Urban area
Human settlement with high population density and infrastructure of built environment / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. This is the core of a metropolitan statistical area in the United States, if it contains a population of more than 50,000.[1]
Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbanism, the term "urban area" contrasts to rural areas such as villages and hamlets; in urban sociology or urban anthropology it contrasts with natural environment.[citation needed]
The development of earlier predecessors of modern urban areas during the urban revolution of the 4th millennium BCE[2] led to the formation of human civilization and ultimately to modern urban planning, which along with other human activities such as exploitation of natural resources has led to a human impact on the environment.
In 1950, around the world, 764 million people lived in urban areas. By 2014, it was 3.9 billion. The change was driven by a combination of increased total population and increased percent of population living in urban areas.[3] In 2009, the number of people living in urban areas (3.42 billion) surpassed the number living in rural areas (3.41 billion), and since then the world has become more urban than rural.[4] This was the first time that the majority of the world's population lived in a city.[5] In 2014 there were 7.3 billion people living on the planet,[6] of which the global urban population comprised 3.9 billion. The Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs at that time predicted the urban population would occupy 68% of the world population by 2050, with 90% of that growth coming from Africa and Asia.[7]
Urban areas are created and further developed by the process of urbanization. They are measured for various purposes, including analyzing population density and urban sprawl. Urban areas are also mostly found in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Japan and Australia and many other countries where the urbanization rate is over 80%.[citation needed]
Unlike an urban area, a metropolitan area includes not only the urban area, but also satellite cities plus intervening rural land that is socio-economically connected to the urban core city, typically by employment ties through commuting, with the urban core city being the primary labor market.
The concept of an "urban area" as used in economic statistics should not be confused with the concept of the "urban area" used in road safety statistics. This term was first created by Geographer Brian Manning. The last concept is also known as "built-up area in road safety". According to the definition by the Office for National Statistics, "Built-up areas are defined as land which is 'irreversibly urban in character', meaning that they are characteristic of a town or city. They include areas of built-up land with a minimum of 20 hectares (200,000 m2; 49 acres). Any areas [separated by] less than 200 metres [of non-urban space] are linked to become a single built-up area.[9]
Argentina and Japan are countries where the urbanization rate is over 90% while Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico and the United States are countries where the urbanization rate is between 80% and 90%.[citation needed]
There are two measures of the degree of urbanization of a population. The first, urban population, describes the percentage of the total population living in urban areas, as defined by the country. The second measure, rate of urbanization, describes the projected average rate of change of the size of the urban population over the given period of time. According to Urbanization by sovereign state article, the world as a whole is 56.2% urbanized, with roughly one-quarter of the countries reported as greater than 80% urbanized. Data is taken from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook estimates from 2020.[10]
According to Demographia, these are the 200 largest urban areas in the world by population (as of 2023):[11]
Urban Area | Country | Population | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Tokyo-Yokohama | Japan | 37,785,000 |
2 | Jakarta | Indonesia | 35,386,000 |
3 | Delhi | India | 31,190,000 |
4 | Guangzhou-Foshan | China | 27,119,000 |
5 | Mumbai | India | 25,189,000 |
6 | Manila | Philippines | 24,156,000 |
7 | Shanghai | China | 24,042,000 |
8 | Seoul-Incheon | South Korea | 23,225,000 |
9 | Cairo | Egypt | 22,679,000 |
10 | Mexico City | Mexico | 21,905,000 |
11 | Kolkata | India | 21,747,000 |
12 | São Paulo | Brazil | 21,486,000 |
13 | New York | United States | 21,396,000 |
14 | Karachi | Pakistan | 20,249,000 |
15 | Dhaka | Bangladesh | 19,134,000 |
16 | Bangkok | Thailand | 18,884,000 |
17 | Beijing | China | 18,883,000 |
18 | Moscow | Russia | 17,878,000 |
19 | Shenzhen | China | 17,778,000 |
20 | Buenos Aires | Argentina | 15,748,000 |
21 | Los Angeles | United States | 15,587,000 |
22 | Johannesburg-Pretoria | South Africa | 15,551,000 |
23 | Bangalore | India | 15,257,000 |
24 | Chengdu | China | 15,016,000 |
25 | Ho Chi Minh City | Vietnam | 14,953,000 |
26 | Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto | Japan | 14,916,000 |
27 | Lagos | Nigeria | 14,540,000 |
28 | Istanbul | Turkey | 14,441,000 |
29 | Lahore | Pakistan | 13,504,000 |
30 | Kinshasa | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 13,493,000 |
31 | Tehran | Iran | 13,382,000 |
32 | Chongqing | China | 12,653,000 |
33 | Rio de Janeiro | Brazil | 12,306,000 |
34 | Xi'an | China | 12,211,000 |
35 | Chennai | India | 11,570,000 |
36 | Paris | France | 11,108,000 |
37 | Zhengzhou | China | 11,068,000 |
38 | Luanda | Angola | 10,914,000 |
39 | London | United Kingdom | 10,803,000 |
40 | Dongguan | China | 10,753,000 |
41 | Lima | Peru | 10,556,000 |
42 | Wuhan | China | 10,353,000 |
43 | Bogota | Colombia | 10,252,000 |
44 | Tianjin | China | 10,047,000 |
45 | Hyderabad | India | 9,797,000 |
46 | Taipei | Taiwan | 9,662,000 |
47 | Hangzhou | China | 9,618,000 |
48 | Nagoya | Japan | 9,439,000 |
49 | Kuala Lumpur | Malaysia | 9,387,000 |
50 | Chicago | United States | 8,954,000 |
51 | Nanjing | China | 8,507,000 |
52 | Riyadh | Saudi Arabia | 8,309,000 |
53 | Shenyang-Fushun | China | 8,044,000 |
54 | Ahmadabad | India | 8,006,000 |
55 | Dar es Salaam | Tanzania | 7,965,000 |
56 | Washington-Baltimore | United States | 7,853,000 |
57 | Boston-Providence | United States | 7,429,000 |
58 | Onitsha | Nigeria | 7,205,000 |
59 | Bandung | Indonesia | 7,203,000 |
60 | Addis Ababa | Ethiopia | 7,185,000 |
61 | Khartoum | Sudan | 7,155,000 |
62 | Santiago | Chile | 7,099,000 |
63 | Dallas-Fort Worth | United States | 6,979,000 |
64 | Nairobi | Kenya | 6,929,000 |
65 | San Francisco-San Jose | United States | 6,844,000 |
66 | Toronto | Canada | 6,837,000 |
67 | Pune | India | 6,819,000 |
68 | Madrid | Spain | 6,798,000 |
69 | Essen-Düsseldorf | Germany | 6,769,000 |
70 | Quanzhou | China | 6,743,000 |
71 | Houston | United States | 6,703,000 |
72 | Baghdad | Iraq | 6,624,000 |
73 | Surat | India | 6,601,000 |
74 | Amman | Jordan | 6,563,000 |
75 | Surabaya | Indonesia | 6,556,000 |
76 | Hong Kong | China | 6,468,000 |
77 | Yangon | Myanmar | 6,426,000 |
78 | Hanoi | Vietnam | 6,359,000 |
79 | Qingdao | China | 6,291,000 |
80 | Miami | United States | 6,139,000 |
81 | Suzhou | China | 6,091,000 |
82 | Singapore | Singapore | 5,926,000 |
83 | Philadelphia | United States | 5,795,000 |
84 | Accra | Ghana | 5,785,000 |
85 | St. Petersburg | Russia | 5,750,000 |
86 | Atlanta | United States | 5,702,000 |
87 | Abidjan | Ivory Coast | 5,678,000 |
88 | Kabul | Afghanistan | 5,566,000 |
89 | Alexandria | Egypt | 5,552,000 |
90 | Milan | Italy | 5,471,000 |
91 | Jiddah | Saudi Arabia | 5,408,000 |
92 | Ankara | Turkey | 5,359,000 |
93 | Faisalabad | Pakistan | 5,356,000 |
94 | Barcelona | Spain | 5,317,000 |
95 | Xiamen | China | 5,253,000 |
96 | Belo Horizonte | Brazil | 5,242,000 |
97 | Taiyuan | China | 5,067,000 |
98 | Changsha | China | 5,065,000 |
99 | Hefei | China | 5,052,000 |
100 | Mashhad | Iran | 5,045,000 |
101 | Kunming | China | 4,995,000 |
102 | Rawalpindi-Islamabad | Pakistan | 4,954,000 |
103 | Dubai | United Arab Emirates | 4,945,000 |
104 | Sydney | Australia | 4,836,000 |
105 | Kumasi | Ghana | 4,794,000 |
106 | Melbourne | Australia | 4,709,000 |
107 | Kampala | Uganda | 4,679,000 |
108 | Monterrey | Mexico | 4,674,000 |
109 | Kano | Nigeria | 4,670,000 |
110 | Lucknow | India | 4,661,000 |
111 | Yaounde | Cameroon | 4,642,000 |
112 | Phoenix | United States | 4,617,000 |
113 | Cape Town | South Africa | 4,595,000 |
114 | Ürümqi | China | 4,548,000 |
115 | Wuxi | China | 4,524,000 |
116 | Casablanca | Morocco | 4,499,000 |
117 | Fuzhou | China | 4,487,000 |
118 | Guadalajara | Mexico | 4,401,000 |
119 | Ningbo | China | 4,383,000 |
120 | Jaipur | India | 4,360,000 |
121 | Kanpur | India | 4,350,000 |
122 | Santo Domingo | Dominican Republic | 4,345,000 |
123 | Berlin | Germany | 4,286,000 |
124 | Guiyang | China | 4,269,000 |
125 | Detroit | United States | 4,258,000 |
126 | Nanchang | China | 4,240,000 |
127 | Mogadishu | Somalia | 4,219,000 |
128 | Changzhou | China | 4,206,000 |
129 | Chittagong | Bangladesh | 4,204,000 |
130 | Dalian | China | 4,177,000 |
131 | Zhongshan | China | 4,113,000 |
132 | Kuwait | Kuwait | 4,066,000 |
133 | Jinan | China | 4,057,000 |
134 | Medan | Indonesia | 4,027,000 |
135 | Wenzhou | China | 4,024,000 |
136 | Seattle | United States | 4,001,000 |
137 | Tashkent | Uzbekistan | 3,935,000 |
138 | Shijiazhuang | China | 3,871,000 |
139 | Harbin | China | 3,869,000 |
140 | Recife | Brazil | 3,866,000 |
141 | Busan | South Korea | 3,843,000 |
142 | Bamako | Mali | 3,783,000 |
143 | Indore | India | 3,765,000 |
144 | Douala | Cameroon | 3,751,000 |
145 | Montreal | Canada | 3,750,000 |
146 | Ibadan | Nigeria | 3,657,000 |
147 | Naples | Italy | 3,653,000 |
148 | Sana | Yemen | 3,585,000 |
149 | Colombo | Sri Lanka | 3,532,000 |
150 | Dakar | Senegal | 3,510,000 |
151 | Porto Alegre | Brazil | 3,504,000 |
152 | Mbuji-Mayi | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 3,493,000 |
153 | Nagpur | India | 3,493,000 |
154 | Algiers | Algeria | 3,462,000 |
155 | Durban | South Africa | 3,452,000 |
156 | Port Harcourt | Nigeria | 3,429,000 |
157 | Fortaleza | Brazil | 3,415,000 |
158 | Brasilia | Brazil | 3,406,000 |
159 | Changchun | China | 3,387,000 |
160 | Salvador | Brazil | 3,344,000 |
161 | Patna | India | 3,331,000 |
162 | Athens | Greece | 3,309,000 |
163 | Nanning | China | 3,249,000 |
164 | Kathmandu | Nepal | 3,247,000 |
165 | Medellin | Colombia | 3,242,000 |
166 | Rome | Italy | 3,239,000 |
167 | Varanasi | India | 3,229,000 |
168 | Gujranwala | Pakistan | 3,218,000 |
169 | Tampa-St. Petersburg | United States | 3,203,000 |
170 | Lusaka | Zambia | 3,202,000 |
171 | Guayaquil | Ecuador | 3,183,000 |
172 | Ouagadougou | Burkina Faso | 3,181,000 |
173 | Damascus | Syria | 3,155,000 |
174 | San Diego | United States | 3,078,000 |
175 | Orlando | United States | 3,075,000 |
176 | Kozhikode | India | 3,049,000 |
177 | Brisbane-Gold Coast | Australia | 3,039,000 |
178 | Rotterdam-Hague | Netherlands | 3,027,000 |
179 | Tel Aviv | Israel | 3,006,000 |
180 | Baku | Azerbaijan | 3,002,000 |
181 | Kiyev | Ukraine | 3,001,000 |
182 | Ad-Dammam | Saudi Arabia | 2,994,000 |
183 | Lanzhou | China | 2,977,000 |
184 | Charlotte | United States | 2,879,000 |
185 | Curitiba | Brazil | 2,873,000 |
186 | Cleveland | United States | 2,871,000 |
187 | Brazzaville | Republic of the Congo | 2,860,000 |
188 | Aleppo | Syria | 2,859,000 |
189 | Thiruvananthapuram | India | 2,851,000 |
190 | Lisbon | Portugal | 2,832,000 |
191 | Minneapolis-St. Paul | United States | 2,796,000 |
192 | Campinas | Brazil | 2,789,000 |
193 | Hyderabad | Pakistan | 2,789,000 |
194 | Multan | Pakistan | 2,783,000 |
195 | Conakry | Guinea | 2,781,000 |
196 | Quito | Ecuador | 2,778,000 |
197 | Zhangjiaggang | China | 2,770,000 |
198 | Guatemala City | Guatemala | 2,765,000 |
199 | Lubumbashi | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 2,750,000 |
200 | Agra | India | 2,737,000 |
This section possibly contains original research. (June 2022) |
This is a partial list of countries where the urbanization rate is at least 80%:
- Argentina
- Australia
- Brazil
- Canada
- Chile
- France
- Israel
- Japan
- South Korea
- Mexico
- Spain
- United Kingdom
- United States
Those with the rate at 100%:
- Kuwait
- Monaco, a European city state, principality located in France (a semi-enclave within the French Riviera)
- Nauru, an island country
- Singapore, an island country and city state
- Vatican City, a city state, and the smallest country, the papacy located within (enclave) Rome, Italy
The UN publishes data on cities, urban areas and rural areas, but relies almost entirely on national definitions of these areas. The UN principles and recommendations state that due to different characteristics of urban and rural areas across the globe, a global definition is not possible.[12]
European countries[which?] define urbanized areas on the basis of urban-type land use, not allowing any gaps of typically more than 200 metres (220 yd), and use satellite imagery instead of census blocks to determine the boundaries of the urban area. In less-developed countries[which?], in addition to land use and density requirements, a requirement that a large majority of the population, typically 75%, is not engaged in agriculture and/or fishing is sometimes used.[citation needed]