Urban area

"Urban zone" redirects here. For other uses, see Urban zone (disambiguation).
"Urbanized area" redirects here. For use of the term in relation to the United States Census, see List of United States urban areas.
Greater Tokyo Area, Japan, the world's most populous urban area, with about 35 million inhabitants.

An urban area is a location characterized by high human population density and vast human-built features in comparison to the areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural areas such as villages and hamlets.

The world's urban population in 1950 of just 746 million has soared in the decades since.[1] 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.[2] This was the first time that the majority of the world's population lived in a city.[3] In 2014 there were 7.25 billion people living on the planet,[4] 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 grow to 6.4 billion by 2050, with 37% of that growth to come from three countries: China, India and Nigeria.[1]

Urban areas are created and further developed by the process of urbanization. Measuring the extent of an urban area helps in analyzing population density and urban sprawl, and in determining urban and rural populations.

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.

Definitions

What is urban? Historian John Gurda writes:

I have tried to uncover Milwaukee's civic bedrock - the shifting foundation on which individuals have built their lives and the community has constructed its identity. There is no doubt that the deepest layer of that bedrock is economic. In every age, people have chosen to live in urban areas not because of their climates or landmarks or cultural attractions, but because they offer jobs. ... It was economic opportunity that brought people to Milwaukee, and it is economic opportunity that keeps them there. I define cities as concentrations of people animated by concentrations of capital. More simply put, money is the root of all cities.
— John Gurda, The Making of Milwaukee[5]

Official definitions vary somewhat between nations. European countries define urbanized areas on the basis of urban-type land use, not allowing any gaps of typically more than 200 m, and use satellite imagery instead of census blocks to determine the boundaries of the urban area. In less developed countries, 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.

Argentina

Argentina is highly urbanized.[6] The ten largest metropolitan areas account for half of the population, and fewer than one in ten live in rural areas. About 3 million people live in Buenos Aires City and the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area totals around 13 million, making it one of the largest urban areas in the world.[7]

The metropolitan areas of Córdoba and Rosario have around 1.3 million inhabitants each[7] and Mendoza, Tucumán, La Plata, Mar del Plata, Salta and Santa Fe[7][8] have at least half a million people each.

The population is unequally distributed amongst the provinces: about 60% live in the Pampa region (21% of the total area), including 15 million people in Buenos Aires Province; Córdoba Province Santa Fe Province and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires have 3 million each. Seven other provinces have over one million people each: Mendoza, Tucumán, Entre Ríos, Salta, Chaco, Corrientes and Misiones. Tucumán is the most densely populated with 60 inhabitants/km2, the only Argentine province more densely populated than the world average, while the southern province of Santa Cruz has around 1 inhabitant/km2.

 
Largest cities or towns in Argentina
(2007 INDEC estimate)[9]
Rank Name Province Pop. Rank Name Province Pop.

Buenos Aires

Córdoba		 1 Buenos Aires (Autonomous city) 3,050,728 11 Resistencia Chaco 377,000
Rosario

Mendoza
2 Córdoba Córdoba 1,372,000 12 Corrientes Corrientes 345,000
3 Rosario Santa Fe 1,242,000 13 Bahía Blanca Buenos Aires 304,000
4 Mendoza Mendoza 885,434 14 San Salvador de Jujuy Jujuy 298,000
5 Tucumán Tucumán 789,000 15 Posadas Misiones 287,000
6 La Plata Buenos Aires 732,503 16 Paraná Entre Ríos 268,000
7 Mar del Plata Buenos Aires 604,563 17 Neuquén Neuquén 255,000
8 Salta Salta 516,000 18 Santiago del Estero Santiago del Estero 244,733
9 Santa Fe Santa Fe 493,000 19 Merlo Buenos Aires 244,168
10 San Juan San Juan 453,229 20 Quilmes Buenos Aires 230,810

Australia

In Australia, urban areas are referred to as "urban centres" and are defined as population clusters of 1000 or more people, with a density of at least 200/km2.[10]

 
Largest cities or towns in Australia
June 2014 Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates[11]
Rank Name State Pop. Rank Name State Pop.

Sydney

Melbourne		 1 Sydney NSW 4,840,628 11 Hobart TAS 219,243
Brisbane

Perth
2 Melbourne VIC 4,440,328 12 Geelong VIC 184,182
3 Brisbane QLD 2,274,560 13 Townsville QLD 178,649
4 Perth WA 2,021,203 14 Cairns QLD 146,778
5 Adelaide SA 1,304,631 15 Darwin NT 140,386
6 Gold Coast–Tweed Heads QLD/NSW 614,379 16 Toowoomba QLD 113,625
7 Newcastle–Maitland NSW 430,755 17 Ballarat VIC 98,543
8 Canberra–Queanbeyan ACT/NSW 422,510 18 Bendigo VIC 91,692
9 Sunshine Coast QLD 297,380 19 Albury–Wodonga NSW/VIC 87,890
10 Wollongong NSW 289,236 20 Launceston TAS 86,393

Brazil

According to IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) urban areas already concentrate 84.35% of the population, while the Southeast region remains the most populated one, with over 80 million inhabitants.[12] The largest metropolitan areas in Brazil are São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte — all in the Southeastern Region — with 20, 12, and 5 million inhabitants respectively.[13] The majority of state capitals are the largest cities in their states, except for Vitória, the capital of Espírito Santo, and Florianópolis, the capital of Santa Catarina. There are also non-capital metropolitan areas in the states of São Paulo (Campinas, Santos and the Paraíba Valley), Minas Gerais (Steel Valley), Rio Grande do Sul (Sinos Valley) and Santa Catarina (Itajaí Valley).[14]

São Paulo, the largest city in Brazil, the largest city proper in the Southern Hemisphere, in the Americas, and the world's ninth largest urban area by population.[15]
 
Rank Name State Pop. Rank Name State Pop.

São Paulo

Rio de Janeiro		 1 São Paulo São Paulo 20,935,204 11 Paraíba Valley São Paulo 2,430,392
Belo Horizonte

Porto Alegre
2 Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro 11,973,505 12 Goiânia Goiás 2,384,560
3 Belo Horizonte Minas Gerais 5,767,414 13 Belém Pará 2,381,661
4 Porto Alegre Rio Grande do Sul 4,161,237 14 Manaus Amazonas 2,360,491
5 Brasília Distrito Federal 4,118,154 15 Vitória Espírito Santo 1,884,096
6 Salvador Bahia 3,919,864 16 Santos São Paulo 1,781,620
7 Recife Pernambuco 3,887,261 17 Natal Rio Grande do Norte 1,462,045
8 Fortaleza Ceará 3,818,380 18 São Luís Maranhão 1,403,111
9 Curitiba Paraná 3,414,115 19 Piracicaba São Paulo 1,195,904
10 Campinas São Paulo 3,043,217 20 Joinville Santa Catarina 1,191,558

Canada

According to Statistics Canada, an urban area in Canada is an area with a population of at least 1,000 people where the density is no fewer than 400 persons per km2.[17] If two or more urban areas are within 2 km (1.2 mi) of each other by road, they are merged into a single urban area, provided they do not cross census metropolitan area or census agglomeration boundaries.[18]

In the Canada 2011 Census, Statistics Canada redesignated urban areas with the new term "population centre";[19] the new term was chosen in order to better reflect the fact that urban vs. rural is not a strict division, but rather a continuum within which several distinct settlement patterns may exist. For example, a community may fit a strictly statistical definition of an urban area, but may not be commonly thought of as "urban" because it has a smaller population, or functions socially and economically as a suburb of another urban area rather than as a self-contained urban entity, or is geographically remote from other urban communities. Accordingly, the new definition set out three distinct types of population centres: small (population 1,000 to 29,999), medium (population 30,000 to 99,999) and large (population 100,000 or greater).[19] Despite the change in terminology, however, the demographic definition of a population centre remains unchanged from that of an urban area: a population of at least 1,000 people where the density is no fewer than 400 persons per square km2.

Colombia

In Colombia the largest Metropolitan area is Bogotá's, which has around 13 million of inhabitants and includes municipalities like Cota, La Calera, Chía, Soacha, Usaquen, Suba among others.., it's the metropolis of Culture, Business and Literature, Bogotá has been the International City of the Book and has places uniques like Monserrate, Torre Colpatria, Bolivar Square, BD Bacatá, Corferias, National University etc.

 
Largest cities or towns in Colombia
[20]
Rank Name Department Pop. Rank Name Department Pop.

Bogotá

Medellín		 1 Bogotá Bogotá 7,878,783 11 Villavicencio Meta 484,471
Cali

Barranquilla
2 Medellín Antioquia 2,464,322 12 Santa Marta Magdalena 483,865
3 Cali Valle del Cauca 2,369,821 13 Pereira Risaralda 469,612
4 Barranquilla Atlántico 1,218,475 14 Bello Antioquia 455,865
5 Cartagena Bolívar 1,001,755 15 Valledupar Cesar 453,215
6 Cúcuta Norte de Santander 650,011 16 Montería Córdoba 441,301
7 Soledad Atlántico 615,492 17 Pasto Nariño 439,993
8 Ibagué Tolima 553,524 18 Buenaventura Valle del Cauca 399,764
9 Bucaramanga Santander 527,913 19 Manizales Caldas 396,075
10 Soacha Cundinamarca 511,262 20 Neiva Huila 342,117

China

Since 2000, China's cities have expanded at an average rate of 10% annually. It is estimated that China's urban population will increase by 292 million people by 2050,[1] when its cities will house a combined population of over one billion.[21] The country's urbanization rate increased from 17.4% to 46.6% between 1978 and 2009, a scale unprecedented in human history.[22] Between 150 and 200 million migrant workers work part-time in the major cities, returning home to the countryside periodically with their earnings.[23][24]

Today, China has dozens of cities with one million or more long-term residents, including the three global cities of Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai; by 2025, the country will be home to 221 cities with over a million inhabitants.[21] The figures in the table below are from the 2008 census, and are only estimates of the urban populations within administrative city limits; a different ranking exists when considering the total municipal populations (which includes suburban and rural populations). The large "floating populations" of migrant workers make conducting censuses in urban areas difficult;[25] the figures below include only long-term residents.

Panoramic view of Pudong's Skyline from the Bund in Shanghai, the largest city proper by population in the world.[26]
 
Rank Name Province Pop. Rank Name Province Pop.

Shanghai

Beijing		 1 Shanghai Shanghai 20,217,700 11 Chengdu Sichuan 6,316,900
Chongqing

Guangzhou
2 Beijing Beijing 16,446,900 12 Nanjing Jiangsu 6,238,200
3 Chongqing Chongqing 11,871,200 13 Shenyang Liaoning 5,718,200
4 Guangzhou Guangdong 10,641,400 14 Hangzhou Zhejiang 5,578,300
5 Shenzhen Guangdong 10,358,400 15 Xi'an Shaanxi 5,399,300
6 Tianjin Tianjin 9,562,300 16 Harbin Heilongjiang 5,178,000
7 Wuhan Hubei 7,541,500 17 Suzhou Jiangsu 4,083,900
8 Dongguan Guangdong 7,271,300 18 Qingdao Shandong 3,990,900
9 Hong Kong Hong Kong 7,055,071 19 Dalian Liaoning 3,902,500
10 Foshan Guangdong 6,771,900 20 Zhengzhou Henan 3,677,000

Finland

Similar to other Nordic countries, an urban area (taajama in Finnish) in Finland must have a building at least every 200 metres (660 ft) and at least 200 people. To be considered a town or a city (kaupunki) for statistical purposes, an urban area must have at least 15,000 people. This is not to be confused with the city / town designation used by municipalities.[27][28]

France

Main article: Urban area (France)
The Galeries Lafayette Department store in central Paris
Lyon, second urban area population in France

In France, an urban area (Fr: aire urbaine) is a zone encompassing an area of built-up growth (called an "urban unit" (unité urbaine)[29] - close in definition to the North American urban area) and its commuter belt (couronne périurbaine). Americans would find the INSEE definition of the urban area[30] to be similar to their metropolitan area, and the INSEE sometimes uses the term aire métropolitaine[31] to refer to the country's largest aires urbaines.

The largest cities in France, in terms of urban area population, are Paris (12,292,900), Lyon (2,182,482), Marseille (1,721,031), Toulouse (1,250,251), Lille (1,159,547), Bordeaux (1,140,668), Nice (1,003,947), Nantes (884,275), Strasbourg (763,739) and Rennes (679,866).[32]

Panorama of Paris as seen from the Eiffel Tower as full 180-degree view (river flowing from north-east to south-west, right to left)

Germany

Germany has a number of large cities. There are 11 officially recognised metropolitan regions in Germany – and since 2006, 34 potential cities were identified which can be called a Regiopolis.

The largest conurbation is the Rhine-Ruhr region (11.7 million in 2008), including Düsseldorf (the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia), Cologne, Bonn, Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg, and Bochum.[33]

 
Rank Name State Pop. Rank Name State Pop.

Berlin

Hamburg		 1 Berlin Berlin 3,562,166 11 Leipzig Saxony 531,582
Munich

Cologne
2 Hamburg Hamburg 1,760,433 12 Dresden Saxony 530,754
3 Munich Bavaria 1,407,836 13 Hannover Lower Saxony 518,386
4 Cologne North Rhine-Westphalia 1,034,175 14 Nuremberg Bavaria 498,876
5 Frankfurt Hesse 701,350 15 Duisburg North Rhine-Westphalia 486,855
6 Stuttgart Baden-Württemberg 604,297 16 Bochum North Rhine-Westphalia 361,734
7 Düsseldorf North Rhine-Westphalia 598,686 17 Wuppertal North Rhine-Westphalia 343,488
8 Dortmund North Rhine-Westphalia 575,944 18 Bielefeld North Rhine-Westphalia 328,864
9 Essen North Rhine-Westphalia 569,884 19 Bonn North Rhine-Westphalia 311,287
10 Bremen Bremen (state) 548,547 20 Mannheim Baden-Württemberg 296,690

India

Kolkata, India

For the Census of India 2011, the definition of urban area is as follows:

  1. All places with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee, etc.
  2. All other places which satisfied the following criteria:
  1. A minimum population of 5,000;
  2. At least 75% of the male main working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits; and
  3. A density of population of at least 400 persons per sq. km.
Panoramic view of Delhi, the capital of India

Source: A PDF file named '1. Data Highlight' accessed on 11 April 2012 from Census of India, 2011[34] The figure below is the population statistic for the year 2011. This is a list of city population and it does not indicate urban agglomeration population.

 
Largest cities or towns in India
Census India[35]
Rank Name State/UT Pop. Rank Name State/UT Pop.

Mumbai

Delhi		 1 Mumbai Maharashtra 12,478,447 11 Lucknow Uttar Pradesh 2,815,601
Chennai

Hyderabad
2 Delhi Delhi 11,007,835 12 Kanpur Uttar Pradesh 2,767,031
3 Chennai Tamil Nadu 8,425,970 13 Nagpur Maharashtra 2,405,421
4 Hyderabad Telangana 6,809,970 14 Indore Madhya Pradesh 1,960 521
5 Bangalore Karnataka 5,570,585 15 Thane Maharashtra 1,818,872
6 Ahmedabad Gujarat 4,681,087 16 Bhopal Madhya Pradesh 1,795,648
7 Kolkata West Bengal 4,486,679 17 Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh 1,730,320
8 Surat Gujarat 4,462,002 18 Pimpri-Chinchwad Maharashtra 1,729,359
9 Pune Maharashtra 3,115,431 19 Patna Bihar 1,683,200
10 Jaipur Rajasthan 3,073,350 20 Ludhiana Punjab 1,613,878

Japan

In Japan urbanized areas are defined as contiguous areas of densely inhabited districts (DIDs) using census enumeration districts as units with a density requirement of 4,000 inhabitants per square kilometre (10,000/sq mi).

Panoramic view of Shinjuku and Mount Fuji taken from Bunkyo Civic Center in Tokyo, the most populous urban area in the world.[36]
 
Largest cities or towns in Japan
2010 Census
Rank Name Prefecture Pop. Rank Name Prefecture Pop.

Tōkyō

Yokohama		 1 Tōkyō Tōkyō 8,949,447 11 Hiroshima Hiroshima 1,174,209
Ōsaka

Nagoya
2 Yokohama Kanagawa 3,689,603 12 Sendai Miyagi 1,045,903
3 Ōsaka Ōsaka 2,666,371 13 Kitakyūshū Fukuoka 977,288
4 Nagoya Aichi 2,263,907 14 Chiba Chiba 962,130
5 Sapporo Hokkaidō 1,914,434 15 Sakai Ōsaka 842,134
6 Kōbe Hyōgo 1,544,873 16 Niigata Niigata 812,192
7 Kyōto Kyōto 1,474,473 17 Hamamatsu Shizuoka 800,912
8 Fukuoka Fukuoka 1,463,826 18 Kumamoto Kumamoto 734,294
9 Kawasaki Kanagawa 1,425,678 19 Sagamihara Kanagawa 717,561
10 Saitama Saitama 1,222,910 20 Shizuoka Shizuoka 716,328

The Netherlands

The Netherlands is the 30th most densely populated country in the world, with 404.6 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,048/sq mi)—or 497 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,287/sq mi) if only the land area is counted. The Randstad is the country's largest conurbation located in the west of the country and contains the four largest cities: Amsterdam in the province North Holland, Rotterdam and The Hague in the province South Holland, and Utrecht in the province Utrecht. The Randstad has a population of 7 million inhabitants and is the 6th largest metropolitan area in Europe.

 
Largest cities or towns in Netherlands
Statistics Netherlands[37]
Rank Province Pop. Rank Province Pop.

Amsterdam

Rotterdam		 1 Amsterdam North Holland 825,080 11 Enschede Overijssel 158,308
The Hague

Utrecht
2 Rotterdam South Holland 625,472 12 Apeldoorn Gelderland 158,226
3 The Hague South Holland 515,076 13 Haarlem North Holland 157,058
4 Utrecht Utrecht 335,089 14 Amersfoort Utrecht 152,752
5 Eindhoven North Brabant 223,876 15 Arnhem Gelderland 152,506
6 Tilburg North Brabant 211,726 16 Zaanstad North Holland 151,495
7 Groningen Groningen 200,210 17 's-Hertogenbosch North Brabant 150,954
8 Almere Flevoland 197,318 18 Haarlemmermeer North Holland 144,090
9 Breda North Brabant 181,775 19 Zoetermeer South Holland 124,089
10 Nijmegen Gelderland 170,943 20 Zwolle Overijssel 124,032

New Zealand

Statistics New Zealand defines urban areas in New Zealand, which are independent of any administrative subdivisions and have no legal basis.[38] There are three classes of urban area: main urban areas are the 17 urban areas which have a population of 30,000 or more; secondary urban areas are the 14 urban areas which have a population of 10,000 or more but less than 30,000, and minor urban areas are the 103 urban areas which have a population of 1,000 or more but less than 10,000. Urban areas are reclassified after each Census, so population changes between censuses does not change an urban area's classification. For example, Rolleston (pop. 11,800) is still classified as a minor urban area because its population was under 10,000 at the 2013 Census.

Norway

Statistics Norway defines urban areas ("tettsteder") similarly to the other Nordic countries. Unlike in Denmark and Sweden, the distance between each building has to be of less than 50 m, although exceptions are made due to parks, industrial areas, rivers, and similar. Groups of houses less than 400 m from the main body of an urban area are included in the urban area.[39]

Philippines

With an estimated population of 16.3 million, Metro Manila is the most populous metropolitan area in the Philippines and the 11th in the world. However, the greater urban area is the 5th largest in the world with a population of 20,654,307 people (2010 estimate).[40] 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.

As per Republic Act No. 9009, in order to become a city, a local government unit must :

Poland

In Poland, official "urban" population figures simply refer to those localities which have the status of towns (miasta). The "rural" population is that of all areas outside the boundaries of these towns. This distinction may give a misleading impression in some cases, since some localities with only village status may have acquired larger and denser populations than many smaller towns.[41]

 
Rank Name Voivodeship Pop. Rank Name Voivodeship Pop.

Warsaw

Kraków		 1 Warsaw Masovian 1,735,442 11 Białystok Podlaskie 295,459
Łódź

Wrocław
2 Kraków Lesser Poland 761,873 12 Gdynia Pomeranian 247,820
3 Łódź Łódź 706,004 13 Częstochowa Silesian 230,123
4 Wrocław Lower Silesian 634,457 14 Radom Masovian 217,201
5 Poznań Greater Poland 545,680 15 Sosnowiec Silesian 209,274
6 Gdańsk Pomeranian 461,489 16 Toruń Kuyavian-Pomeranian 203,158
7 Szczecin West Pomeranian 407,180 17 Kielce Świętokrzyskie 198,857
8 Bydgoszcz Kuyavian-Pomeranian 357,652 18 Rzeszów Podkarpackie 185,123
9 Lublin Lublin 341,722 19 Gliwice Silesian 184,415
10 Katowice Silesian 301,834 20 Zabrze Silesian 177,188

Russia

In Russia, only the population residing in cities/towns and urban-type settlements is considered to be "urban". The city/town/urban-settlement designation means usually that the majority of the population is employed in areas other than agriculture, but the exact definitions vary from one federal subject to another.

Singapore

Singapore is an island city-state in Southeast Asia. About 5.2 million people live and work within 700 square kilometres (270 sq mi), making Singapore the 3rd-most-densely populated country in the world after Monaco, another city-state. The entire island functions as a single metropolitan area. The city centre near the south of the island is surrounded by satellite towns, parks, reservoirs and industrial estates, which are connected to the centre and each other by a dense network of roads, expressways and metro railway lines dubbed MRT by locals. Singapore has a highly centralised, unitary government with a unicameral legislature (the City Council and the Rural Board were abolished in the 1960s). While there are town councils and mayors in Singapore, these are essentially property managers in charge of the maintenance of public housing within their constituency boundaries. They do not represent local authorities with any legislative or executive autonomy from the national government.

South Africa

 
Largest cities or towns in South Africa
2011 Census
Rank Name Province Pop. Rank Name Province Pop.

Soweto

Johannesburg		 1 Soweto Gauteng 1,271,628 11 Randburg Gauteng 337,053
Pretoria

Durban
2 Johannesburg Gauteng 957,441 12 Mamelodi Gauteng 334,577
3 Pretoria Gauteng 741,651 13 Roodepoort Gauteng 326,416
4 Durban KwaZulu-Natal 595,061 14 Port Elizabeth Eastern Cape 312,392
5 Tembisa Gauteng 463,109 15 Mitchells Plain Western Cape 310,485
6 Cape Town Western Cape 433,688 16 East London Eastern Cape 267,007
7 Katlehong Gauteng 407,294 17 Boksburg Gauteng 260,321
8 Umlazi KwaZulu-Natal 404,811 18 Bloemfontein Free State (province) 256,185
9 Soshanguve Gauteng 403,162 19 Germiston Gauteng 255,863
10 Khayelitsha Western Cape 391,749 20 iBhayi Eastern Cape 237,799

South Korea

The largest cities of South Korea have an autonomous status equivalent to that of provinces. Seoul, the largest city and capital, is classified as a teukbyeolsi (Special City), while the next 6 largest cities (see the list below) are classified as gwangyeoksi (Metropolitan Cities; see Special cities of South Korea). Smaller cities are classified as si ("cities") and are under provincial jurisdiction, at the same level as counties (see Administrative divisions of South Korea).

 
Rank Name Province Pop. Rank Name Province Pop.

Seoul

Busan		 1 Seoul Seoul 10,103,233 11 Seongnam Gyeonggi 974,608
Incheon

Daegu
2 Busan Busan 3,519,401 12 Yongin Gyeonggi 961,026
3 Incheon Incheon 2,902,608 13 Bucheon Gyeonggi 855,586
4 Daegu Daegu 2,493,264 14 Cheongju North Chungcheong 831,521
5 Daejeon Daejeon 1,531,809 15 Ansan Gyeonggi 707,876
6 Gwangju Gwangju 1,475,884 16 Jeonju North Jeolla 652,877
7 Suwon Gyeonggi 1,174,228 17 Namyangju Gyeonggi 636,256
8 Ulsan Ulsan 1,166,377 18 Anyang Gyeonggi 600,809
9 Changwon South Gyeongsang 1,075,168 19 Cheonan South Chungcheong 598,346
10 Goyang Gyeonggi 1,006,154 20 Hwaseong Gyeonggi 540,862

Sweden

Urban areas in Sweden (tätorter) are statistically defined localities, totally independent of the administrative subdivision of the country. There are 1956 such localities in Sweden, with a population ranging from 200 to 1,372,000 inhabitants.[43]

Taiwan

The figures below are the 2011 estimates for the twenty largest urban populations within administrative city limits; a different ranking exists when considering the total metropolitan area populations (in such rankings the Taipei-Keelung metro area is by far the largest agglomeration).

 
Largest cities or towns in Taiwan
source
Rank Name Division Pop.

New Taipei

Kaohsiung		 1 New Taipei New Taipei City 3,913,595
Taichung

Taipei
2 Kaohsiung Kaohsiung City 2,773,855
3 Taichung Taichung City 2,662,770
4 Taipei Taipei City 2,647,122
5 Taoyuan Taoyuan City 2,056,273
6 Tainan Tainan City 1,883,844
7 Hsinchu Hsinchu City 431,601
8 Keelung Keelung City 380,281
9 Chiayi Chiayi City 271,594
10 Changhua Changhua County 235,197

United Kingdom

Apartment buildings in Kensington Gore, London

The United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics has produced census results from urban areas since 1951, since 1981 based upon the extent of irreversible urban development indicated on Ordnance Survey maps. The definition is an extent of at least 20 ha and at least 1,500 census residents. Separate areas are linked if less than 200 m (220 yd) apart. Included are transportation features.[44] The UK has five Urban Areas with a population over a million and a further sixty nine with a population over one hundred thousand.

United States

New York City is the most populous city in the United States and it is also the most populous metropolitan area in the United States.

In the United States, there are two categories of urban area. The term urbanized area denotes an urban area of 50,000 or more people. Urban areas under 50,000 people are called urban clusters. Urbanized areas were first delineated in the United States in the 1950 census, while urban clusters were added in the 2000 census. There are 1,371 urban areas and urban clusters with more than 10,000 people.

The U.S. Census Bureau defines an urban area as: "Core census block groups or blocks that have a population density of at least 1,000 people per square mile (386 per square kilometer) and surrounding census blocks that have an overall density of at least 500 people per square mile (193 per square kilometer)."

The largest urban area in the United States is the New York City metropolitan area. The population of the core city exceeds 8 million people, its metropolitan statistical area has a population that is over 19 million, and its combined statistical area population is over 22 million. The next five largest urban areas in the U.S. are Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia, and Houston.[45] About 82 percent of the population of the United States lives within the boundaries of an urbanized area as of December, 2010.[46] Combined, these areas occupy about 2 percent of the United States. Many Americans live in agglomerations of cities, suburbs, and towns that are adjacent to a metropolitan area's largest city.

The concept of Urbanized Areas as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau is often used as a more accurate gauge of the size of a city, since in different cities and states the lines between city borders and the urbanized area of that city are often not the same. For example, the city of Greenville, South Carolina has a city population over 60,000 and an urbanized area population of over 400,000, while Greensboro, North Carolina has a city population over 200,000 and an urbanized area population of around 310,000 — meaning that Greenville is actually "larger" for some intents and purposes, but not for others, such as taxation, local elections, etc.

In the U.S. Department of Agriculture's natural resources inventory, urban areas are officially known as developed areas or urban and built-up areas. Such areas include cities, ethnic villages, other built-up areas of more than 10 ac (4 ha), industrial sites, railroad yards, cemeteries, airports, golf courses, shooting ranges, institutional and public administration sites, and similar areas. The 1997 national resources inventory placed over 98,000,000 ac (40,000,000 ha) in this category, an increase of 25,000,000 ac (10,000,000 ha) since 1982.[47]

Vietnam

In Vietnam, there are 6 types of urban area:

 
Largest cities or towns in Vietnam
2015 estimate
Rank Name Province Pop.

Hồ Chí Minh City

Hà Nội		 1 Hồ Chí Minh City Municipalities of Vietnam 8,244,400
Hải Phòng

Cần Thơ
2 Hà Nội Municipalities of Vietnam 7,379,300
3 Hải Phòng Municipalities of Vietnam 1,946,000
4 Cần Thơ Municipalities of Vietnam 1,238,300
5 Biên Hòa Đồng Nai 1,104,495
6 Đà Nẵng Municipalities of Vietnam 1,007,700
7 Vũng Tàu Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu Province 450,000
8 Buôn Ma Thuột Đắk Lắk 420,000
9 Nha Trang Khánh Hòa 393,218
10 Huế Thừa Thiên-Huế 337,554

In animals

Animals that live in urban areas include raccoons, squirrels, frogs, geckos, lizards, blue jays, sparrows, Emberizid sparrows, purple martins, crows, buzzards, cardinals, buntings, ravens, barn swallows, tree swallows, martins, icterids, thrushes, geese, ducks, gulls, and birds of prey including the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), merlin (Falco columbarius), vultures, and golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos).

See also

Lists:

References

  1. 1 2 3 "City population to reach 6.4bn by 2050". Herald Globe. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  2. ↑ http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/urbanization/urban-rural.shtml
  3. ↑ http://www.who.int/gho/urban_health/situation_trends/urban_population_growth_text/en/
  4. ↑ "Current world population". United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  5. ↑ Gurda, John (1999). "Foreword". The Making of Milwaukee. Milwaukee County Historical Society. p. vii.
  6. ↑ "Field listing – Urbanization". The World Factbook. CIA.
  7. 1 2 3 "Major Cities". Government of Argentina. Archived from the original on 19 September 2009.
  8. ↑ "Ubicación de la ciudad de salta" (in Spanish). Directorate-General of Tourism, Municipality of the City of Salta. Archived from the original on 2010-01-17.
  9. ↑ "Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Censos, Argentina, 2006-07" (PDF) (in Spanish). INDEC – Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos. 2008. Retrieved 6 June 2008.
  10. ↑ "1216.0 - Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), 2001". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  11. ↑ "3218.0 – Regional Population Growth, Australia, 2013-14". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 30 June 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  12. ↑ "IDBGE" (in Portuguese). IBGE. 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-08.
  13. ↑ 2008 PNAD, IBGE. "População residente por situação, sexo e grupos de idade."
  14. ↑ "Principal Cities". Encarta. MSN. Archived from the original on 31 October 2009. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
  15. ↑ "RMSP supera 20 milhões de habitantes, calcula Seade – economia – geral – Estadão". Estadao.com.br. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  16. ↑ "2014 Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics estimate". Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. 29 August 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  17. ↑ "Urban area (UA)". Statistics Canada. 2009-11-20. Retrieved 2011-01-21.
  18. ↑ "More information on Urban area (UA)". Statistics Canada. 2009-11-20. Retrieved 2011-01-21.
  19. 1 2 "From urban areas to population centres". Statistics Canada, May 5, 2011.
  20. ↑ "Estimaciones de Población 1985 - 2005 y Proyecciones de Población 2005 - 2020 Total Municipal por Área (estimate)". Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  21. 1 2 "Preparing for China's urban billion". McKinsey Global Institute. February 2009. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
  22. ↑ "China urbanization (PDF)" (PDF). World Bank Institute. 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
  23. ↑ Harney, Alexandra (3 February 2008). "Migrants are China's 'factories without smoke'". CNN. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
  24. ↑ Tschang, Chi-Chu (4 February 2009). "A Tough New Year for China's Migrant Workers". Business Week. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
  25. ↑ Francesco Sisci. "China's floating population a headache for census". The Straits Times. 22 September 2000.
  26. ↑ "Cities: largest (without surrounding suburban areas)". Geohive. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
  27. ↑ Statistics Finland Locality
  28. ↑ Alueluokkien kuvaukset (Finnish)
  29. ↑ "Nomenclatures Définitions — Méthodes — Unité urbaine" (in French). Retrieved 2007-07-20.
  30. ↑ "Nomenclatures Définitions — Méthodes — Aire urbaine" (in French). Retrieved 2007-07-07.
  31. ↑ "Un maillage du territoire français" (in French). Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  32. ↑ http://www.populationdata.net/index2.php?option=pays&pid=68&nom=france
  33. ↑ "Regionales Monitoring 2010 - Daten und Karten zu den Europäischen Metropolregionen in Deutschland" (PDF) (in German). Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung. 2010. p. 10. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
  34. ↑ http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/paper2-vol2/data_files/India2/1.%20Data%20Highlight.pdf
  35. ↑ Cities having population 1 lakh and above, Census 2011
  36. ↑ "The world's biggest cities: How do you measure them?". BBC News. 29 January 2012.
  37. ↑ Statistics Netherlands.
  38. ↑ "Urban area: Definition". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  39. ↑ "Population statistics. Population and land area in urban settlements, 1 January 2008". Statistics Norway. June 20, 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
  40. ↑ "World: metropolitan areas". World Gazetteer. Retrieved 2010-01-22.
  41. ↑ Polish official population figures
  42. ↑ "국가통계포털 > 국내통계 > 인구·가구 > 주민등록인구현황". Statistics Korea.
  43. ↑ "Fortsatt stor ökning av befolkning i tätorter". Statistics Sweden. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
  44. ↑ KS01 Usual resident population: Census 2001, Key Statistics for urban areas
    For the OS definition of an Urban Area, see the notes tab on the Excel version.
  45. ↑ United States Census Bureau 2010 Census Urban Area List http://www2.census.gov/geo/ua/ua_list_ua.xls 2010 Census Urban Area List. Retrieved May 7, 2013.
  46. ↑ - accessed January, 2012
  47. ↑  This article incorporates public domain material from the Congressional Research Service document [http://ncseonline.org/nle/crsreports/05jun /97-905.pdf "Report for Congress: Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition"] by Jasper Womach.

External links

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