeles Area in the U.S. state of California with houses, buildings, roads, and freeways. Areas constructed to capacity contribute to urban expansion.

Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density, auto-dependent development on rural land, with associated design features that encourage car dependency. [46] As a result, some critics argue that sprawl has certain disadvantages including longer transport distances to work, high car dependence, inadequate facilities (e.g. health, cultural. etc.) and higher per-person infrastructure costs. Discussions and debates about sprawl are often obfuscated by the ambiguity associated with the phrase. For example, some commentators measure sprawl only with the average number of residential units per acre in a given area. But others associate it with decentralization (spread of population without a well-defined center), discontinuity (leapfrog development), segregation of uses, etc. [47]

Gentrification

Gentrification and urban gentrification are terms for the socio-cultural changes in an area as a result of wealthier people buying property in a less prosperous community. [48] As living costs rise, lower-income residents are forced to move out of the community leading to an increase in average income, which in turn makes the area more desirable to other wealthier property or business owners, further pushing the living costs up. This process also tends to lead to a decrease in average family size in the area. This type of population change reduces industrial land use when it is redeveloped for commerce and housing.

Air pollution

Air pollution in Shanghai, China Shanghai Smog.JPG
Air pollution in Shanghai, China

Air pollution is the introduction into the atmosphere of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or damages the natural environment. [49] [50] Many urban areas have significant problems with smog, a type of air pollution derived from vehicle emissions from internal combustion engines and industrial fumes that react in the atmosphere with sunlight to form secondary pollutants that also combine with the primary emissions to form photochemical smog.

Energy and material resources

The sheer size and complexity of megacities gives rise to enormous social and environmental challenges. Whether megacities can develop sustainably depends to a large extent on how they obtain, share, and manage their energy and material resources. There are correlations between electricity consumption, heating and industrial fuel use, ground transportation energy use, water consumption, waste generation, and steel production in terms of level of consumption and how efficiently they use resources. [51]

In fiction

Megacities are a common backdrop in dystopian science fiction, with examples such as the Sprawl in William Gibson's Neuromancer , [52] and Mega-City One, a megalopolis of between 50 and 800 million people (fluctuations due to war and disaster) across the east coast of the United States, in the Judge Dredd comic. [53] In Demolition Man a megacity called "San Angeles" was formed from the joining of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Diego and the surrounding metropolitan regions following a massive earthquake in 2010. [54] Fictional planet-wide megacities (ecumenopoleis) include Trantor in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series of books and Coruscant (population two trillion) in the Star Wars universe. [55]

See also

Related Research Articles

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A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which are sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metropolitan area usually comprises multiple principal cities, jurisdictions and municipalities: neighborhoods, townships, boroughs, cities, towns, exurbs, suburbs, counties, districts and even states and nations in areas like the eurodistricts. As social, economic and political institutions have changed, metropolitan areas have become key economic and political regions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conurbation</span> Group of settlements linked by continuous urban area

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urban area</span> Human settlement with high population density and infrastructure of built environment

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katowice urban area</span> Silesian conurbation and largest urban area in Poland

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kollam metropolitan area</span> Urban agglomeration in Kerala, India

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abidjan–Lagos Corridor</span> Transborder agglomeration in Africa

The Abidjan–Lagos Corridor, also known as the Abidjan–Lagos Megalopolis, is an emerging transnational megalopolis on the coast of southern West Africa. It stretches from Abidjan to Lagos, crossing five independent states from west to east, and includes two political capitals and many regional economic centers. The corridor has a length of approximately 965 kilometers. Within the megalopolis, a significant portion of West Africa's economic output is generated, and cities within the corridor are among the most economically developed of their respective countries, for which agglomeration effects and access to the Atlantic Ocean are responsible. The population within the region is experiencing rapid growth, and nearly 50 million people are expected to live within the corridor by 2035. According to projections, by the end of the 21st century, the region could become the largest urban region with continuous settlement in the world, then with up to half a billion inhabitants.

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