Megacity

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Megacity

A megacity is usually defined as a metropolitan area

Metropolitan area

A metropolitan area is a large population center consisting of a large metropolis and its adjacent zone of influence, or of more than one closely adjoining neighboring central city and their zone of influence....
with a total population

Population

File:Population density.pngIn biology, a population is the collection of inter-breeding organisms of a particular species; in sociology, a collection of human beings....
in excess of 10 million people. Some definitions also set a minimum level for population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans....
(at least 2,000 persons/square km). Megacities can be distinguished from global cities by their rapid growth, new forms of spatial density of population, formal and informal economics, as well as poverty, crime, and high levels of social fragmentation.

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A megacity is usually defined as a metropolitan area

Metropolitan area

Population

Population density

Metropolitan area

Conurbation

A conurbation is an urban area or agglomeration comprising a number of cities, large towns and larger urban areas that, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban and industrially developed area....
and metroplex

Metroplex

A metroplex is large metropolitan area containing several cities and their suburbs. It is also sometimes used as an alternative to metropolis or megalopolis , which is a chain of continuous metropolitan areas....
are also applied to the latter. The terms megapolis and megalopolis
Megalopolis (term)

A megalopolis is defined as an extensive metropolitan area or a long chain of roughly continuous metropolitan areas. The term was first used in the United States by Jean Gottmann in 1957, to describe the huge metropolitan area along the East Coast of the United States of the U.S....
are sometimes used synonymously with megacity. In 1800 only 3% of the world's population

World population

The world population is the total number of living humans on Earth at a given time. As of March 2009, the world's population is estimated to be about 6.76 1,000,000,000 ....
lived in cities. 47% did by the end of the twentieth century. In 1950, there were 83 cities with populations exceeding one million; by 2007, this had risen to 468 agglomerations of more than one million. If the trend continues, the world's urban population

Metropolis

A metropolis , also referred to as a metropolitan, is a big city, in most cases with over half a million inhabitants in the city proper, and with a population of at least one million living in its Agglomeration....
will double every 38 years. The UN forecasts that today's urban population of 3.2 billion will rise to nearly 5 billion by 2030, when three out of five people will live in cities.

The increase will be most dramatic in the poorest and least-urbanised continents, Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
and Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
. Surveys and projections indicate that all urban growth over the next 25 years will be in developing countries. One billion people, one-sixth of the world's population, now live in shanty towns, which are seen as "breeding grounds" for social problems such as crime

Crime

Societies define Crime as the breach of one or more rules or laws for which some Government or force may ultimately prescribe a punishment.The word crime originates from the Latin crimen , from the Latin root cerno and Greek ????? = "I judge"....
, drug addiction

Drug addiction

Drug addiction is widely considered a Pathology. The disorder of addiction involves the progression of acute drug use to the development of drug-seeking behavior, the vulnerability to relapse, and the decreased, slowed ability to respond to naturally rewarding stimuli....
, alcoholism

Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a term with multiple and sometimes conflicting definitions to describe the detrimental effects of alcohol intake.In common and historic usage, alcoholism refers to any condition that results in the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages despite health problems and negative social consequences....
, poverty

Poverty

Poverty is the shortage of common things such as food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water, all of which determine our quality of life. It may also include the lack of access to opportunities such as education and employment which aid the escape from poverty and/or allow one to enjoy the respect of fellow citizens....
and unemployment

Unemployment

File:World map of countries by rate of unemployment.pngUnemployment occurs when a person is available to work and currently seeking work, but the person is without Wage labour....
. In many poor countries overpopulated

Overpopulation

Overpopulation is a condition where an organism's numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. In common parlance, the term usually refers to the relationship between the world population and its environment , the Earth....
slums exhibit high rates of disease due to unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, and lack of basic health care. By 2030, over 2 billion people in the world will be living in slums. Already over 90% of the urban population of Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast....
, Malawi

Malawi

The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast and Mozambique, which surrounds it on the east, south and west....
and Uganda

Uganda

The Republic of Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania....
, three of the world's most rural countries, live in slums.

Global connectedness and local disconnectedness characterize megacities. The level of slums contrasts the global capital building capabilities. This can be viewed as one of the tensions brought about by the globalization of modern cities. In 2000, there were 18 megacities – conurbations such as Tokyo

Tokyo

, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan of Japan and located on the eastern side of the main island Honshu. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the Tokyo City in the eastern part of the prefecture, and total over 8 million people....
, New York City

New York City

Los Ángeles

Los ?ngeles is the Capital of the Biob?o Province, in the municipality of the same name, in Regions of Chile VIII , in the center-south of Chile....
, Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the most important economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country; the most populous city with over 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008....
, Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the Capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southern shore of the R?o de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent....
, Mumbai (then Bombay)

Mumbai

Mumbai— formerly Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The city proper has approximately 14 million people and, along with the neighbouring suburbs of Navi Mumbai and Thane, Mumbai forms the World's largest urban agglomerations according to the United Nations World Urbanization Prospects report with around 19...
, São Paulo

São Paulo

S?o Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, and along with Tokyo, Seoul and Mexico City is among the four largest metropolitan regions of the world....
, Karachi

Karachi

is the largest city, seaport and the International financial centre of Pakistan. It is List of metropolitan areas by population in terms of metropolitan population, and is Pakistan's premier centre of banking, industry, and trade....
that have populations in excess of 10 million inhabitants. Greater Tokyo already has 35 million, which is greater than the entire population of Canada

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
.

By 2025, according to the Far Eastern Economic Review, Asia alone will have at least 10 megacities, including Jakarta, Indonesia

Jakarta

Jakarta is the Capital and largest city of Indonesia. It also has a List of urban areas by population than any other city in Southeast Asia. It was formerly known as Sunda Kelapa , Jayakarta , Batavia, Dutch East Indies , and Djakarta ....
(24.9 million people), Dhaka, Bangladesh

Dhaka

Dhaka ? formerly Dacca and Jahangir Nagar, is the Capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka District. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia....
(26 million), Karachi, Pakistan

Karachi

Shanghai

Shanghai is the List of cities in the People's Republic of China by population in China and one of the List of metropolitan areas by population in the world, with over 20 million people....
(27 million) and Mumbai

Mumbai

Lagos

Lagos is the most populous conurbation in Nigeria with 7,937,932 inhabitants at the 2006 census. It is currently the second most Largest cities in africa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa , immediately following Bamako....
has grown from 300,000 in 1950 to an estimated 15 million today, and the Nigerian government estimates that the city will have expanded to 25 million residents by 2015. Chinese experts forecast that Chinese cities will contain 800 million people by 2020.

Largest cities

City Growth

For almost a thousand years, Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
was the most politically important, richest and largest city in the world. Rome's population passed a million by the end of the 1st century BC. Its population declined to a mere 20,000 during the Early Middle Ages

Early Middle Ages

The Early Middle Ages is a period in the history of Europe following the fall of the Western Roman Empire spanning roughly five centuries from AD 500 to 1000....
, reducing the sprawling city to groups of inhabited buildings interspersed among large areas of ruins and vegetation.

Baghdad

Baghdad

Baghdad is the Capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is also coterminous. With a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq, and the second largest city in the Arab World....
was likely the largest city in the world

Historical urban community sizes

Estimated populations of historical city over time....
from shortly after its foundation in 762 AD until the 930s, when it was tied by Córdoba

Córdoba, Spain

viktor chucchuc he sucsuck my dick||-||-|File:Cordoba Water Wheel.jpg|}Cordova is a city in Andalusia, southern Spain, and the capital of the C?rdoba ....
. Several estimates suggest that the capital of the Islamic Empire contained over a million inhabitants at its peak.

The medieval settlement surrounding Angkor

Angkor

Angkor is a name conventionally applied to the region of Cambodia serving as the seat of the Khmer empire that flourished from approximately the ninth century to the fifteenth century A.D....
, the one-time capital of the Khmer Empire

Khmer Empire

The Khmer Empire was the largest empire of South East Asia based in what is now Cambodia. The empire, which seceded from the kingdom of Chenla, at times ruled over and/or vassalised parts of modern-day Laos, Thailand,Vietnam, Myanmar, and Malaysia....
which flourished between the ninth and 15th centuries, could have supported a population of up to one million people.

In 1950, New York

New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
was the only urban area with a population of over 10 million. Geographers have identified 25 such areas as of October 2005, as compared with 19 megacities in 2004 and only nine in 1985. This increase has happened as the world's population moves towards the high (75–85%) urbanization levels of North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
and Western Europe

Western Europe

Western Europe refers to the countries in the western most half of Europe. This concept has had different meanings, political and cultural as well as geographical issues have influenced the area....
. The 1990 census marked the first time the majority of US citizens lived in cities with over 1 million inhabitants.

In the 2000s, the largest megacity is the Greater Tokyo Area

Greater Tokyo Area

The Greater Tokyo Area is a large metropolitan area in Japan consisting of most of the Prefectures of Japan of Chiba Prefecture, Kanagawa Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture, and Tokyo ....
. The population of this urban agglomeration includes areas such as Yokohama

Yokohama

is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kanto region of the main island of Honshu. It is a major commercial hub of the Greater Tokyo Area....
and Kawasaki

Kawasaki, Kanagawa

is a cities of Japan located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, between 23 special wards and Yokohama. It is the 8th most populated city in Japan and one of the main cities forming the Greater Tokyo Area and Keihin Industrial Area....
, and is estimated to be between 35 and 36 million. This variation in estimates can be accounted for by different definitions of what the area encompasses. While the prefectures of Tokyo

Tokyo

Chiba Prefecture

is a Prefectures of Japan of Japan located in the Greater Tokyo Area. Its capital is Chiba, Chiba....
, Kanagawa

Kanagawa Prefecture

is a prefectures of Japan located in the southern Kanto region of Honshu, Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area....
, and Saitama

Saitama Prefecture

is a Prefectures of Japan of Japan located on the island of Honshu. The capital is the city of Saitama, Saitama.This prefecture is part of the Greater Tokyo Area, and most of Saitama's cities can be described as suburbs of Tokyo, to which floods of residents commute each day....
are commonly included in statistical information, the Japan Statistics Bureau only includes the area within 50 kilometers of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

The , also referred to as Tokyo City Hall or Tocho for short, houses the headquarters of the Politics of Tokyo; this comprises not only the 23 special wards, but also the cities, towns and villages that make up Tokyo as a whole....
in Shinjuku

Shinjuku, Tokyo

is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative center, housing the busiest train station in the world , and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration center for the government of Tokyo....
, thus arriving at a smaller population estimate. A characteristic issue of megacities is the difficulty in defining their outer limits and accurately estimating the population.

The twenty-five largest megacities, according to these criteria are:

Rank	Megacity	Country	Population	Annual Growth
1	Tokyo	Japan Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....	33,800,000	0.60%
2	Seoul Seoul National Capital Area The Seoul National Capital Area is a region located in the north-west of South Korea. It is generally referred to as Sudogwon in Korean, and contains three different administrative districts; Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi-do....	South Korea South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea , ), often referred to as Korea and the "names of Korea#Revival of the names", is a Semi-presidential system republic in East Asia, located in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula....	23,900,000	1.40%
3	Mexico City Greater Mexico City Greater Mexico City refers to the conurbation around Mexico City, officially called Mexico City Metropolitan Area , constituted by the Federal District?itself composed of 16 boroughs of Mexico City?and 41 adjacent municipalities of Mexico of the states of state of Mexico and Hidalgo ....	Mexico Mexico The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....	22,900,000	2.00%
4	Delhi Delhi Delhi , sometimes referred to as Dilli , is the List of most populous cities in India metropolis in India and, with over 11 million residents, the List of metropolitan areas by population....	India India India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....	22,400,000	4.60%
5	Mumbai Mumbai metropolitan area The Mumbai Metropolitan Area/Mumbai Metropolitan Region is a metropolitan area consisting of the metropolis of Mumbai and its satellite towns. Developing over a period of about 20 years, it consists of seven municipal corporations and fifteen smaller municipal councils.... (Bombay)	India India India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....	22,300,000	2.90%
6	New York City New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area or Tri-State Region is the most populous metropolitan area in the United States and is also List of metropolitan areas by population....	USA United States The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...	21,900,000	0.30%
7	São Paulo Greater São Paulo The Greater S?o Paulo is a nonspecific term for the large metropolitan area located in the S?o Paulo States of Brazil in Brazil....	Brazil Brazil Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the List of countries by population country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world....	21,000,000	1.40%
8	Metro Manila Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila or the National Capital Region is the metropolitan area of the city of Manila, the national capital of the Philippines....	Philippines Philippines The Philippines, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....	19,200,000	2.50%
9	Los Angeles Greater Los Angeles Area The Greater Los Angeles Area, or the Southland, is the agglomeration of urbanization area around the county of Los Angeles, California, United States....	USA United States The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...	18,000,000	1.10%
10	Shanghai Shanghai Shanghai is the List of cities in the People's Republic of China by population in China and one of the List of metropolitan areas by population in the world, with over 20 million people....	China China China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....	17,900,000	2.20%
11	Osaka Osaka is a Cities of Japan in Japan, located at the mouth of the Yodo River on Osaka Bay, in the Kansai region of the main island of Honshu.Osaka is a City designated by government ordinance under the Local Autonomy Law and the capital city of Osaka Prefecture....	Japan Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....	16,700,000	0.15%
12	Kolkata Kolkata , Indian renaming controversy , is the Capital of the Indian States and territories of India of West Bengal. It is located in East India on the east bank of the River Hooghly....	India India India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....	16,000,000	2.00%
13	Karachi Karachi is the largest city, seaport and the International financial centre of Pakistan. It is List of metropolitan areas by population in terms of metropolitan population, and is Pakistan's premier centre of banking, industry, and trade....	Pakistan Pakistan Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...	15,700,000	4.90%
14	Guangzhou Guangzhou 'Guangzhou' is the Capital and a sub-provincial city of Guangdong Province of China in the northern and southern China part of the People's Republic of China....	China China China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....	15,300,000	4.00%
15	Jakarta Jakarta Jakarta is the Capital and largest city of Indonesia. It also has a List of urban areas by population than any other city in Southeast Asia. It was formerly known as Sunda Kelapa , Jayakarta , Batavia, Dutch East Indies , and Djakarta ....	Indonesia Indonesia The Republic of Indonesia , is a transcontinental country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Comprising Islands of Indonesia, it is the world's largest Archipelago state....	15,100,000	2.00%
16	Cairo Cairo Cairo , which means "the triumphant", is the Cairo and largest city of Egypt.It is the most populous metropolitan area in Egypt and is also one of the most populous in the world....	Egypt Egypt Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....	14,800,000	2.60%
17	Buenos Aires Buenos Aires Buenos Aires is the Capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southern shore of the R?o de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent....	Argentina Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is a country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city....	13,800,000	1.00%
18	Moscow Moscow Moscow is the capital and the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia of the Russian Federation. It is also the largest European cities and metropolitan areas, with the Moscow metropolitan area ranking among the largest urban areas in the world....	Russia Russia Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....	13,500,000	0.20%
19	Beijing Beijing is a metropolis in northern China and the Capital of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the four municipality of China, which are equivalent to province in China's Political divisions of China....	China China China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....	13,200,000	2.70%
20	Dhaka Dhaka Dhaka ? formerly Dacca and Jahangir Nagar, is the Capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka District. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia....	Bangladesh Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south....	13,100,000	4.10%
21	Istanbul Istanbul Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, List of metropolitan areas in Europe by population, and List of cities proper by population in the world with a population of 12.6 million....	Turkey Turkey Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....	12,500,000	2.80%
21	Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro , is the second largest city of Brazil and South America, behind S?o Paulo, and the third largest metropolitan area in South America, behind S?o Paulo and Buenos Aires....	Brazil Brazil Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the List of countries by population country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world....	12,500,000	1.00%
21	Tehran Tehran Tehran is the capital and largest city of Iran, and the administrative center of Tehran Province. Tehran is a sprawling city at the foot of the Alborz mountain range with an immense network of highways unparalleled in Western Asia....	Iran Iran Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran and formerly known internationally as Persian Empire until 1935, is a country in Central Eurasia, located on the northeastern shore of the Persian Gulf and the southern shore of the Caspian Sea....	12,500,000	2.60%
24	London London London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....	United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....	12,300,000	0.70%
25	Lagos Lagos Lagos is the most populous conurbation in Nigeria with 7,937,932 inhabitants at the 2006 census. It is currently the second most Largest cities in africa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa , immediately following Bamako....	Nigeria Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federation constitutional republic comprising States of Nigeria and one Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria....	11,400,000	3.20%

Source:

Another list defines megacities as urban agglomerations instead of metropolitan areas. As of 2007, there are 22 megacities by this definition.

Emerging Megacities

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, Social change, human rights and achieving world peace....
projections indicate a steady downturn in the emergence of new megacities after 2005. However, the expansion and merging of highly-urbanized zones (megalopolises) may remain an important trend, as typified by the following:

Boston
Boston, Massachusetts

Boston is the State capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region, and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England." Boston city proper had a 2007 est...
–New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
–Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population city in the United States. It is the fifth-largest metropolitan area and fourth-largest urban area by population in the United States, the nation's fourth-largest consumer media market as ranked by the Nielsen Media Research, and the 49th-most...
–Baltimore
Baltimore, Maryland

Baltimore is an independent city and the largest city in the U.S. state of Maryland in the United States. Baltimore is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay....
–Washington
Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the Capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790....
(BosWash
BosWash

BosWash is a group of metropolitan areas in the Northeastern United States United States, extending from Boston, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, to Washington, D.C., including Manchester, New Hampshire; Worcester, Massachusetts; Springfield, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; Bridgeport, Connecticut, Hartford, Connecticut, New Haven, C...
)
Los Angeles
Los Ángeles

Los ?ngeles is the Capital of the Biob?o Province, in the municipality of the same name, in Regions of Chile VIII , in the center-south of Chile....
–San Diego-Tijuana
Tijuana

Tijuana , is the largest city of the Mexican state of Baja California, situated on the United States?Mexico border adjacent to its sister city of San Diego, California....
(Southern California
Southern California

Southern California, or So Cal, is defined as the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population centers on the cities of Los Angeles, California, San Diego, California, San Bernardino, California, and Riverside, California....
and San Diego-Tijuana metropolitan area)
Quebec City
Quebec City

Qu?bec or Quebec, also Quebec City or Qu?bec City , is the Capital of the Canada Provinces and territories of Canada of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region....
-Montreal
Montreal

Montreal, or Montr?al, is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada of Quebec and the List of largest cities and second largest cities by country List of the 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population....
-Ottawa
Ottawa

Ottawa is the Capital of Canada. The city has population of 812,000, the List of the 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population municipality in the country and second largest in Ontario....
-Toronto
Toronto

Toronto is the List of the 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population in Canada and the Provinces and territories of Canada Provincial and territorial capitals of Canada of Ontario....
-Hamilton
Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the James Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe....
-Windsor
Windsor, Ontario

Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and lies at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Windsor is located south of Detroit, Michigan, is separated from that city by the Detroit River, and has views of the Detroit skyline....
(Quebec City-Windsor Corridor
Quebec City-Windsor Corridor

The Quebec City ? Windsor Corridor is the most densely-populated and heavily-industrialised region of Canada. With over 17 million people , it contained 56.8% of the Canadian population and three of the four List of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in Canada in the country in 2001....
)
Madison-Rockford-South Bend-Chicago
Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States, as well as the List of United States cities by population city in the United States with more than 2.8 million residents....
-Milwaukee
Mexico City
Mexico City

Mexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the most important economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country; the most populous city with over 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008....
-Toluca
Toluca

Toluca, formally: Toluca de Lerdo is the States of Mexico capital of Mexico State as well as the seat of the Toluca . It is the center of a rapidly growing urban area, now the fifth largest in Mexico....
-Puebla
Puebla

Puebla is a Political divisions of Mexico located in the center east of the country, to the east of Mexico City.The state of Puebla borders the states of Veracruz to the east, Hidalgo , Mexico State, Tlaxcala, and Morelos to the west, and Guerrero and Oaxaca to the south....
-Pachuca
Pachuca

Pachuca, formally Pachuca de Soto is the capital of the Mexico States of Mexico of Hidalgo . It is located in the south-central part of the state....
(Valley of Mexico
Valley of Mexico

The Valley of Mexico is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with the present-day Mexican Federal District and the eastern half of the M?xico ....
)
Seattle-Portland
Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Northwestern United States United States, near the confluence of the Willamette River and Columbia River rivers in the state of Oregon....
-Vancouver (Cascadia
Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is a region in the northwest of North America . There are several partially overlapping definitions but the term Pacific Northwest should not be confused with the Northwest Territory or the Northwest Territories of Canada....
)
Tokyo
Tokyo

, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan of Japan and located on the eastern side of the main island Honshu. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the Tokyo City in the eastern part of the prefecture, and total over 8 million people....
–Nagoya–Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto
Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto

is a metropolitan region encompassing the metropolitan areas of the cities of Osaka in Osaka prefecture, Kobe in Hyogo Prefecture, and Kyoto in Kyoto prefecture....
(Taiheiyo Belt
Taiheiyo Belt

The also known as Tokaido corridor is the name for the megalopolis in Japan extending from Ibaraki Prefecture in the north all the way to Fukuoka Prefecture in the south, running for almost 1,200 km....
) (82,900,000)
Jakarta
Jakarta

Jakarta is the Capital and largest city of Indonesia. It also has a List of urban areas by population than any other city in Southeast Asia. It was formerly known as Sunda Kelapa , Jayakarta , Batavia, Dutch East Indies , and Djakarta ....
-Bogor
Bogor

Bogor Indonesian: Kota Bogor is a Cities of Indonesia in West Java with a population of approximately 800,000 people in the CBD area and 2,000,000 in suburban area, bringing a total of 3 million population....
-Depok
Depok

Depok is a Cities of Indonesia in West Java province, Indonesia on the western border of DKI Jakarta in the Jabotabek metropolitan region. The "de" in Jabodetabek refers to Depok....
-Tangerang
Tangerang

Tangerang is a city in Banten, Indonesia. It is located about 20 km west of Jakarta. It is the third largest urban center in the Jabotabek region after Jakarta and Bekasi....
-Bekasi
Bekasi

Bekasi Indonesian:Kota Bekasi is a growing suburb in West Java, Indonesia, located on the eastern border of DKI Jakarta in the Jabotabek metropolitan region....
-Cianjur
Cianjur

Cianjur is a city in the West Java province of Indonesia, the capital of Cianjur Regency. Cianjur is located in the middle of the main road between Jakarta and Bandung ....
- The first five commonly referred to as the Jabodetabek area.
Tehran
Tehran

Tehran is the capital and largest city of Iran, and the administrative center of Tehran Province. Tehran is a sprawling city at the foot of the Alborz mountain range with an immense network of highways unparalleled in Western Asia....
-Karaj
Karaj

Karaj is a city in Iran, located in Tehran province. It is situated 20 km west of Tehran, at the foot of the Alborz mountains.Karaj had a population of 1,732,275 in the 2006 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iran after Tehran, Mashhad and Esfahan; however, the city is increasingly becoming an extension of metropolitan Tehran....
-Shahriyar-Varamin
Varamin

Varamin is a city located in the south of Tehran Province, Iran.It has a population of 176,000.Varamin has an extensive history. The raiding of Ray, Iran by the invading Mongols and Timurids, generated a flux of migrations to this area....
Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada, the seat of Clark County, Nevada, and an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and entertainment....
-Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix is the capital and largest city in the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the fifth most populous city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,552,259 residents, and is the anchor of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area with 4,179,427 residents....
-San Diego (11,000,000)
San Jose
San Jose, California

San Jose or San Jos? is the List of cities in California city in California and the List of United States cities by population in the United States....
–San Francisco
San Francisco, California

The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the List of United States cities by population in the United States, with a 2007 estimated population of 799,183....
–Oakland
Oakland, California

Oakland , founded in 1852, is the eighth-largest city in the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Alameda County, California. Oakland is approximately 8 miles east of San Francisco and the cities are separated by San Francisco Bay....
- Sacramento
Sacramento, California

Sacramento is the Capital of the United States U.S. state of California, and the county seat of Sacramento County, California. Located along the Sacramento River and just south of the American River's confluence in California's expansive California Central Valley, it is the seventh-largest city in California.....
Rio
Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro , is the second largest city of Brazil and South America, behind S?o Paulo, and the third largest metropolitan area in South America, behind S?o Paulo and Buenos Aires....
–São Paulo
São Paulo

S?o Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, and along with Tokyo, Seoul and Mexico City is among the four largest metropolitan regions of the world....
–Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte

Belo Horizonte The first Human settlement in the region occurred in the early 1700s, but the city as it is known today was planned and constructed in the 1890s, in order to replace Ouro Preto as the capital of Minas Gerais....
-Campinas
Campinas

Campinas is a city and county located in the interior os state of S?o Paulo , Brazil.The county area is 797,6 km?. Population is approximately 1,059,420 , with over 98% in the urban region....
Cologne
Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants....
-Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf

D?sseldorf is the capital city of the Germany state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is an economic centre of Germany. The city is situated on the River Rhine and has a high population density - the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area has over 10 million inhabitants alone....
-Dortmund
Dortmund

Dortmund is a city in Germany, located in the States of Germany of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 587,830 makes it the largest city in the region, 7th-largest in Germany, and 34th-largest in the European Union....
(Rhine-Ruhr Area
Rhine-Ruhr

The Rhine-Ruhr Area in Germany is one of the largest metropolitan areas in Europe, with about 11,800,000 inhabitants. It lies completely within the federal state North Rhine-Westphalia and spreads from the Dortmund-Essen-Duisburg Megalopolis in the north, to the urban areas of the cities of M?nchengladbach, D?sseldorf , Wuppertal, Cologn...
)

Emerging megacities in China

China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
(in decreasing order of population):

Yangtze River Delta
Yangtze River Delta

The Yangtze River Delta or Yangtze Delta, also called Yangzi, or Chang Jiang Delta, Rive Chang Delta Lake Tai or the Golden Triangle of the Yangtze , generally comprises the triangular-shaped territory of Wu Chinese-speaking Shanghai, southern Jiangsu province and northern Zhejiang province of China....
Metropolitan Area (Shanghai
Shanghai

Shanghai is the List of cities in the People's Republic of China by population in China and one of the List of metropolitan areas by population in the world, with over 20 million people....
-Hangzhou
Hangzhou

is a sub-provincial city located in the Yangtze River Delta in the People's Republic of China, and the capital of Zhejiang Provinces of China....
-Nanjing
Nanjing

is the capital city of China's Jiangsu province of China, and a city with a prominent place in Chinese history and Chinese culture. Nanjing served as the capital of China during several historical periods and is listed as one of the Historical capitals of China....
-Ningbo
Ningbo

Ningbo is a seaport with sub-provincial city. The city has a population of 2,182,000 and is situated in northeastern Zhejiang province of China, People's Republic of China....
-Suzhou
Suzhou

Suzhou is a city on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Lake Taihu in the province of Jiangsu, China. The city is renowned for its beautiful stone bridges, pagodas, and meticulously designed Chinese garden which have contributed to its status as a great tourist attraction....
) (87,430,000)
Pearl River Delta
Pearl River Delta

The Pearl River Delta in southern People's Republic of China is the low-lying areas alongside the Pearl River estuary where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea....
(Hong Kong
Hong Kong

Hong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located in Southern China in East Asia, bordering the province of Guangdong to the north and facing the South China Sea to the east, west and south....
-Shenzhen
Shenzhen

Shenzhen is a city of sub-provincial city administrative status in southern China's Guangdong province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong....
-Zhuhai
Zhuhai

Zhuhai is a prefecture-level city on the southern coast of Guangdong in the People's Republic of China. Located in the Pearl River Delta, Zhuhai borders Jiangmen to the northwest, Zhongshan to the north, and Macau to the south....
-Macau
Macau

The Macau Special Administrative Region, , commonly known as Macau or Macao , is one of the two special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong....
) (50,000,000)
Chongqing
Chongqing

Chongqing is the largest and most populous of the People's Republic of China's four provinces of China-level municipality of China, and the only one in the less densely populated western region of China....
(31,442,300)
Beijing
Beijing

is a metropolis in northern China and the Capital of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the four municipality of China, which are equivalent to province in China's Political divisions of China....
-Tianjin
Tianjin

is the third largest city of the People's Republic of China in terms of urban population. Administratively it is one of the four municipality that have Political divisions of China status, reporting directly to the central government....
corridor (27,350,000)

Emerging megacities in India

India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
(in decreasing order of population):

Lucknow
Lucknow

Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh, the most populous States and territories of India of India. It has a population of 4,875,858. Lucknow is also the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
-Kanpur
Kanpur

Kanpur is the seventh most populous city in India and the most populous within the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, and in terms of area, Kanpur is the fifth largest city in India .It is also known as the Manchester of Asia....
corridor (13,678,000)
Chennai
Chennai

Chennai , formerly Indian renaming controversy , is the fourth largest metropolitan area of India and the capital city of the Indian states and territories of India of Tamil Nadu....
-Bengaluru-Maisuru corridor (25,000,000)
Hyderabad-Secunderabad
Secunderabad

Secunderabad is twinned with the city of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, the latter being the fifth largest metropolis in India and the state capital of Andhra Pradesh....
(10,000,000)
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad is the largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat and one of the List of most populous metropolitan areas in India in India, with a population of approximately 52 lakhs ....
-Gandhinagar
Gandhinagar

Gandhinagar is the capital of Gujarat State, India. It is one of the three planned city of India. Located on the banks of the Sabarmati River, the city is the administrative centre of Gandhinagar District....
corridor (5,900,000)
Pune
Pune

Pune ,Pune is the administrative capital of Pune district and the 7th Metro city of India.Pune is known to have existed as a town since 937 AD....
-Nashik
Nashik

Nashik or Nasik )...
corridor (5,000,000)

Emerging megacities in Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
(in decreasing order of population):

Lahore
Lahore

is the capital of the Pakistani Subdivisions of Pakistan of Punjab and is the List of most populated metropolitan areas in Pakistan city in Pakistan after Karachi....
(6,319,000)
Faisalabad
Faisalabad

is a city located in the Subdivisions of Pakistan of Punjab , Pakistan. It was Geographical renaming Lyallpur. Faisalabad is the List of most populated metropolitan areas in Pakistan city in Pakistan with an estimated 2006 population of 2.6 million ....
(5,646,000)
Multan
Multan

is a city in the Punjab of Pakistan and capital of Multan District. It is located in the southern part of the province. Multan District has a population of over 3.8 million and the city itself is the sixth largest within the boundaries of Pakistan....
(4,789,000)
Sialkot
Sialkot

Sialkot , the capital of Sialkot District, is a city situated in the north-east of the Punjab province in Pakistan at the feet of the snow-covered peaks of Kashmir near the Chenab river....
(3,577,000)
Islamabad
Islamabad

Islamabad is the Capital of Pakistan, and is the tenth largest city in Pakistan. The Rawalpindi/Islamabad List of most populous metropolitan areas in Pakistan is the third largest in Pakistan with a population of over 4.5 million inhabitants, 1.5 million in Islamabad and three million in Rawalpindi....
-Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi

is a city in the Potwar Plateau near Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad, in the Subdivisions of Pakistan of Punjab . The area was home to the pre-historic Soanian culture indigenous to this region....
(3,300,000)

Challenges

The world’s population of “slum” dwellers increases by 25 million every year. The majority of these numbers come from the fringes of urban margins, located in legal and illegal settlements with insufficient housing and sanitation. This has been caused by the massive migration, both internal and transnational, into cities. This has caused growth rates of urban populations and spatial concentrations not seen before in history. These issues raise problems in the political, social, and economic arenas. The record-setting populations living in urban slums have little or no access to education, healthcare, or the urban economy.

Regional uses of Megacity

Canada

In Canada

Canada

Amalgamation (politics)

Joining two or more political units such as Metropolitan municipality, county, or city into one entity is referred to as amalgamation when the process occurs within a sovereign entity....
of several municipal entities in the provinces of Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is a Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada located on Canada's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada....
, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a Provinces and territories of Canada located in the Central Canada part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area....
and Quebec

Quebec

Quebec , in French language, Qu?bec , is a Provinces and territories of Canada in the Central Canada and Eastern Canada regions of Canada....
into larger new municipalities. The process created what was labelled a megacity by the media, although none of the created municipalities fit in the definition of a megacity in the international sense and some of them have fewer than a million inhabitants.

Examples of megacities in Canada include:

Halifax - the cities of Halifax and Dartmouth and surrounding municipalities were merged in 1996 into the Halifax Regional Municipality, often called a "megacity," with a total population under 400,000.
Toronto
Toronto

Toronto is the List of the 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population in Canada and the Provinces and territories of Canada Provincial and territorial capitals of Canada of Ontario....
- In 1998 the municipalities that constituted the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto were merged into a new City of Toronto
Toronto

Toronto is the List of the 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population in Canada and the Provinces and territories of Canada Provincial and territorial capitals of Canada of Ontario....
, currently the largest of the Canadian cities, with a population of 2,503,281 in 2006. The Greater Toronto Area (or GTA) had a population of 5,555,912 in 2006.
Kawartha Lakes, Ontario
Kawartha Lakes, Ontario

Kawartha Lakes is a city in east-central Ontario, Canada. Although designated as a "city", it is a largely rural area. The municipality is named for the Kawartha lakes ....
- the primarily rural Victoria County had its townships, towns and villages merged into a "megacity" in 2000. The area has a population of only 70,000 (several thousand less than nearby city of Peterborough
Peterborough, Ontario

Peterborough is a city on the Otonabee River in central-eastern Ontario, Canada, 125 kilometres northeast of Toronto. The population of the City of Peterborough was 74,898 in the 2006 census, while the census metropolitan area had a population of 116 570....
) yet takes up an area of 3,059.22 km² giving it a density of only a mere 22.6 persons per km².
Ottawa
Ottawa

Ottawa is the Capital of Canada. The city has population of 812,000, the List of the 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population municipality in the country and second largest in Ontario....
- the municipalities that constituted the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton were merged into a new City of Ottawa
Ottawa

Ottawa is the Capital of Canada. The city has population of 812,000, the List of the 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population municipality in the country and second largest in Ontario....
in 2001.
Gatineau
Gatineau

Gatineau is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is situated on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario, and is located within Canada's National Capital Region ....
- five municipalities in southwestern Quebec (Gatineau, Hull, Aylmer, Buckingham, and Masson-Angers) were merged into a new City of Gatineau in 2002.
Montreal
Montreal

Montreal, or Montr?al, is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada of Quebec and the List of largest cities and second largest cities by country List of the 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population....
- on January 1, 2002, all of the municipalities on the island of Montreal were merged into a new City of Montreal
Montreal Merger

Merger and demergerUntil 2001, the island of Montreal was divided into 28 municipalities: the city of Montreal proper, and 27 independent municipalities....
for a short period of time until January 1, 2006, when a partial demerger occurred.
Greater Sudbury - resulted from the merger of the former Regional Municipality of Sudbury in 2001.
Hamilton
Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the James Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe....
- the municipalities that constituted Hamilton-Wentworth merged in a new City of Hamilton
Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the James Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe....
in 2001.

For more information on Ontario "megacities," see the article on the Common Sense Revolution

Common Sense Revolution

The phrase Common Sense Revolution has been used as a political slogan to describe common sense conservative platforms in Australia and the U.S....
.

In fiction

Fictional megacities feature in much dystopia
Dystopia

A dystopia is the vision of a society that is the opposite of utopia. A dystopian society is one in which the conditions of life are suffering, characterized by human misery, poverty, oppression, violence, disease, and/or pollution....
n science fiction
Science fiction

Science fiction is a broad genre of fiction that often involves speculations based on current or future science or technology. Science fiction is found in books, art, television, films, games, theatre, and other media....
, with examples such as the Sprawl
The Sprawl

In William Gibson's fiction, the Sprawl is a colloquial name for the Boston-Atlanta Metropolitan Axis , an urban sprawl environment on a massive scale, and a fictional extension of the real BosWash megalopolis....
, featured in William Gibson's Neuromancer, and Mega-City One
Mega-City One

Mega-City One is a huge fictional city-state covering much of what is now the Eastern United States in the Judge Dredd comic book series. The exact boundaries of the city depend on which artist has drawn the story....
, a megalopolis of over 400 million people across the east coast of the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, features in the Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd

Judge Joe Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British comics science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running ....
comic, serialised in 2000 AD
2000 AD (comic)

2000 AD is a weekly United Kingdom science fiction-oriented comics. As a comics anthology it serialises a number of separate stories each "prog" and was first published by IPC Media in 1977 in comics, the first issue dated February 26....
. Demolition Man
Demolition Man (film)

Demolition Man is a 1993 in film Cinema of the United States dystopian action film directed by Marco Brambilla, and starring Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Sandra Bullock, Nigel Hawthorne and Denis Leary....
(1993) features a megacity called "San Angeles
San Angeles

San Angeles is a fictional futuristic concept of Southern California, United States, typically configured by commentators and films producers to include the areas of Los Angeles to San Diego and sometimes Riverside County....
", formed from the joining of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles

Los ?ngeles is the Capital of the Biob?o Province, in the municipality of the same name, in Regions of Chile VIII , in the center-south of Chile....
, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California

Santa Barbara is a city in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the only such section on the west coast, between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the sea, and having a Mediterranean climate, it is called California's "South Coast", and is also sometimes referred to...
, San Diego, and the surrounding metropolitan regions following a massive earthquake.

Soylent Green
Soylent Green

Soylent Green is a 1973 dystopian science fiction movie depicting a future in which global warming and overpopulation lead to depleted resources on Earth....
(1973) depicted New York City in 2022 with a population of 40 million. The city has a huge food shortage, which leads one company, the manufacturers of the popular food "Soylent Green" to create food out of the deceased, telling customers that it is plankton. It is not said how large the city is, but the main character does make the comment that a wanted criminal is "over the city line in Philadelphia" making the viewer wonder if the city has sprawled that far.

Planet-wide megacities (ecumenopoleis) have been depicted, including Trantor
Trantor

Trantor is a fictional planet in Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series and Isaac Asimov's Galactic Empire Series of science fiction novels.Trantor was first described in the 1940s when the Foundation Series first appeared in print ....
in Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov , was a Russian-born United States author and professor of biochemistry, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books....
's Foundation series of books, Coruscant
Coruscant

Coruscant is a Planet in the Star Wars Star Wars galaxy. It first appeared on screen in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi#Special Edition , but was first mentioned in Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire....
in the Star Wars
Star Wars

Star Wars is an epic film space opera Media franchise initially conceived by George Lucas. The first film in the franchise was simply titled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, but later had the subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope added to distinguish it from its sequels and prequels....
universe, 'City Europe' in David Wingrove's Chung Kuo series of books, Holy Terra and the hive cities of Necromunda
Necromunda

Necromunda is a tabletop skirmish Wargaming produced by Specialist games .In Necromunda, players control rival gangs battling each other in the Underhive, a place of anarchy and violence in the depths below the Hive City....
in Warhammer 40,000
Warhammer 40,000

Warhammer 40,000 is a tabletop Miniature wargaming produced by Games Workshop, set in a science fantasy universe. Warhammer 40,000 was created by Rick Priestley in 1987 as the futuristic companion to Warhammer Fantasy Battle, sharing many game mechanics....
, and Ravnica
Ravnica

In the card game Magic: The Gathering, Ravnica is the fictional setting for the sets Ravnica: City of Guilds, Guildpact, and Dissension .Ravnica is a large plane covered by a continuous, sprawling Ecumenopolis....
in the eponymous Magic: The Gathering
Magic: The Gathering

Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game created by mathematics professor Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast....
expansion. In Stargate Atlantis
Stargate Atlantis

Stargate Atlantis is an United States-Canada science fiction television program, part of the Stargate owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Developed by producers Brad Wright and Robert C....
, the Asurans appear to have an extremely large city that may or may not be an ecumenopolis
Ecumenopolis

Ecumenopolis is a word invented in 1967 by the Greece city planner Constantinos Doxiadis to represent the idea that in the future urban areas and Megalopolis would eventually fuse and there would be a single continuous worldwide city as a progression from the current urbanization and population growth trends....
, named Asuras.

Many of these fictional depictions were inspired by Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang

Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-Germany-United States filmmaker, screenwriter and occasional film producer. One of the best known ?migr?s from Germany's school of German Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute....
's 1927 film, Metropolis. Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott

Sir Ridley Scott is a United Kingdom Academy Award nominated and Golden Globe Award, Emmy Award and British Academy of Film and Television Arts winning film director and film producer known for his stylish visuals and an obsession for detail....
's 1982 film, Blade Runner
Blade Runner

Blade Runner is a 1982 in film Cinema of the United States science fiction film, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young....
, features an influential depiction of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles

Los ?ngeles is the Capital of the Biob?o Province, in the municipality of the same name, in Regions of Chile VIII , in the center-south of Chile....
in 2019. The MMORPG game "Guild Wars
Guild Wars

Guild Wars is an episodic game series of multiplayer game online role-playing games developed by ArenaNet and published by NCsoft. Three stand-alone episodes and one expansion pack were released in the series from April 2005 to August 2007....
" has a massive, fictional megacity on its southern continent, Cantha, called Kaineng City which is very run down, corrupted, and in colossal slums and poverty. The city is a daily struggle for survival infested with crime, plagues, starvation, and a massive sewer system called the "undercity".

Another MMORPG game City of Heroes
City of Heroes

City of Heroes is a MMORPG based on the superhero comic book genre, developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCsoft. The game was launched in North America on April 28, 2004 and in Europe on 4 February 2005 with English language, German language and French language servers....
is set in the fictional megacity known as Paragon City, which contains two other cities: Galaxy City and Skyway City. In the two novels based on the game as well as the official timeline for the game, Paragon City has existed at least as far back as the early to mid-1800s. Paragon is depicted as being one of if not the single largest city on Earth in its world setting. The sprawling metropolis featured in The Matrix
The Matrix

The Matrix is a science fiction film-action film written and directed by Wachowski brothers and starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving....
series of films can be considered a megacity. While the city is never referenced by name in the films, in the MMORPG The Matrix Online
The Matrix Online

'The Matrix Online' is a massively multiplayer online game developed by Monolith Productions. It is an official continuation of the The Matrix ....
, the city itself is simply called the Mega City
Mega City (The Matrix)

Mega City is an enormous virtual megacity in which the inhabitants of the Matrix live their lives in the Matrix series. The City is a conglomeration of many cities, fused into one large city with a gigantic downtown and an impressive skyline....
. The city is based on Sydney, Chicago
Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States, as well as the List of United States cities by population city in the United States with more than 2.8 million residents....
, and Oakland, California
Oakland, California

Oakland , founded in 1852, is the eighth-largest city in the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Alameda County, California. Oakland is approximately 8 miles east of San Francisco and the cities are separated by San Francisco Bay....
.

The Fifth Element
The Fifth Element

The Fifth Element is a 1997 in film science fantasy, Action film-comedy film, techno thriller film directed by Luc Besson, starring Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Milla Jovovich, Ian Holm, and Chris Tucker....
has a parody of New York City set in 2263 which is completely built up with depleted water levels the city is transformed into a much bigger metropolis than it is today. Buildings are so high that people use flying cars to get around and the ground level of the Earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
is obscured by cloud cover.

External links

by Mariana van Zeller on Current TV
Current TV

Current TV is an Emmy award winning independent business Mass media company led by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and businessman Joel Hyatt....
Nov. 2007
from radicalcartography.net
report on "Engineering the Megacity"

Megacity

Largest cities

City Growth

Emerging Megacities

Challenges

Regional uses of Megacity

Canada

In fiction

See also

External links