The face of the world is rapidly changing: villages and towns give way to cities, the latter, in turn, merge into a single whole and become agglomerations. This is a demographic and economic process that is developing in a planned and gradual manner, it cannot be stopped. Progress itself dictates to humanity the conditions for its greatest acceleration. The entire twentieth century is a period of mass industrialization. The result was the development of industries in various directions and the associated growth of the urban population, which provides any industrial enterprise with the main resource - workers.
History of appearance
Urban agglomeration is the process of expanding the territory of a settlement due to its development and absorption of adjacent settlements. Urbanization took place quite rapidly, over 80-95 years. If we compare the census data at the beginning and end of the twentieth century, then they clearly show the ratio of the rural and urban population. In percentage terms, it looks like this: in 1903, 13% are urban residents, by 1995 this figure is 50%. The trend has continued to this day, but the first largest urban agglomerations appeared in the ancient world. Examples include Athens, Alexandria and, of course, great Rome. Much later, in the 17th century, the first agglomerations arose in Europe - Paris and London, which occupied a significant area in the British Isles. In the 19th century, the formation of large urban settlements began in North America. The term "agglomeration" was first introduced by the French geographer M. Rouge. According to him, urban agglomeration is the exit of non-agricultural activities outside the administrative framework of a settlement and the involvement of surrounding settlements in it. The definitions that exist today are quite diverse in terms of presentation, but the generalizing principle is the process of expansion and growth of the city. In doing so, many criteria are taken into account.
Definition
N.V. Petrov characterizes agglomeration as a cluster of cities and other settlements on a territorial basis, while in the process of development they grow together, there is an increase in all types of relationships (labor, cultural, economic, etc.). At the same time, clusters should be compact and have clear administrative boundaries - both internal and external. Pertsik E.N. gives a slightly different definition: urban agglomeration is a special form of urbanization, which implies the accumulation of geographically close settlements that are economically interconnected and have a common transport network, engineering infrastructure, industrial and cultural relations, and a common social and technical base. In his works, he emphasizes that this type of association is the most productive environment for scientific and technical activities, the development of progressive technologies and industries. Accordingly, it is here that the most qualified workers are grouped, for whose convenience the service sector is developing and conditions for good rest are created. The largest cities and urban agglomerations have movable territorial boundaries, this concerns not only the actual location of individual points, but also the time periods spent on moving a person or cargo from the core to the periphery.
Criteria for determining agglomeration
Among modern cities, there are many quite developed ones, with a population of over 2-3 million people. It is possible to determine to what extent a given settlement can be attributed to the category of agglomeration using certain evaluation criteria. However, here, too, analysts' opinions differ: some suggest focusing on a group of factors, others need only one feature, which is clearly expressed and documented. The main indicators according to which cities can be attributed to agglomeration:
- by 1 m 2.
- Number (from 100 thousand people, the upper limit is unlimited).
- Development speed and its continuity (no more than 20 km between the main city and its satellites).
- The number of absorbed settlements (satellites).
- The intensity of trips for various purposes between the core and the periphery (to work, study or for leisure, the so-called commuting).
- The presence of a single infrastructure (engineering communications, communications).
- Shared logistics network.
- Share of the population employed in non-agricultural work.
Types of urban agglomerations
With all the diversity of the structure of interaction and the conditions for the coexistence of cities and their satellites, there is a laconic system for determining the type of settlement. There are two main types: monocentric and polycentric agglomerations. The largest number of existing and emerging mergers fall into the first category. Monocyclic agglomerations are formed on the basis of the dominance of one main city. There is a core, which, during growth, includes other settlements in its territory and forms the direction of their further development in symbiosis with its potential capabilities. The largest urban agglomerations (the overwhelming majority) are created precisely according to the monotype. An example is Moscow or New York. Polycentric agglomerations are rather an exception; they unite several cities, each of which is an independent nucleus and absorbs nearby settlements. For example, in Germany it is completely built up by large entities, each of which has several satellites, while they do not depend on each other and are united into one whole only on a territorial basis.
Structure
The largest urban agglomerations in the world have formed in cities with a history spanning from 100 to 1000 years. This has developed historically, any industrial complexes, retail chains, cultural centers are easier to improve than to create new ones from scratch. The only exceptions are American cities, which were originally planned as metropolitan areas for higher rates of economic development.
So, let's draw brief conclusions. An urban agglomeration is a structured settlement, which (approximately, there are no clear boundaries) can be divided into the following sections:
- The city center, its historical part, which is the cultural heritage of the region. Its attendance peaks in the daytime; there are often restrictions on the entry of personal vehicles into this territory.
- The ring surrounding the central part, the business center. This area is built up very densely with office buildings, in addition, there is an extensive system of catering establishments (restaurants, bars, cafes), the service sector is also widely represented (beauty salons, gyms and gyms, fashion studios, etc.). There is a well-developed trade network, especially expensive shops with exclusive goods, there are administrative government agencies.
- Residential area, which belongs to old buildings. In the process of agglomeration, it often turns into a business one due to the high cost of land under residential buildings. Due to the constant demand for it, buildings that are not classified as monuments of architecture or history are being demolished or modernized for office and other premises.
- Multi-storey mass building. Remote (sleeping) areas, manufacturing and industrial areas. This sector, as a rule, has a large social focus (schools, large retail outlets, clinics, libraries, etc.).
- Suburban areas, parks, squares, satellite villages. Depending on the size of the agglomeration, this territory develops and equips itself.
Stages of development
All urban agglomerations in the world go through the main processes of formation. Many settlements stop in their development (at some stage), some are just beginning their way to a highly developed and comfortable structure for people to live in. It is customary to divide the following stages:
- Industrial agglomeration. The connection between the core and the periphery is based on the production factor. tied to a specific company, there is no common market for real estate and land.
- Transformational stage. It is characterized by an increase in the level of commuting, and accordingly a common labor market is formed, the center of which is a large city. The core of the agglomeration is beginning to actively form the service and leisure sector.
- Dynamic agglomeration. This stage provides for the modernization and transfer of production facilities to peripheral sites. In parallel, a logistics system is developing, which allows for a faster splicing of the core and satellite cities. Single labor and real estate markets are emerging, and a common infrastructure is being built.
- Post-industrial agglomeration. The final stage, which is characterized by the end of all interaction processes. The existing connections (core-periphery) are strengthened and expanded. Work begins on raising the status of the agglomeration in order to attract more resources and expand areas of activity.
Features of Russian agglomerations
To increase the rate of economic growth and the development of knowledge-intensive production, our country must have clearly formulated and calculated plans for the near and long term. Historically, a situation has developed in which urban agglomerations in Russia were built exclusively on the industrial type. That was enough, but with the forced transition to the transformational stage (the formation of a market economy), a number of problems arose that had to be eliminated during the 90s. Further development of urban agglomerations requires centralized government intervention. That is why this topic is often discussed by experts and the highest government authorities. Complete restoration, modernization and relocation of production bases is required, which will entail dynamic agglomeration processes. Without the participation of the state as a financing and governing body, this stage is inaccessible to many cities. The economic advantages of functioning agglomerations are undeniable, therefore, there is a process of stimulating associations of territorially connected cities and towns. The largest urban agglomeration in the world may be created in Russia in the near future. For this we have all the necessary resources, it remains to correctly use the main one - the administrative one.
The largest urban agglomerations in Russia
In fact, today there are no clear statistics. According to the agglomerations in the Russian Federation, 22 largest can be distinguished, which are developing steadily. In our country, the monocentric type of formation prevails. Urban agglomerations of Russia in most cases are at the industrial stage of development, but their availability of human resources is sufficient for further growth. In terms of number and stage of formation, they are located in the following sequence (first 10):
- Moscow.
- St. Petersburg.
- Rostov.
- Samara-Togliatti.
- Nizhny Novgorod.
- Novosibirsk.
- Yekaterinburg.
- Kazan.
- Chelyabinsk.
- Volgograd.
The number of urban agglomerations in the Russian Federation is growing due to the creation of new associations, which do not necessarily include cities with a population of one million: the merger is due to the resource indicator or industrial interests.
Global agglomerations
Surprising numbers and facts can be obtained by studying this topic. Some of the world's agglomerations have areas and populations comparable to those of the whole country. It is rather difficult to calculate the total number of such subjects, because each expert applies a certain (chosen by him) group of features or one of them. But when considering the top ten, one can count on the unanimity of specialists. So:
- The largest urban agglomeration in the world is Tokyo-Yokohama. Population 37.5 million (Japan)
- Jakarta (Indonesia).
- Delhi (India).
- Seoul-Incheon (Republic of Korea).
- Manila (Philippines).
- Shanghai (PRC).
- Karachi (Pakistan).
- New York, USA).
- Sao Paulo (Brazil).
Problems of urban agglomerations
With all the positive aspects of the development of the economy, culture, production and science, there is a fairly large number of shortcomings that characterize megalopolises. Firstly, the long length of communications and the constantly increasing load (with active development) leads to problems in housing and communal services, respectively, the level of comfort of citizens decreases. Secondly, transport and logistics schemes do not always provide the proper level of speed of transportation of goods and people. Third, a high level of environmental pollution (air, water, soil). Fourthly, agglomerations attract most of the working population from small towns that are not their satellites. Fifth, the complexity of the administration of large areas. These problems are known to every city dweller, and their elimination requires a long and laborious work of all city structures.
Urban agglomerations (translated from Lat. - I attach, accumulate, heap) are a compact spatial grouping of settlements (mainly urban), united by a variety of intensive ties (production, labor, cultural, domestic, recreational) into a complex system. As an integral territorial socio-economic formation, an urban agglomeration arises on the basis of the functional and spatial development of a large core city (or several core cities).
There are monocentric (single-center) urban agglomerations with one core city, which subordinates to its influence all other settlements located in its suburban area and far exceeds them in size and economic potential; polycentric (multicenter) urban agglomerations with several interconnected city centers. The suburban (peripheral) zone of the urban agglomeration serves in relation to the central city-core as a diverse addition and reserve of development (in a polycentric urban agglomeration it is a set of suburban zones of cities-cores).
The evolution of settlement forms under the influence of development processes and concentration of production leads to the convergence and coalescence of agglomerations, the formation of megalopolises - urbanized zones of the supra-aglomeration level, including vast territories (city à agglomeration à urbanized zone à urbanized area à megalopolis).
So, there are five main hierarchically subordinate forms of urbanized settlement (according to Yu.L. Pivovarov):
1. A compact city (in its traditional form) is the main element of settlement at the initial stages of urbanization of a country or region. According to the "Dictionary of General Geographical Terms", a city is understood as: "a set of monasteries, incorporated (ie registered as a unit of account) and managed by the mayor or aldermen." A city in Denmark is understood as a settlement with more than 250 inhabitants, in Japan - 30 thousand, in Russia from 5 to 12 thousand inhabitants.
2. Agglomeration - (from Latin agglomero - I attach, accumulate) an elementary form of developed group settlement. It represents a cluster around the center (big city) of closely spaced urban and rural settlements, united by intense and stable ties. Agglomeration is considered by us for areas with great development potential as a stage form in the transition from an autonomous city to more complex forms of settlement.
3. An urbanized (metropolitan) area is the main structural element of settlement in the future. It means a relatively wide area, the core of which is usually made up of several agglomerations with their surroundings, united by common functional and morphological features. This socio-spatial form of settlement is based on a comprehensive planning of vast territories, on specialization and a clear allocation of functional zones. It includes the agglomeration itself and the territory of the vast metropolitan region.
4. The urbanized zone is the largest link (uniting several elements) in the perspective spatial structure of the country's settlement. This is an area with a high density of urban settlements and a large proportion of the urban population. The urbanized zone is distinguished by the intensity of the development of urban settlements (and not by their number).
5. Megalopolis (from the Greek megalu - large, polis - city) is the largest form of settlement. These are vast urbanized zones of a strip-like configuration, which are formed as a result of the actual splicing of many neighboring agglomerations of different ranks. Typically, such urbanized lanes stretch along the most important transport arteries and polyhighways, or some kind of economic axes.
In industrialized countries, as a result of the growth and gradual merging of dozens of neighboring large urban agglomerations along transport arteries, vast urbanized zones of a strip-like configuration are formed. The most famous of them was first identified and studied by J. Gotmann in the 50s. in the northern part of the Atlantic coast of the United States, which gave it the name megalopolis, which later became a household name.
The length of this megalopolis is about 1000 km, the width reaches 200 km in places; it consists of conglomerations of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington - hence its name Boswash - and a number of other smaller (only 40 agglomerations) with a total area of \u200b\u200b107 thousand square meters. km.
The population of this "main street" of America is about 50 million people. (almost 20% of the total population), about 1/4 of US industrial products are produced here.
Another megalopolis - Chipits (Chicago-Pittsburgh) was formed in the USA on the southern coast of the Great Lakes by the merger of the metropolitan area of \u200b\u200bChicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and others - there are 35 of them; its area is 160 thousand square meters. km, and the population is about 35 million inhabitants (and together with the metropolitan area of \u200b\u200bToronto in Canada - 40 million).
The country's youngest megalopolis, Sansan, is located in California; it stretches from San Francisco through the chain of centers of the Greater California Valley to Los Angeles and further to San Diego and has 20 million people. In total, almost half of the US population is concentrated in these three megalopolises.
In Canada, the most important link in the settlement is the linearly elongated urbanized zone (axis) from Quebec to Windsor with a length of about 1000 km (and up to 300 km wide). 55% of the country's population and 73% of all employed in the manufacturing industry are concentrated within it. The world's largest megalopolis in terms of population Tokaido (about 70 million people) has developed on the Pacific coast of Japan. In the megalopolis Tokaido, about 60% of the country's population and about 2/3 of its industrial production are concentrated.
Megalopolises are also being formed in Western Europe. They are smaller in scale of population concentration than in the United States and Japan. English (unites the metropolitan areas of London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, etc.) and the Rhine ("ring" agglomeration Randstad in the Netherlands, Rhine-Ruhr, Rhine-Main in Germany, etc.) are distinguished by their size. Each of them includes up to 30 agglomerations with a total area of \u200b\u200b50 thousand square meters. km and with a population of 30-35 million people.
The formation of interstate megalopolises is becoming more and more clear. For example, a megalopolis in North-Western Europe covers adjacent urbanized areas of 5 countries with a total area of \u200b\u200b230 thousand square meters. km with a population of 85 million people with an average population density of 350 people per 1 sq. km: South East England, Randstad, Rhine-Ruhr, Belgian-French (Antwerp-Brussels-Lille region) and Paris.
A kind of urbanized zone of the megalopolis type in the 80-90s. develops in the south of China. It is based on the free economic zones Shenzhen with a population of 3.3 million people in 1995 (near Hong Kong) and Zhuhai - 1 million people (near Macau) and the largest metropolitan area of \u200b\u200bsouthern China, Guangzhou, with a population of over 4 million people. At the beginning of the XXI century, a powerful megalopolis with a population of about 30 million inhabitants is likely to form here.
Rapidly growing agglomerations are becoming the nuclei of emerging megalopolises in other developing countries: Sao Paulo-Rio de Janeiro-Belo Horizonte in Brazil, Cairo-Alexandria in Egypt, Calcutta-Asansol-valley of the r. Damodar in India, etc.
Currently, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe very essence of the megalopolis, its qualitative novelty in comparison with the urban agglomeration, the possibilities and prospects for development are still not completely clear. Long-term studies of forecasts of settlement on a global scale, carried out by the International Center for Ecistics in Athens within the framework of the "City of the Future" program under the leadership of the famous Greek architect K. Doxiadis, confirm the prospects of this settlement structure.
As of 2007, the urban population of Russia was 103.8 million people, or 73.1% of the country's population. Agglomerations were home to 66.6 million people. (62.5% of the urban population and 45.1% of the total population of Russia). For comparison, we note that the share of the urban population of urban agglomerations in the population of the USSR in 1979 was 36.6%, in the urban population - 58.8%, and according to the calculations of TsNIIP urban planning 53.7%
Today, most cities with a population of more than 250 thousand people are the cores of agglomerations. Also, some cities with a smaller population can be considered the nuclei of agglomerations (sometimes polycentric). For example, Pyatigorsk and Kislovodsk (respectively 140 and 130 thousand people) form a polycentric agglomeration of the Caucasian Mineral Waters.
The post-Soviet stage of development of urban agglomerations is characterized by a slowdown in the rate of development, which decreases as the level of development of the agglomeration increases. By itself, high dynamism, leaps in development are characteristic of the initial stages of GA formation.
The post-Soviet period affected the development of GA in different ways. The new economic situation and the development of market relations stimulated the growth of some large cities (including industrial ones) and the stagnation or reduction in the growth of others.
Against the background of a general decline in the population in the country and the growing role of urban agglomerations, multidirectional processes are taking place in their cores. The population of some large cities-cores of agglomerations (Moscow, Kazan, Krasnodar) is increasing, others (often millionaire cities) - is decreasing. In particular, Perm and Volgograd dropped out of the list of millionaire cities: Volgograd lost 19 thousand people during this time, and Perm - 9 thousand people (population in 2006, respectively, 992 and 993 thousand people). The population in such cities as St. Petersburg, Voronezh, Kaluga, Astrakhan, Murmansk, etc. has decreased by about 20 thousand people. The population decline is observed in all core cities of Central Russia and parts of the core cities of Siberia and the Far East. Stabilization of the population of core cities is typical for the South of the country.
Along with cities with a large population decline, there are those in which the population grew. They are located mainly in the south of Russia or in areas with high industrial growth rates. In Makhachkala, the population increased by 152 thousand people over the period 1989-2002, in Togliatti (part of the Samara GA) - by 72 thousand people (Fig.).
Figure 1. Dynamics of the population of the cities-cores of urban agglomerations for the period 1989-2007
In part, the decline in population in the years after the census can be explained by the inaccuracy of the current population registration, as well as by various methods of registering migrants in the regions of the Russian Federation. Among the reasons for the decline in the population in large cities, one can name negative natural growth, and most importantly, the practically exhausted migration potential of rural areas of Russia and weak migration support from neighboring countries.
At the same time, judging by the statistical data and field research data, as well as the analysis of the development of the Moscow and other (Cheboksary, Omsk, Krasnoyarsk) agglomerations, within the GA of Russia, processes such as seasonal suburban suburbanization, an increase in the density of buildings near large cities , active construction of new summer cottages and cottage settlements, expansion of suburban transport routes, an increase in the scale of labor commuting, etc.
The most striking example of such development is the Moscow agglomeration.
In the last 15 years, the Moscow Civil Aviation has developed at the most intensive pace. This is the most developed GA in Russia, with a powerful core and satellite area. In terms of the degree of development, it is an order of magnitude superior to the other GA. The population of the Moscow agglomeration increased from 1989 to 2007 by 2.7 million people and, as of 2007, totaled 17.4 million people. Moscow itself has significantly increased its population and area, while "capturing" many villages and urban-type settlements that were in the immediate vicinity. Thus, urban-type settlements Butovo, Kosino became districts of Moscow.
The active development of the Moscow GA is evidenced by the spread of mass pendulum migrations. The daily population exchange takes place not only within the Moscow agglomeration, that is, between Moscow and the Moscow region, but also with the nearest neighboring regions - Tula, Vladimir, Kaluga and other regions. The positive balance of labor commuting by now has reached 1.8 million people per day.
The Moscow agglomeration is developing not only quantitatively (population growth), but also qualitatively. The building density in the nearest suburbs is increasing (often at the expense of summer cottages), the intensity of transport links is increasing, and social infrastructure is being created in the suburbs. By 2006, there were more than 1 million plots in the garden, vegetable garden and dacha associations on the territory of the Moscow region. Dachas, collective gardens and orchards, houses in rural areas and cottages - all these are second homes for seasonal living - a manifestation of the Russian specifics of suburbanization. According to experts, seasonal suburbanization reaches 4 million or more. In addition, in recent years, the number and share of Moscow residents has been increasing among buyers of regional housing, which reaches 40-50%.
During the time that has passed since the All-Russian Population Census (2002-2007), the list of urban agglomerations in Russia has not undergone changes or at least inter-gradation transitions in terms of the development of the existing agglomerations. The main trends in the development of their network have not changed either.
For the period from 1989 to 2007, only one of the urban agglomerations dropped out - Grozny. This happened for an understandable reason: war. The civilian population left the destroyed city, and there were massive flows of refugees. However, back in 1990, in the course of administrative transformations, Grozny GA was replenished with two new cities: Shali and Urus-Martan (respectively 40.3 and 39.9 thousand people).
At the same time, one new urban agglomeration appeared on the map of Russia - Tyumen. In 1989, K development. Tyumen GA was 0.92, today this figure is 1.4. In other words, the Tyumen agglomeration was included in the group of the least developed agglomerations in Russia. It increased the development coefficient both by increasing the population of the city of Tyumen from 476.9 to 545 thousand people (the relative increase in the period 1989-2006 was 7.3%), and by increasing the number of residents, albeit insignificant, in the suburban zone.
Today Tyumenskaya GA consists of two cities (Tyumen and Yalutorovsk) and 5 urban-type settlements. On the territory of the Tyumen region (as well as the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District), a large number of new settlements (both cities and urban-type settlements) have been formed since the mid-1980s. Some urban-type settlements were subsequently transferred to the category of cities (Nyagan). Note that the development of the oil and gas complex of the Tyumen region and autonomous regions could not but affect Tyumen itself. Considerable resources of management personnel and, apparently, part of shift workers are concentrated in the city.
The development of the Tyumen GA was mainly due to the fact that Tyumen is the capital and stronghold of the largest oil-producing region of the country. With a widespread population decline and a negative balance of migration in the eastern regions of Russia, this sets it apart from the generally negative trends in the dynamics and migration of the population of Siberia in the 1990s.
It is necessary to note one more positive moment in the development of the GA network. During the period 1989-2002, a case of overlapping of two GAs appeared - the highly developed Yekaterinburg (K development 22.1) and the underdeveloped Nizhny Tagil (K development 2.6), which creates the preconditions for the formation of a polycentric here in the future.
The emerging GAs that currently correspond to only one or several criteria for their identification can be called potential, but at the same time do not correspond to others. Some of them may theoretically become part of the established GA in the future.
The group of potential GAs includes: Orel, Sochinskaya, Cherepovetskaya, Khabarovskaya, Orenburgskaya, Chitinskaya, Komsomolskaya, Ulan-Udenskaya and Groznenskaya. The best chances among them to be realized as agglomerations are Orlovskaya and Sochinskaya, the latter due to the Olympic Games held here in 2014 and the expected influx of capital, population and active new construction. Most of the remaining potential GAs are located in remote areas of the country. From this we can conclude that there are reserves for further strengthening of the Russian GA network. However, as can be seen from the table, the coefficients of development of many potential GAs decrease.
Considering that for the period 1989-2007 only one new urban agglomeration was formed, we can say that the process of forming a network of urban agglomerations in Russia is practically completed. Today, the development of agglomerations is going in a different direction - there is an intensification of connections within the already formed GAs, the congestion of the population in them and, as a consequence, an increase in the development class of GAs.
The location of agglomerations coincides with the main zone of settlement, and the degree of their development decreases from west to east. Of the 52 agglomerations in Russia, 43, or 83%, are located in European Russia. There are 9 agglomerations in the regions of Siberia and the Far East, and in the Far East there is only one - Vladivostok. We especially note the growth of the Novosibirsk GA, which underlines the growing importance of Novosibirsk as the capital of Siberia.
Civil Aviation with a high class of development are concentrated on the European territory of Russia. Most of the highly developed agglomerations (with a coefficient greater than 10.0 - Tula (27.8), Yaroslavl (14.7), Volgograd (10.2), Rostov (17.2), - as well as a large number of developed GA - are also located on the European territory of the country. Here there is the densest network of agglomerations. Almost all the capitals of the subjects of the Federation in Central Russia are the core of agglomerations. Favorable transport position, proximity to the most developed centers, favorable climatic conditions have long attracted the population. Rapid development of science and industry. in the twentieth century provided the region with a high number of resident population, a dense network of urban settlements and favored the formation of GA.
For the cores of urban agglomerations, two opposite trends are typical. On the one hand, the population is declining in old large cities, many of them have lost more than 50 thousand of their population. On the other hand, the population is growing in the cities of the south of Russia, in the capitals of some republics (Makhachkala) and in cities where industry is developing (Kemerovo, Togliatti).
The nature of agglomeration processes on the territory of Russia has changed and today is of a qualitatively different nature. If the period 1970-1979 can be called the period of the formation of many new agglomerations, then at present there has been a stagnation in the quantitative growth of GA. Based on the existing trends, it is hardly possible to expect the emergence of new agglomerations on the territory of Russia at this stage.
The quantitative growth of the agglomeration network is almost complete, and the qualitative development has not gained full strength for various reasons. One of them was a large natural decline in population, which does not contribute to an increase in the population density of agglomerations and, accordingly, an increase in K development. The second reason is the deep economic crisis, which during the 1990s caused an outflow of the population, first from cities (located in the North, East and outside Russia in the former Soviet republics) to the countryside, and then (since 1994) again from the villages to the Russian cities. This led to some redistribution of the population across the country. The crisis has exacerbated regional differences as well. The massive outflow of the population from the regions of the North, Eastern Siberia and the Far East has deprived large cities of the possibility of forming agglomerations, although some of them are included in the group of potential GAs. The population is directed to the European part of the country, the territory of which receives additional incentives for the development of GA, the majority of the population who left Siberia settles in large cities, which, as a rule, are the nuclei of agglomerations.
It can be said that the phase of extensive development of the civil aviation network of the Russian Federation has basically passed. Their further development followed the path of qualitative improvement - an increase in population density, an increase in the number of urban and suburban public transport routes, an intensification of labor pendulum migration), structuring (allocation of separate zones of residential development, recreation, etc.)
In fact, the usual dichotomy of the urban population - the rural population needs to be revised: according to the basic socio-cultural characteristics, the mixed rural-urban population of GA can be rightfully considered as a special - the third - category, along with the non-agglomerated rural and urban population.
Due to the growth of the industrial development of cities in the 20th century, the world's population gradually moved to cities.
So at the end of the 20th century, the urban population on the planet became almost 50%, while at the beginning of the century the urban population was an insignificant 13% of the world's population.
At the moment, there are more than 50% of urban residents on the planet, and everyone strives for life in a metropolis.
In this article I want to consider the 10 largest metropolitan areas in the world, which have sheltered more than 230 million inhabitants within their borders.
The largest metropolitan area is Tokyo with 37.7 million inhabitants, which is equal to the population of Poland.
The total area occupied by the Tokyo metropolitan area is 8677 km? and a population density of 4,340 people per km2. The metropolitan area of \u200b\u200bTokyo is so large because it combines the 2 major cities of Tokyo and Yokohama and a number of other smaller settlements.
The second place in this list belongs to the capital of Mexico - Mexico City.
The number of inhabitants of the Mexico City metropolitan area reaches 23.6 million people, who live on an area of \u200b\u200b7346 km?. At the same time, the population density is 3212 people per km2. Mexico City's metropolitan area is located above all others on this list.
The third most populous metropolitan area is New York City, home to 23.3 million people in an area of \u200b\u200b11,264 km². The population density is 2,070 inhabitants per km2. The city is the largest financial center in the world.
In fourth place is the metropolitan area of \u200b\u200bSeoul, the capital of South Korea. The population is 22.7 million inhabitants. The total area occupied by the agglomeration is 1943 km? and a population density of 11,680 people per km2.
The fifth place on this list belongs to the metropolitan city of Mumbai (until 1995, Bombay). The number of inhabitants in the metropolitan area is 21.9 million. Territory - 2 350 km? and a population density of 9,320 inhabitants per km2. The city itself and the entire metropolitan area are developing very quickly.
The sixth in our list was the metropolitan area of \u200b\u200bSão Paulo (Brazil). The number of inhabitants living within this administrative unit is 20.8 million inhabitants. The agglomeration area is 7944 km? and a population density of 2,620 inhabitants per km2.
The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is the seventh largest metropolitan area with 20.7 million inhabitants. The agglomeration area is 4863 km? and a population density of 4256 people per km2.
Indonesia's capital Jakarta is ranked 8th on this list with a population of 19.2 million. Jakarta's metropolitan area is 7,297 km? and a population density of 2631 people per km2.
The ninth largest urban agglomeration in the world is occupied by the capital Delhi. The population of this agglomeration is 18.9 million people with an area of \u200b\u200b1425 km?. The population density is 13 265 inhabitants per km2, which makes this agglomeration the first in terms of population density.
Lotus Temple in Delhi
Modern society, due to many global processes, is becoming more and more urbanized. Therefore, the question of studying and describing megacities and agglomerations is more than relevant. The article describes the largest agglomerations in the world, and also provides a definition of the term "agglomeration".
What is agglomeration
Most modern encyclopedias define an agglomeration as a large accumulation of settlements, which are mainly urban, and in exceptional cases, rural formations, which are united into a single whole due to economic, political and cultural ties. The largest metropolitan areas in the world began to form in the middle of the twentieth century, when urban growth was taking place everywhere. In the 21st century, the urbanization process intensified and continued in a new form.
Agglomeration can form around one and is called monocentric. New York and Paris are examples of such agglomerations. The second type of agglomeration is called polycentric, which means that the agglomeration includes several large settlements, which, independently of one another, are central. The Ruhr region in Germany is a prime example of a polycentric agglomeration.
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 are located rather unevenly on the map, but their largest concentration is observed in economics. The ten largest agglomerations in the world are home to more than 230 million people (much more than the population of the Russian Federation).
Tokyo and Yokohama
By far the largest metropolitan area is Tokyo. Its population today is approaching 38 million people, which exceeds the population of many European countries (Switzerland, Poland, the Netherlands and others). The agglomeration is inherently polycentric and unites two central cities - Yokohama and Tokyo, as well as a huge number of small settlements. The agglomeration area is 13.5 thousand km 2.
The center of this huge metropolitan area is made up of three urban districts, which are located around the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. In addition, the city has 20 more districts and several prefectures (Gunma, 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 the Greater County and even the London Postal or Telegraph District. Scientists usually divide the historical center (City), Inner London (13 city blocks), Outer London (suburban old districts) in the territorial structure of the British capital. All these territorial elements form the structure and population that the largest metropolitan areas in the world possess.
The administrative boundaries of the London metropolitan area 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 adjoin the capital: Essex, Surrey, Kent, Hertfordshire.
Paris
Administratively, the city of Paris is only one of the departments included in the Ile-de-France region. But the capital has long overwhelmed all eight departments, the administrative division at the moment is conditional. And Paris is an urbanized center that has the same qualities as the largest metropolitan areas and In particular, Paris has a significant number of satellite cities that were 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 the 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 \u200b\u200bthe metropolis is 12 thousand km 2, and the population is more than 13 million people. Paris represents the largest metropolitan areas of the world on the map of Europe.
Asian agglomerations
Recently, Asia is beginning to gain ground in the world economic and cultural life. The largest metropolitan areas of the world are also concentrated in Asian countries. A clear example is the city of Mumbai, which has more than 22 million inhabitants. Or the capital of the Philippines, Manila, with a population of 20 million, and Delhi, with 18 million. In China, agglomerations occupy about 10% of the entire country. Metropolitan areas such as Shanghai (19 million) and Hong Kong (15 million) are prime examples of urbanization processes in the East.
Thus, in the modern conditions of globalization and urbanization, large cities are expanding and turning into agglomerations, of which there are more and more in the world.