metropolis

New York City, as well as being the largest metropolis in the United States, is one of the most influential cities in the world

A metropolis is a very large city or urban area which is a significant economic, political and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections and communications. The term is Greek and means the "mother city" of a colony (in the ancient sense), that is, the city which sent out settlers. This was later generalized to a city regarded as a center of a specified activity, or any large, important city in a nation.

New York City is often cited as the quintessential metropolis, exerting a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment and being widely regarded as one of the economic and cultural capitals of the world.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Urban areas of less than one million people are rarely considered metropolises in contemporary contexts.^{[citation needed]} Big cities belonging to a larger urban agglomeration, but which are not the core of that agglomeration, are not generally considered a metropolis but a part of it. The plural of the word is most commonly metropolises.^[6]

Antiquity

In the past, metropolis was the designation for a city or state of origin of a colony. Many large cities founded by ancient civilizations have been considered important world metropolises of their times due to their large populations and importance. Some of these ancient metropolises survived until the modern days and are among the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities.

Etymology and modern usage

The word comes from the Greek μήτηρ, mētēr meaning "mother" and πόλις, pólis meaning "city"/"town", which is how the Greek colonies of antiquity referred to their original cities, with whom they retained cultic and political-cultural connections. The word was used in post-classical Latin for the chief city of a province, the seat of the government and, in particular, ecclesiastically for the seat or see of a metropolitan bishop to whom suffragan bishops were responsible. This usage equates the province with the diocese or episcopal see.

In modern usage the word has come to refer to a metropolitan area, a set of adjacent and interconnected cities clustered around a major urban center. In this sense metropolitan usually means "spanning the whole metropolis" (as in "metropolitan administration"); or "proper of a metropolis" (as in "metropolitan life", and opposed to "provincial" or "rural").

Global cities

The concept of a Global city (or a World city) means a city that has a direct and tangible effect on global affairs through socioeconomic means. The term has become increasingly familiar, because of the rise of globalization (i.e., global finance, communications, and travel). An attempt to define and categorize world cities by financial criteria was made by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group & Network (GaWC), based primarily at Loughborough University in England. The study ranked cities based on their provision of "advanced producer services" such as accountancy, advertising, finance and law. The Inventory identifies three levels of world cities and several sub-ranks (see World cities ranking).

A metropolis is not necessarily a global city—or, being one, it might not be among the top-ranking—due to its standards of living, development, and infrastructures.

Local definitions by country

Australia

The metropolitan areas in Australia are Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and the capital city, Canberra.

Bangladesh

In the People's Republic of Bangladesh, there are seven metropolitan areas Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet, Barisal and Rangpur. Lands are highly priced and residents are considered to have a better urban lifestyle. Special police departments are allotted for the metropolitan cities, and there are city corporations for which mayors are elected for five year regimes. Most of these cities have population density of 35,000/square mile or more. Dhaka is considered a mega city because its population surpasses 10 million.^[7]

Brazil

In Brazil, São Paulo is the principal metropolis. This metropolis have over 15 million inhabitants. In this city this is a steady growth of the favelas, as a result of vast numbers of people migrating from rural areas to the city in order to find work. The term used in Brazilian Portuguese for a metropolitan area is Região Metropolitana. Others metropolises with over one million of inhabitants in Brazil are Fortaleza (over 3 million) , Manaus, Goiania, Joao Pessoa, Florianopolis, etc.

Canada

Toronto is Canada's largest city and metropolis

Statistics Canada defines a census metropolitan area as one or more adjacent municipalities situated around a major urban core where the urban core has a population of at least 100,000.^[8] Canada's largest metropolis' are Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Ottawa-Gatineau.

Germany

Berlin is Germany's largest city

In Germany a metropolis is a big and important city. The importance of a city is measured with three groups of indicators, also called metropolitan functions: The decision making and control function, the innovation and competition function and the gateway function. These functions are seen as key domains for metropolitan regions in preserving and developing their performance.

In spatial planning a metropolis is usually observed within its regional context, thus the focus is mainly set on the metropolitan regions. These regions can be mono central or multi central. Eleven metropolitan regions have been defined due to these indicators: Berlin-Brandenburg, Bremen-Oldenburg, Frankfurt-Rhein-Main, Hamburg, Hannover-Braunschweig-Göttingen-Wolfsburg, Mitteldeutschland (Dresden, Halle, Leipzig), München, Nürnberg, Rhein-Ruhr, Stuttgart and Rhein-Neckar. ^[9]

India

Mumbai is the commercial and entertainment capital of India and its largest city

In the Republic of India, declared metropolitan cities are Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad. Residents of these cities are also entitled to a higher house-rent allowance. The Census Commission defines the qualification for metropolitan city as population more than four million.

Israel

In Israel there are four main metropolitan areas: Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Beer Sheva. "Israel Central Bureau of Statistics" has defined the boundaries of metropolitan areas of Tel Aviv, Haifa and Beer Sheva, and divided the metropolitan area concentric rings that define the intensity of the main city links.

Italy

With the 2001 reform of the Title V of the Constitution of Italy, the Italian republic has provided for the institution of Aree Metropolitane. Aree Metropolitane will be instituted at least for the major conurbations of Rome, Milan, Turin and Naples, but, as of January 2009^[update], it is yet unclear whether the Aree Metropolitane will replace Provinces, or just be added to the older administrative subdivisions.

Turkey

In Turkey the metropolitan cities are described as "buyuksehir belediyesi". There are 17 metropolitan municipalities in Turkey now.

Japan

Skyline of Tokyo, with Mount Fuji in the background

The Japanese legal term to (都) is commonly translated as "metropolis".^[10] Structured like a prefecture instead of a normal city, there is only one to in Japan, namely Tokyo. As of 2008^[update], Japan has 11 other cities with populations greater than one million.

Mexico

In Mexico, the term metropolis is used to refer to an urban area of great importance, already be economic, political or cultural - omitting the social factor, this the territorial extension of the country is represented in everything - in Mexico three metropolises exist, Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. In the first one three factors are represented, since undoubtedly it is the city most important of Mexico, where the executive power reside, the major producer of the economy of the country and with a cultural particular spot. It is the heart and brain of the republic. Political, cultural and economic excellent Center of Mexico. Guadalajara, the second most populous city, with economic and cultural, recognized relevancy worldwide. Monterrey, of major importance that Guadalajara, but less recognized, appears as an important economic and industrial center. Lately one has seen brought down by the organized delinquency, losing gradually his national relevancy.

Pakistan

In Pakistan declared metropolitan cities are Karachi and Lahore, while the twin city of Rawalpindi/Islamabad and the industrial hub of Punjab, Faisalabad, are also considered as metropolitan cities.File:Karachi at night-640x480.jpg

Philippines

Metro Manila, the most populous metropolitan area in the Philippines

Metropolitan Manila, or simply Metro Manila, is the metropolitan region encompassing the City of Manila and its surrounding areas in the Philippines. It is composed of 17 cities namely City of Manila, Caloocan, Las Piñas, Makati, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Navotas, Pasay, Pasig, Parañaque, Quezon City, San Juan, Taguig, Valenzuela and the Municipality of Pateros. The region is the political, economic, social, cultural, and educational center of the Philippines. As proclaimed by Presidential Decree No. 940, Metro Manila as a whole is the Philippines' seat of government but the City of Manila is the capital. The largest city in the metropolis is Quezon City, while the largest business district is the Makati Central Business District. Metro Manila's gross regional product is estimated as of July 2009 to be ₱468.4 billion (at constant 1985 prices) and accounts for 33% of the nation's GDP.[6] In 2008, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, it ranked as the 40th wealthiest urban agglomeration in the world and the 2nd in Southeast Asia.

Including Metro Manila, the Philippines has twelve metropolitan areas as defined by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). Metro Angeles, Metro Bacolod, Metro Baguio, Metro Batangas, Metro Cagayan de Oro, Metro Cebu, Metro Dagupan, Metro Davao, Metro Iloilo-Guimaras, Metro Naga, Metro Olongapo.

Poland

The Union of Polish Metropolises (Polish: Unia Metropolii Polskich), established in 1990, is an organization uniting the largest cities in country. Presently twelve cities are members of the organization, of which 11 have more than a quarter million inhabitants. The largest metropolis in Poland, if ranked solely by the number of inhabitants, is Upper Silesian Metropolis with 2 million inhabitants (5 million inhabitants in the Silesian metropolitan area), followed by Warsaw, with 1.7 million inhabitants in city proper, and 2.7 million in Warsaw metropolitan area. Upper Silesian Metropolis is an initiative of recent years, attempt to unite large conurbation/urban area into one official urban unit.

South Africa

In South Africa, a metropolitan municipality or "Category A municipality" is a municipality which executes all the functions of local government for a conurbation. This is by contrast to areas which are primarily rural, where the local government is divided into district municipalities (comparable to a "county" in the US) and local municipalities. There are eight metropolitan municipalities in South Africa.

United Kingdom

London is one of the world's largest financial centers

Historically the term the Metropolis was used to refer to London, or the London conurbation. The term is retained by the London police force, the Metropolitan Police Service (the "Met"). The chief officer of the Met is formally known as the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis.

Since 1974 six conurbations (outside London) have been known as metropolitan counties, each divided into metropolitan districts. Other conurbations in the United Kingdom are also sometimes considered to be metropolitan areas.

Panama

Since the 21st century, Panama city has kept a continuous economic growth. Today the authorities of the city and country have decided to call the city a Metropolis because of the growth of population along with the huge investment in transport system, improvement of roads and highways. The city is considered the most important financial center of Central America and one of the most important in Latin America. With 1.2 million inhabitants in its metropolitan area is the first metropolis of Central America.

United States

In the United States an incorporated area or group of areas having a population more than 50,000 is required to have a metropolitan planning organization in order to facilitate major infrastructure projects and to ensure financial solvency. Thus, a population of 50,000 or greater has been used as a de facto standard in the United States to define a metropolis. A similar definition is used by the United States Census Bureau. They define a metropolitan statistical area as at least one urbanized area of 50,000 or more inhabitants. The five largest metropolitan cities in the US are New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.

Metropolis as a mainland area

In France, Portugal and Spain, metropolis (métropole (Fr.) / metrópole (Port.) / metrópoli (Spa.)) designates the mainland part of a country near or on the European continent; in the case of France, this would mean France without its overseas departments; for Portugal and Spain during the Spanish Empire and Portuguese Empire period, it used to be common to designate Portugal or Spain except its colonies (the Ultramar). In France metropolis is also used to refer to large agglomerations.

See also

• Metropolitan area

Other city types

• Global city
• Megacity
• Megalopolis

Lists

• List of metropolitan areas by population

Planning theories

• New Urbanism
• Smart growth
• Transit-oriented development

Other

• Ekistics
• Large Cities Climate Leadership Group
• Sustainable city
• World's largest cities

References

Further reading

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article metropolis.

• Census.gov, U.S. Census Bureau, About Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistics
• MetroForum.com, forum dedicated to discussions on metropolis
• Blog.ar2com.de, a podcast with a worldwide analysis of megacities (focus Latin America)
• E-geopolis.eu: research group, university of Paris-Diderot, France
• See Ronald Daus´s bibliography, researcher at the Free University of Berlin