Urban area

Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs.

Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural areas to urban areas, the gradual increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas, and the ways in which each society adapts to this change.

Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. The largest conurbation is the Rhine-Ruhr region (11 million ), including Düsseldorf (the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia), Cologne, Bonn, Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg, and Bochum. The Randstad is the country's largest conurbation located in the west of the country and contains the four largest cities: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht.

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

Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs.

A suburb is a mixed-use or residential area, existing either as part of a city or urban area or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city.

An urban area or urban agglomeration, is a human settlement with high population density and infrastructure of built environment.

The complexity of a settlement can range from a small number of dwellings grouped together to the largest of cities with surrounding urbanized areas.

The creation of early predecessors of urban areas during the urban revolution led to the creation of human civilization with modern urban planning, which along with other human activities such as exploitation of natural resources leads to human impact on the environment.

A civilization or civilisation (see [[American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization)|English spelling differences]]) is any complex society characterized by urban development, social stratification imposed by a cultural elite, symbolic systems of communication (for example, writing systems), and a perceived separation from and domination over the natural environment.

In urbanism, the term contrasts to rural areas such as villages and hamlets and in urban sociology or urban anthropology it contrasts with natural environment.

The Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines the word rural as encompassing "...all population, housing, and territory not included within an urban area. Whatever is not urban is considered rural."

In urbanism, the term contrasts to rural areas such as villages and hamlets and in urban sociology or urban anthropology it contrasts with natural environment.

It is a normative discipline of sociology seeking to study the structures, environmental processes, changes and problems of an urban area and by doing so provide inputs for urban planning and policy making.

Urban areas are measured for various purposes, including analyzing population density and urban sprawl.

Urban sprawl or suburban sprawl mainly refers to the unrestricted growth in many urban areas of housing, commercial development, and roads over large expanses of land, with little concern for urban planning.

In urbanism, the term contrasts to rural areas such as villages and hamlets and in urban sociology or urban anthropology it contrasts with natural environment.

Urban anthropology is a subset of anthropology concerned with issues of urbanization, poverty, urban space, social relations, and neoliberalism.

In urbanism, the term contrasts to rural areas such as villages and hamlets and in urban sociology or urban anthropology it contrasts with natural environment.

Most rural areas in Pakistan tend to be near cities, and are peri-urban areas, This is due to the definition of a rural area in Pakistan being an area that does not come within an urban boundary.

Unlike an urban area, a metropolitan area includes not only the urban area, but also satellite cities plus intervening rural land that is socio-economically connected to the urban core city, typically by employment ties through commuting, with the urban core city being the primary labor market.

A metropolitan area is a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing.

The creation of early predecessors of urban areas during the urban revolution led to the creation of human civilization with modern urban planning, which along with other human activities such as exploitation of natural resources leads to human impact on the environment.

Urban planning is a technical and political process concerned with the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportation, communications, and distribution networks.

About 3 million people live in Buenos Aires City and the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area totals around 15 million, making it one of the largest urban areas in the world, with a population of 18 million all up.

Greater Buenos Aires (Gran Buenos Aires, GBA), Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area or Buenos Aires Metropolitan Region refers to the urban agglomeration comprising the autonomous city of Buenos Aires and the adjacent 24 partidos (districts) in the Province of Buenos Aires.

In urbanism, the term contrasts to rural areas such as villages and hamlets and in urban sociology or urban anthropology it contrasts with natural environment.

Many architects, planners, geographers, and sociologists investigate the way people live in densely populated urban areas.

Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs.

For formal purposes, urban areas having at least 200 inhabitants are counted as "by".

An urban area or urban agglomeration, is a human settlement with high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are measured for various purposes, including analyzing population density and urban sprawl.

City population and especially area are, however, heavily dependent on the definition of "urban area" used: densities are almost invariably higher for the central city area than when suburban settlements and the intervening rural areas are included, as in the areas of agglomeration or metropolitan area, the latter sometimes including neighboring cities.

There are also non-capital metropolitan areas in the states of São Paulo (Campinas, Santos and the Paraíba Valley), Minas Gerais (Steel Valley), Rio Grande do Sul (Sinos Valley) and Santa Catarina (Itajaí Valley).

The Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs at that time predicted the urban population would grow to 6.4 billion by 2050, with 37% of that growth to come from three countries: China, India and Nigeria.

Lagos is the largest city in Africa, with a population of over 12 million in its urban area.

The largest cities in France, in terms of urban area population (2013), are Paris (12,405,426), Lyon (2,237,676), Marseille (1,734,277), Toulouse (1,291,517), Bordeaux (1,178,335), Lille (1,175,828), Nice (1,004,826), Nantes (908,815), Strasbourg (773,447) and Rennes (700,675).

Lille is the first city of the Métropole Européenne de Lille with a population of 1,182,127, making it the fourth largest urban area in France after Paris, Lyon and Marseille.

In France, an urban area (Fr: aire urbaine) is a zone encompassing an area of built-up growth (called an "urban unit" (unité urbaine) – close in definition to the North American urban area) and its commuter belt (couronne).

Other comparable units in other countries are the United States "Urbanized Area" and the "urban area" definition shared by the United Kingdom and Canada.

The largest conurbation is the Rhine-Ruhr region (11 million ), including Düsseldorf (the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia), Cologne, Bonn, Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg, and Bochum.

Essen is located in the centre of the Ruhr area, one of the largest urban areas in Europe (see also: megalopolis), comprising eleven independent cities and four districts with some 5.3 million inhabitants.

European countries define urbanized areas on the basis of urban-type land use, not allowing any gaps of typically more than 200 m, and use satellite imagery instead of census blocks to determine the boundaries of the urban area.

The Randstad is the country's largest conurbation located in the west of the country and contains the four largest cities: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht.

Having a population of 7.1 million, the Randstad is the sixth-largest urban area in Europe (after Moscow, London, Paris, Istanbul, and the Rhein-Ruhr Area).

The largest conurbation is the Rhine-Ruhr region (11 million ), including Düsseldorf (the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia), Cologne, Bonn, Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg, and Bochum.

Dortmund is an independent city located in the east of the Ruhr area, one of the largest urban areas in Europe (see also: megalopolis), comprising eleven independent cities and four districts with some 5.3million inhabitants.

However, the greater urban area is the 5th largest in the world with a population of 20,654,307 people (2010 estimate).

This is a list of contiguous urban areas of the world ranked according to population.