Greater Sacramento Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Yuba City
—  CSA  —
Sacramento
Country	United States of America
State	California Nevada
Principal cities	Sacramento – Arden Arcade – Roseville – Yuba City – South Lake Tahoe – Truckee
Area
• Metro	21,429.2 sq mi (10,877.72 km2)
Elevation	0–10,886 ft (0–3,318 m)
Population (2009 est.)[1]
• Density	308.60/sq mi (119.5/km2)
• Urban	1,473,806 (28th)
• MSA	2,149,127 (25th)
• CSA	2,461,780
	MSA = 2009, Urban = 2009
Time zone	PST (UTC-8)
• Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC-7)

The Greater Sacramento area, or officially Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Yuba City, CA-NV Combined Statistical Area, is a combined statistical area consisting of several metropolitan statistical areas and seven counties in Northern California and one in Western Nevada. These are Sacramento, Yolo, El Dorado, Placer, Sutter, Yuba, and Nevada counties in California, and Douglas County in Nevada. Recently it has been one of the fastest growing regions in the United States as Sacramento continues to emerge as a distinct metropolitan center in the United States as well as having cheaper housing for commuters from and to the nearby, more expensive, San Francisco Bay Area. The metropolitan area experienced a growth of nearly 20% in the last decade. In the 2000 census, the Sacramento MSA had a population of 1,930,857 (though a July 1, 2009 estimate placed the population at 2,458,355). The 2010 United States Census estimates for the region totaled a population of 2,461,780, making it the 4th largest metropolitan region in California and 18th largest in the United States.

It lies in the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada regions of California as well as a small region of Western Nevada. Greater Sacramento is anchored by Sacramento, the political center of California, the nation's wealthiest and most populous state with the largest number of representatives in the U.S. government, home of the California State Capitol and the secondary location of Supreme Court of California and was the original terminus for the First Transcontinental Railroad. Greater Sacramento also contains sites of natural beauty including Lake Tahoe, the largest alpine lake in North America and numerous ski and nature resorts. It is also located in one of the world's most important agricultural areas. The region's eastern counties are located in Gold Country, site of the California Gold Rush.

Regional composition[link]

The Greater Sacramento area is composed of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville, California Metropolitan Statistical Area, Yuba–Sutter Area, and Truckee and Gardnerville Ranchos micropolitan areas. The following counties are located in the Greater Sacramento area:

• Douglas
• El Dorado
• Nevada
• Placer
• Sacramento
• Sutter
• Yolo
• Yuba

Overview[link]

The California State Capitol Building

Greater Sacramento straddles two key regions of California, the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada mountains and is overlapped by the cultural influences of three areas, the Bay Area, Eastern California and Upstate California. While a Greater Sacramento identity is shared in the region, the culture of Yolo and Sacramento counties is more influenced by the Bay Area, while the Yuba–Sutter Area is influenced by Upstate California and the eastern counties are influenced by Eastern California. An increasing phenomenon taking shape in Greater Sacramento is growth of urban sprawl as Sacramento and its metropolitan area continue to expand. The growth is due in part to first, higher costs of living in the Bay Area which have caused commuters to move as far as Yolo and Sacramento counties and more recently, growth and rising living costs in the core of Sacramento, building up more areas in the surrounding counties for commuters. Local and state governments are trying to prevent destruction of forests and open land and curbing the spread before Sacramento faces an urban sprawl crisis as the Greater Los Angeles Area has.^[2]

Sacramento is the largest city in the metropolitan area, home to nearly 470,000, making it the sixth largest city in California and the 35th largest in the United States. It has been the state capital of California since 1851 and has played an important role in the history of California. When gold was discovered in nearby Sutter's Mill in Coloma, Sacramento became a boom town luring in migrants making their way from San Francisco to the gold fields of the Sierras. Although it did not become the financial and cultural center of Northern California, titles that were given to San Francisco, Sacramento became the largest transportation hub of not only Northern California, but also the West Coast following the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad. Sacramento today continues to one of the largest rail hubs in North America, and its rail station is one of the busiest in the United States. In 2002, Time Magazine featured an article recognizing Sacramento as the most diverse and integrated city in America.^[3] Government (state and federal) jobs are still the largest sector of employment in the city and the city council does considerable effort to keep state agencies from moving outside the city limits.^[4] The remainder of Sacramento County is suburban in general with most of the working population communting to Downtown Sacramento and with a smaller proportion communting all the way to the Bay Area.

Squaw Valley, the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics

Yolo County serves as a commuter region as most of its working population commutes either to the Bay Area or Sacramento for work but is home to the University of California, Davis campus, the northernmost UC campus and only UC campus in the Greater Sacramento region. El Dorado and Placer Counties form the remainder of the inner core of Greater Sacramento and are composed of the Sierra foothills and mountains. The western areas of the counties are composed of commuter suburbs to Sacramento while the eastern areas border Lake Tahoe and are home to numerous ski resorts and towns such as South Lake Tahoe, site of the Heavenly Mountain Resort, which are popular in winter months and nature camps and resorts in summer months. Placer County has been an important mining area not only for gold, but also other minerals and granite. It is also the site of Squaw Valley, which hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics, which has been up to date, the only Winter Olympic Games to be held in California and the West Coast and the smallest city to host an Olympics.

Stateline is an important Tahoe resort town on the shores of Lake Tahoe.

The Yuba-Sutter Area consists of Yuba and Sutter counties and is a primarily agricultural area, although the southern area is more suburban in character. It is home to Sunsweet Growers, which owns the world's largest dried fruit plant in Yuba City. Nevada County, like El Dorado and Placer Counties, borders Lake Tahoe and contains numerous ski resorts such as the Boreal Mountain Resort, but is more rural than the former two counties and is an important gold mining area. The Donner Memorial State Park is located in the county, where the ill-fated Donner Party was trapped in winter storms in 1846–47 while attempting to make it to California on a poorly organized trip. Douglas County, is the only county in Nevada in the Greater Sacramento area and is the only non-Californian county to be located in a California metropolitan region. The addition of Douglas County is recent, as Greater Sacramento continues to grow beyond its inner region, Western Nevada continues to be influenced by Sacramento and California and their cultures.^[5] This gradual "Californiazation" of Western Nevada is the work of a theory of an expanding megapolitan area of Northern California which is believed to be part of a "California megalopolis" stretching from Greater Los Angeles to Greater Sacramento and including the Bay Area and Metropolitan Fresno, in a similar urbanization idea as the Northeast megalopolis that includes the New York City, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. areas.^[6] Douglas County is home of Tahoe resorts and casinos as well as suburban outskirts of Sacramento and Reno.

Geography and climate[link]

Geography[link]

A cove inside the Sacramento River delta

The western half of Greater Sacramento is centered on the Central Valley, one of the most vital agricultural areas in the country. The Sierra Nevada and its foothills compose the eastern portion of the region. Yolo County contains a large flood control basin. The Sacramento River and the American River are major rivers that form a deepwater port connected to the San Francisco Bay by a channel through the Sacramento River Delta. Coniferous and oak dominated woodland are prevalent in the Sierra Nevada and the Lake Tahoe area.

Climate[link]

Sacramento and the valley area have a Mediterranean climate (Koppen Csa), characterized by damp to wet, cool winters and hot, dry summers. The wet season is generally October through April. Summer heat is often moderated by a sea breeze known as the "delta breeze" which comes through the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta from the San Francisco Bay.^[7] January is the coolest month for the entire region with an average maximum of 41.0 °F (5.0 °C) and an average minimum of 15.1 °F (-9.4 °C) in Lake Tahoe. The eastern portion of Greater Sacramento experiences a more varied climate with 90 °F (32.2 °C) temperatures in August to below freezing temperatures in winter. In higher elevations, freezing temperatures have been recorded every month. In the winter, below freezing temperatures are common in Sacramento and lower valley elevations although snowfall is scarce and usually melts on ground contact with significant snowfall occurring roughly every 3–5 years. However, blizzard conditions in winter storms can be common in the higher elevations.^[8][9]

Communities[link]

Incorporated places[link]

Census-designated places[link]

Demographics[link]

As of the census^[10] of 2000, there were 1,796,857 people, 665,298 households, and 445,753 families residing within the MSA. The racial makeup of the MSA was 70.0% White, 7.1% African American, 1.1% Native American, 9.0% Asian, 0.5% Pacific Islander, 7.2% from other races, and 5.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 15.5% of the population.

The median income for a household in the MSA was $48,401, and the median income for a family was $57,112. Males had a median income of $43,572 versus $31,889 for females. The per capita income for the MSA was $23,508.

Transportation[link]

Interstate 80 as it approaches the Nevada border in wintertime

Owing to its central location between the Bay Area and Nevada border, Greater Sacramento is a key transportation hub into Northern California. While the region doesn't have an extensive public transportation system as the two larger metropolitan areas of California, Greater Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, Greater Sacramento has had an earlier history of public mass transit and is served by a vast freeway system.

Freeways and highways[link]

Sacramento is served by numerous highways. Five highways merge together in the Capital City Corridor, serving the immediate downtown Sacramento area. The major freeways of the Greater Sacramento area are Interstate 80, U.S. Route 50, Interstate 5 and California State Route 99, which serve the northern Tahoe area, southern Tahoe area, and valley areas respectively as well as forming the Capital City Corridor along with Interstate 80 Business. Outside downtown Sacramento, there is only one principal route that serves its respective area and there are smaller state routes as well. Freeways and highways in the Greater Sacramento areas include:

Rail[link]

Sacramento is the largest rail hub west of the Mississippi River and was the first terminus of the First Transcontinental Railroad before it extended to Oakland. The Sacramento Station is the largest train station in the region, near Old Sacramento, and is connected by the Coast Starlight, California Zephyr, San Joaquins, Capitol Corridor and Thruway Motorcoach Amtrak routes. The Sacramento Regional Transit District is the local transit agency for Sacramento County and operates two 37.42 mile (60.22 km) long light rail lines, the Blue Line and Gold Line that serve Sacramento and its immediate suburbs. Other train stations in the Greater Sacramento area are Davis, Roseville, Rocklin, Auburn, Colfax and Truckee.

Air[link]

The main airport servicing Greater Sacramento is the Sacramento International Airport north of downtown while the Sacramento Mather Airport, Sacramento Executive Airport and Minden-Tahoe Airports provide general aviation. The Reno-Tahoe International Airport in Reno provides more direct access to Lake Tahoe than Sacramento International. For a wider range of destinations, residents must travel down to San Francisco International Airport, the largest airport in Northern California and 10th largest in the United States.

Bus[link]

Greater Sacramento is served by extensive bus systems that link the region to the Reno and Bay Area metropolitan areas. The Sacramento Regional Transit District operates bus lines in Sacramento County and Yolobus serves Yolo County while providing connections to downtown Sacramento and northern Solano County in the Bay Area. El Dorado Transit links El Dorado County with downtown Sacramento and the city's western suburbs. Placer County Transit and Roseville Transit link Sacramento with Placer County with the latter providing direct connection from Roseville to Sacramento. The Yuba-Sutter Transit provides bus service in the Yuba-Sutter area and direct connection to downtown Sacramento on weekdays. Gold Country Stage and Tahoe Area Rapid Transit serve Nevada County and transfer service to Auburn to Sacramento is provided. Greyhound and Amtrak provide long-distance bus lines to Greater Sacramento.

Higher education[link]

The Sacramento State library

Greater Sacramento's higher education system consists of the northernmost University of California campus, University of California, Davis, California State University Sacramento ("Sac State"), as well as several community colleges in the region.

Politics[link]

In addition to being home of the state capital of California, Greater Sacramento is considered a politically competitive area with no major political party having a majority over the region.^[11] Due to their proximity to the Bay Area, which is a part of the Democratic Party stronghold of Coastal California, Yolo and Sacramento counties have large Democratic pluralities with Democratic majorities in the recent 2008 presidential election. El Dorado, Placer, Yuba, Sutter and Douglas counties are predominately Republican while Nevada County, despite a history of being held by Republican candidates, reflects the metropolitan area's competitiveness with pluralities between the two major parties and with a Democratic majority in the 2008 presidential election.

Sports teams[link]

The Power Balance Pavilion hosts the Sacramento Kings, the only professional sports team in Greater Sacramento.

The Olympics Sign at Squaw Valley

The only Big Four team based in the Greater Sacramento area are the Sacramento Kings who play at the Power Balance Pavilion in Sacramento. Prior to 2009, the Sacramento Monarchs of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) were also based at the Power Balance Pavilion and were one of the most successful WNBA teams until it folded after the owners gave up on owning the team and relocation to San Francisco or Oakland failed.^[12] Greater Sacramento is the only metropolitan area in the West Coast and in California to have ever hosted a Winter Olympic Games when Squaw Valley hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics, becoming the smallest city to ever host an Olympic Games, a title it still holds. Squaw Valley was the second Olympic games hosted in California and the only one not held in Los Angeles, where the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics were hosted and was the only Winter Olympics held west of the Mississippi River until the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

NCAA Division I College Sports

• Sacramento State Hornets
• UC Davis Aggies

See also[link]

California portal

• California census statistical areas
• Northern California

References[link]

v t e  State of California Sacramento (capital) Topics Climate Delegations Deserts Districts Ecology Elections Environment Geography Government History Protected areas Sports Symbols Transportation Visitor attractions Index of California-related articles Society Californians Culture Crime Demographics Economy Education Politics Regions Antelope Valley Big Sur Cascade Range Central California Central Coast Central Valley Channel Islands Coachella Valley Conejo Valley Cucamonga Valley Death Valley East Bay (SF) East County (SD) Eastern California Emerald Triangle Gold Country Great Basin Greater Los Angeles Greater Sacramento Inland Empire Lake Tahoe Los Angeles Basin Lost Coast Metropolitan Fresno Mojave Mountain Empire North Bay (SF) North Coast North County (SD) Northern California Owens Valley Oxnard Plain Pomona Valley Sacramento Valley San Bernardino Valley San Diego–Tijuana San Fernando Valley San Francisco Bay Area San Francisco Peninsula San Gabriel Valley San Joaquin Valley Santa Clara Valley Santa Clara River Valley Santa Clarita Valley Shasta Cascade Sierra Nevada Silicon Valley South Bay (LA) South Bay (SF) South Bay (SD) South Coast Southern California Southern Border Region Tri-Valley Upstate California Victor Valley Wine Country Metro areas Bakersfield Chico El Centro Fresno Hanford–Corcoran Los Angeles–Long Beach–Glendale Madera Modesto Merced Napa Oakland–Fremont–Hayward Oxnard–Thousand Oaks–Ventura Redding Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario Sacramento–Arden Arcade–Roseville Salinas San Diego–Carlsbad–San Marcos San Francisco–San Mateo–Redwood City San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara San Luis Obispo–Paso Robles Santa Ana–Anaheim–Irvine Santa Barbara–Santa Maria–Goleta Santa Cruz–Watsonville Santa Rosa–Petaluma Stockton Vallejo–Fairfield Visalia–Porterville Yuba City Micro areas Bishop Clearlake Crescent City Eureka–Arcata–Fortuna Phoenix Lake-Cedar Ridge Red Bluff Susanville Truckee–Grass Valley Ukiah Counties Alameda Alpine Amador Butte Calaveras Colusa Contra Costa Del Norte El Dorado Fresno Glenn Humboldt Imperial Inyo Kern Kings Lake Lassen Los Angeles Madera Marin Mariposa Mendocino Merced Modoc Mono Monterey Napa Nevada Orange Placer Plumas Riverside Sacramento San Benito San Bernardino San Diego San Francisco San Joaquin San Luis Obispo San Mateo Santa Barbara Santa Clara Santa Cruz Shasta Sierra Siskiyou Solano Sonoma Stanislaus Sutter Tehama Trinity Tulare Tuolumne Ventura Yolo Yuba

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Densely populated metropolitan area (Western Tokyo)

The term metropolitan area refers to a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing.^[1] A metropolitan area usually comprises multiple jurisdictions and municipalities: neighborhoods, townships, cities, exurbs, counties, and even states. As social, economic and political institutions have changed, metropolitan areas have become key economic and political regions.^[2]

General definition[link]

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Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina.

A metropolitan area combines an urban agglomeration (the contiguous, built-up area) with zones not necessarily urban in character, but closely bound to the center by employment or other commerce. These outlying zones are sometimes known as a commuter belt, and may extend well beyond the urban zone, to other political entities. For example, El Monte, California is considered part of the Los Angeles' metro area.

In practice, the parameters of metropolitan areas, in both official and unofficial usage, are not consistent. Sometimes they are little different from an urban area, and in other cases they cover broad regions that have little relation to a single urban settlement; comparative statistics for metropolitan area should take this into account. Population figures given for one metro area can vary by millions, and there is a tendency for people to promote the highest figure available for their own "city". However the most ambitious metropolitan area population figures are often better seen as the population of a "metropolitan region" than of a "city".^{[citation needed]}

There has been no significant change in the basic concept of metropolitan areas since its adoption in 1950,^[3] although significant changes in geographic distributions have occurred since then, and more are expected.^[4] Because of the fluidity of the term "metropolitan statistical area," the term used colloquially is more often "metro service area," "metro area," or "MSA" taken to include not only a city, but also surrounding suburban, exurban and sometimes rural areas, all which it is presumed to influence.

A polycentric metropolitan area is one not connected by continuous development or conurbation, which requires urban contiguity. In defining a metropolitan area, it is sufficient that a city or cities constitute a nucleus with which other areas have a high degree of integration.

Country official unique definitions[link]

Perth is arguably the most isolated metropolitan area in the world.^{[citation needed]}

Vancouver, on Canada's Pacific Coast

Paris, one of Europe's major centres

Istanbul, the only metropolitan area that spans two continents.

Mumbai, Financial Capital of India.

Chicago, on the Great Lakes.

Australia[link]

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The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines 'statistical divisions' as areas under the unifying influence of one or more major towns or a major city.^[5] Each of the state and territory capital cities as well as the national capital, Canberra, forms its own statistical division, and the population of the statistical division is the figure most often quoted for that city's population. However, this definition has largely become obsolete with the conurbation of several statistical divisions into a larger metropolitan areas. For example, the City of Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland, has long since become contiguous with the surrounding cities of Ipswich, Logan City, Redland City, Redcliffe, Pine Rivers, Caboolture and the Gold Coast. This conurbation is common to all the major metropolitan areas of Australia which include all the capital cities and many major regional centres such as the Gold Coast, Newcastle, Wollongong, Geelong, Townsville, Cairns and Toowoomba.

Canada[link]

Statistics Canada defines a census metropolitan area (CMA) and census agglomeration (CA) as areas consisting of one or more adjacent municipalities situated around a major urban core. To form a CMA, the metropolitan area must have a population of at least 100,000, at least half within the urban core. To form a CA, the urban core must have a population of at least 10,000. To be included in the CMA or CA, adjacent municipalities must have a high degree of integration with the core, as measured by commuter flows derived from census data.^[6]

European Union[link]

The European Union's statistical agency, Eurostat, has created a concept named Larger Urban Zone (LUZ). The LUZ represents an attempt at a harmonised definition of the metropolitan area, and the goal was to have an area from a significant share of the resident commute into the city, a concept known as the “functional urban region”.^[7]

France[link]

In France the term for the region around an urban core linked by commuting ties is an aire urbaine (officially translated as "urban area").^{[citation needed]}

Turkey[link]

The word metropolitan, describes a major city in Turkey like Istanbul, a city which is dominant to others both in financially and socially.^[8] There are 16 officially defined "state metropolitan areas" in Turkey, for governing purposes.^[9] More than ten of these metropolitan areas are populated with more than one million people: Istanbul (10+ Million), Ankara (4+ Million), Izmir (3+ Million), Bursa (2+ Million), Adana, Gaziantep, Konya, Antalya, Samsun, Kayseri and Mersin.

Istanbul-Kocaeli-Sakarya-Yalova-Bursa metropolitan areas, almost continuously inhabited, form one single megalopolitan area around the eastern part of Marmara Sea, with total population of almost 20 Million and with the combined economy of US$750 Billion. Istanbul metropolitan area itself has a population of 12+ Million and an economy of almost US$500 Billion.

India[link]

Rajarhat which is in the city of Kolkata is a newly established township, consisting of gated high rise apartment complexes. In this image, Uniworld City, a mini-township

In India, the Census Commission defines a metropolitan city one having a population of over 4 million.^[10] Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Siliguri , Pune, and Ahmedabad are the Indian cities that qualify. Residents of these cities are also entitled to a higher house rent allowance. The figure only applies to the city region and not the conurbation.^{[citation needed]}

Israel[link]

In Israel there are 4 metropolitan areas: Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and Beersheba. Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area in late 2005 numbered about three million inhabitants. This is a center of metropolitan employment and business in Israel. Today, some argue that the Tel Aviv metropolitan area - Gush Dan, will be deployed in future from Hadera to Gedera (for all "rings" - inner, middle and outer).^{[citation needed]}

Japan[link]

In Japan a metropolitan area would be toshiken (都市圏^?, lit. block of cities).^{[citation needed]}

United States[link]

The Office of Management and Budget defines Core Based Statistical Areas used for statistics purposes among federal agencies. Each CBSA is based on a core urban area and is composed of the counties which comprise that core as well as any surrounding counties that are tightly socially or economically integrated with it. These areas are designated as either metropolitan or micropolitan statistical areas, based on population size; a "metro" area has an urban core of at least 50,000 residents, while a "micro" area has fewer than 50,000 but at least 10,000.^[11]

Megalopolis[link]

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This concept of a "megalopolis" was first proposed by the French geographer Jean Gottmann in his book Megalopolis, a study of the northeastern United States. One prominent example of a megalopolis is the Northeast megalopolis consisting of Boston, Hartford, Greater New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Delaware, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and their vicinities. Two other prominent megalopolises in North America are as follows:

1. In California and Baja California, Ventura County, Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Diego County, part of Riverside County, part of San Bernardino County, Tijuana Municipality, Rosarito Beach Municipality, Mexicali Municipality, and Tecate Municipality. There are hundreds of cities and towns in this megalopolis, with the largest ones being Los Angeles, Long Beach, Irvine, Anaheim, San Diego, and Tijuana.
2. The bi-national Great Lakes Megalopolis consists of the group of North American metropolitan areas surrounding the Great Lakes region within the Midwestern United States, Southern Ontario, and parts of Pennsylvania, New York, and Quebec. The region extends from the Milwaukee–Chicago corridor to the Detroit–Toronto corridor, and includes Buffalo, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Erie, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Louisville, Ottawa, Rochester, and Toledo, reaching as far as Pittsburgh and St. Louis. The region had an estimated population of 54 million for the 2000 Census and is projected to reach about 65 million by 2025.

The world's largest megalopolis is probably is the Taiheiyō Belt (the Pacific megalopolis) of Japan on southeastern Honshu that consists of the metropolis of Tokyo, Shizuoka, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe, Okayama, Yokosuka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Kure, and their surrounding cities and towns. Major means of ground transportation in Japan such as its railroad network (for both passengers and freight), many expressways, and the "Shinkansen" bullet train are concentrated in this region, which also includes the northern shore of the Inland Sea of Japan. This is a highly-industrialized part of Japan, and it is also the location of its most important seaports in Japan - such as at Yokohama, Osaka, Kobe, Hiroshima, and Kure - and its most important international airports - such as at Tokyo and Osaka. The population of this megalopolis can be considered to be as high as 83 million people, depending on where one draws its boundaries.

Guangdong Province's Pearl River Delta is a megalopolis with a population of 48 million that extends from Hong Kong and Shenzhen to Guangzhou. Some projections assume that by 2030 up to 1 billion people will live in China's urban areas. Even rather conservative projections predict an urban population of up to 800 million people. In its most recent assessment, the UN Population Division estimated an urban population of 1 billion in 2050.^[12]

The megalopolises in Europe are the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region (pop. 11.5 million) in Germany, the Milan metropolitan area (pop. 7.4 million) in Italy, the Randstad in the Netherlands (pop. 7.4 million), the Flemish Diamond in Belgium (pop. 5.5 million), Ile de France in France and the metropolitan area of London and Moscow, as well as several 'smaller' agglomerations, such as the Meuse-Rhine Euregion, the Ems-Dollart Region, the Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai Euregion and Metropoly of Upper Silesia in Poland (17 cities around Katowice with a total population of over 2 million). Together this megalopolis has an estimated population of around 50 million. In Turkey, multiple cities around Istanbul, Istanbul-Kocaeli-Sakarya-Yalova-Bursa metropolitan areas, almost continuously inhabited, form one single megalopolitan area to the east of Istanbul around the eastern part of Marmara Sea, with total population of almost 20 Million and with the combined economy of US$750 Billion.

It has been suggested^[who?] that most of southeastern England, the Midlands and parts of northern England will someday evolve into a megalopolis dominated by London.^{[citation needed]} Clearly when usage is stretched this far, it is remote from the traditional conception of a city.^{[citation needed]}

Africa's first megalopolis is situated in the urban portion of Gauteng Province in South Africa, comprising the conurbation of Johannesburg, and the metropolitan areas of Pretoria and the Vaal Triangle, otherwise known as the PWV.

Megacity is a general term for metropolitan areas which usually have a total population in excess of ten million people. In Canada, "megacity" can also refer informally to the results of merging a central city with its suburbs to form one large municipality. A Canadian "megacity", however, is not necessarily an entirely urbanized area, since many of its named "cities" have both rural and urban portions. Also, 10 million inhabitants is an unreasonably high number for Canada. Moreover, Canadian "megacities" do not constitute large metropolitan areas in a global sense. For example, Toronto has a metropolitan population of about five million people, but is part of a much larger metropolitan region called the Golden Horseshoe, which has about eight million people.

The census population of a metro area is not the city population. However, it better demonstrates the population of the city. Los Angeles may only have a city population of slightly less than four million, but depending on the definition, it has a metropolitan area population of either 13 million, or 18 million people in its combined statistical area. A major question is whether or not to include San Diego and Tijuana.

See also[link]

• Developed environments
• Economic restructuring
• Metropolitan Statistical Area
• metropolitan economy
• Urban sprawl

Metropolitan Planning Theories[link]

• New Urbanism
• Smart growth
• Transit-oriented development

Terms[link]

Lists of metropolitan areas[link]

• List of metropolitan areas that overlap multiple countries
• List of metropolitan areas by population
  • List of urban areas by population

References[link]

External links[link]

• Metropolis.org, An organisation of world metropolises
• Urban Employment Areas in Japan (Metropolitan Employment Areas in Japan)
• Turismo.fvg.it, (Metropolis read by maps in Friuli Venezia Giulia - Northeast of Italy - EU)
• Geopolis : research group, university of Paris-Diderot, France — Urbanization of the world