The Bucharest Metropolitan Area (Romanian: ''Zona Metropolitană București'') is a

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...

project formally established since 2016 that includes

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, the capital city of

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, and surrounding

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, relig ...

. If completed, it would have a population of about 2.3 million, only slightly larger than that of the

city proper A city proper is the geographical area contained within city limits. The term ''proper'' is not exclusive to cities; it can describe the geographical area within the boundaries of any given locality. The United Nations defines the term as "the si ...

(1.9 million). It would also be a member of the METREX network. According to

Eurostat Eurostat ('European Statistical Office'; DG ESTAT) is a Directorate-General of the European Commission located in the Kirchberg, Luxembourg, Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Eurostat's main responsibilities are to provide statis ...

, Bucharest has a

functional urban area The larger urban zone (LUZ), or functional urban area (FUA), is a measure of the population and expanse of metropolitan and surrounding areas which may or may not be exclusively urban. It consists of a city and its commuting zone outside it. Th ...

of 2,412,530 residents ().

History

The "Metropolitan Area" project has been initiated in 2003. A survey in 2008 showed that about 70% of the population of the area favors the project.
The city proper has now 228 km², but the metropolitan zone would reach 1,800 km² in a first phase. A possible name for it will probably be "Greater Bucharest".
In an initial stage, the zone would include Bucharest and Ilfov County. Then, there are several plans to further increase the "Metropolitan Area of Bucharest" to about 20 times the area of the

(from 228 km² to 5,046 km²). It would include 6 cities and 87 communes from the

Ilfov Ilfov () is the county that surrounds Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It used to be largely rural, but, after the fall of Communism, many of the county's villages and communes developed into high-income commuter towns, which act like subur ...

, Giurgiu and

Călărași Călărași (), the capital of Călărași County in the Muntenia region, is situated in south-east Romania, on the banks of the Danube's Borcea branch, at about from the Bulgarian border and from Bucharest. The city is an industrial centre f ...

counties, and would extend all the way towards the border with

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

in the south, and towards the Prahova County in the north. In an intermediate stage, the extension of the zone would include 62 out of the proposed 93 candidate localities. The "Bucharest Metropolitan Area" may become the biggest port on the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

upon completion of the

Danube–Bucharest Canal The Danube–Bucharest Canal is a long canal project that is planned to link Bucharest, Romania to the Danube via the Argeș River, and ultimately create direct access to the Black Sea via the existing Danube–Black Sea Canal. The earliest pl ...

. The enlarged "Metropolitan Area" Council will have 105 councilors, twice as many are now, and the Government will appoint a governor, a position which would be homologized to the prefect of Bucharest.

Subdivisions

References

External links

springerlink.com
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*
"Official site of Metropolitan Zone of Bucharest Project"

9am.ro

The Bucharest Metropolitan Area
( PDF) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bucharest Metropolitan Area

Metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...

Metropolitan areas of Romania