Man builds his cities in breadth and height, occupying an increasing space around the centers of his states. Thus, unusually large cities are formed in which millions live, seek their happiness, work and have a rest.
The lights of a big city, a megalopolis, are mesmerizing. The second word, so exquisitely impressive, is increasingly used in conversation. It has long replaced the word "city" for some of these centers. As we know, a metropolis is a very large city. Or maybe we know very little about him, about this beautiful word? We offer a little more detailed understanding of what a metropolis is.
Megalopolis: the word and its origin
The word itself comes from a combination of two Greek forms. If someone came up with an association with such a phenomenon of ancient civilization as policies, city-states, then this is very helpful. Megalo, which means “big” and polis, which translates as “city”, - these two components make up the modern designation of the largest city. So, we got the answer to the most important question - what is a metropolis. The definition and origin of the word is known to us. We will touch on its historical development further.
The history of the use of the word "metropolis" in geographical science began in the 17th century. The English researcher T. Herbert first used this term as a designation of state capitals. Since then, the evolution of the meaning of the word has tied it to the name of only particularly large cities in the world. According to the criterion introduced in the UN publications, at least 10 million inhabitants should live in the metropolis.
Features of the megalopolis
The metropolis is the largest form of settlement, which is formed as a result of the merger of many neighboring urban agglomerations.
For reference, let’s digress at the additional concept of agglomeration (from Latin agglomero - “I connect”) - a set of cities with strong economic and cultural ties. As a result, they become a single functional unit. They form around large cities, mainly in industrial areas with a high population density. With further growth and development of ties between the city and the metropolitan area, they merge into megacities.
World trends in the context of history
Now we know what a megalopolis is in geography. The formation and development of large cities were constantly monitored. So, according to statistics, in 1900 there were only 10 cities around the world that could be considered megacities. In 1955, there were already 61 cities with a population of more than a million, and in 1990 - as many as 276. As can be seen from the figures, the trends towards globalization, the enlargement of settlements, are gaining momentum.
The most populated cities have historically appeared in America. So, back in 1950 in New York, there were more than 12 million inhabitants. The Eurasian continent lagged quite a bit - Shanghai with its 10 million and London.
Before the start of the new millennium, in 1995, the picture of the world's megacities was even more impressive. In Japan, the metropolitan area of Tokyo-Yokohama had more than 26 million inhabitants. New York has not grown so much - up to 16 million, Mexico City - up to 15.5.
We examined what a megalopolis is, a geographic definition, and some statistics. Next, you need to touch on the problems of the modern big city.
What is a metropolis: the environmental side of the issue
In addition to comfort and a wide range of possibilities, life in a big city has many negative aspects. They are well known to residents of megacities, but those who are full of desire to get there will have to meet with them. And it’s better to be prepared.
What is a metropolis in the context of the impact of its scale on the life of the population? A person in him is surrounded by many dangerous factors. You might not even have to think about them: an extremely fast pace of life, a constant noise background, nervous loads experienced in moments, for example, waiting in a traffic jam, a long journey to work and home. The psyche of a resident of a metropolis is subjected to constant negative impact.
In large cities, the probability of not so frequent but global problems is higher: terrorism, technological disasters. Separately, this issue addresses the epidemiological danger.
The spread of disease in the metropolis
Due to the densely populated, frequent and long contacts of people in big cities, the risk of the rapid spread of diseases here is off the charts.
So, the USA closely faced this problem in 2013. The country survived an influenza epidemic in which hundreds of thousands of cases were reported. Hospitals were crowded, in lines for medical care, people became even worse. There were many deaths. New York at that moment was the most vulnerable to the disease.
With a high population density, any epidemic quickly gets out of hand. It is worth looking back at this, evaluating the metropolis as a place to live.
Ecology - problem number 1
After the examples given here, we already know what a megalopolis city is : it is not only convenience and opportunities, but also many dangers.
However, the leader among the problems of the big city is, nevertheless, environmental. Working industrial zones, automobile smog inflict a tremendous blow on human health. Residents of the metropolis often have heart attacks, they suffer from allergies, experience nervous breakdowns and other health troubles.
Conclusion
Thus, we examined what a metropolis is. This is the largest form of human settlement in the world, and it has many advantages for a comfortable life, but also a lot of problems. The most important of the latter is the environmental situation, adversely affecting the health of citizens.
We hope you were interested in learning more about the largest human settlements of our time. And despite a significant number of negative factors, I want to believe that, nevertheless, pleasant impressions from megacities of the world will be more vivid and large-scale.