Conurbation

A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most cases, a conurbation is a polycentric urbanised area in which transportation has developed to link areas. They create a single urban labour market or travel to work area.

Patrick Geddes coined the term in his book ''Cities In Evolution'' (1915). He drew attention to the ability of the new technology at the time of electric power and motorised transport to allow cities to spread and agglomerate together, and gave as examples " Midlandton" in England, the Ruhr in Germany, Randstad in the Netherlands, and the Northeastern Seaboard in the United States.

The term as described is used in Britain whereas in the United States, each polycentric "metropolitan area" may have its own common designation such as San Francisco Bay Area or the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Internationally the term " urban agglomeration" is often used to convey a similar meaning to "conurbation". A conurbation should also be contrasted with a megalopolis. In a megalopolis the urban areas are close but not physically contiguous, and the merging of labour markets has not yet developed.

Africa

Mauritius

The cities and towns of Port Louis, Beau Bassin-Rose Hill, Curepipe, Quatre Bornes, Vacoas-Phoenix and other urbanized villages form a large and central conurbation on the island of Mauritius. A large part of this conurbation is located in the district of Plaines Wilhems. The network of urban areas has a total population of 606,650 (49% of the island's population) as of 2011.

Morocco

Rabat-Salé-Kénitra

Nigeria

Lagos is a conurbation formed through the merged development of the initial Lagos city area with other cities and towns including Ikeja and Ojo. Also various suburban communities such as Agege, Alimosho, Ifako-Ijaiye, Kosofe, Mushin, Oshodi and Shomolu are included in the area.

South Africa

Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni (East Rand), and Tshwane (greater Pretoria) merged to form a region that has a population of 14.6 million.

Oceania

Australia

Albury-Wodonga

Albury and Wodonga are cross border cities which are geographically separated by the Murray River. Albury on the north of the river is part of New South Wales, while Wodonga on the south bank is in Victoria. In the early 1970s Albury-Wodonga was selected as the primary focus of the Whitlam Government's scheme to arrest the uncontrolled growth of Australia's large metropolitan areas (in particular Sydney and Melbourne) by encouraging decentralisation. The two cities combine to form an urban area with an estimated population of 93,603. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018.

Canberra-Queanbeyan

A cross border built-up area comprising the nation's capital Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory and the city of Queanbeyan in New South Wales, which is considered by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to have a single labour market.

Newcastle, Sydney, Wollongong

This conurbation in New South Wales extends from Newcastle and surrounding satellite towns of the Hunter Valley through the Central Coast. It is broken up only by waterways and national parks, through to the greater Sydney metropolitan area and the Wollongong urban area. The total length from the top to the bottom of the conurbation is around 270km with a population of just over 6 million people.Australia’s tale of two nations needs a united front
by Bernard Salt from The Australian. Retrieved 28 November 2020

Transport is linked throughout the region by motorways, the M1, M2, M4, M5, M7, M8, M15 and M31. An extensive public transport network allows for commuting for work or services across and between multiple distinct but joined centres, with NSW TrainLink's intercity network serving Sydney, the Central Coast, Newcastle, the Hunter Valley, and the Illawarra.

Plans for making Wollongong, Sydney and Newcastle a single city have been around since the 1960s. A report titled ''The Committee for Sydney'' contains a chapter called ''The Sandstone Mega-Region, Uniting Newcastle, the Central Coast, Sydney, Wollongong'' (since all of the cities are in a geological region called the Sydney Basin, which is made up of Sydney sandstone). The report says that the link would benefit the “six cities” within the region, which are: Illawarra and Wollongong, the Western City (Greater Western Sydney), the Central City ( Parramatta), the Eastern City (Sydney central business district, eastern suburbs, and Northern Sydney), the Central Coast (Gosford) and Newcastle (including Lake Macquarie).

Greater Perth

The Perth Metropolitan Region, City of Mandurah, and Pinjarra form a continuous urban area in Western Australia more than 130 km (80 miles) long, on a north–south axis. It is sometimes known as "Greater Perth" and has a population of more than 2.05 million (2015). Introduction of the Mandurah line in 2007 made it possible for commuters to travel the 70 km (43.5 mi) from Mandurah station to Perth station in 51 minutes.

South East Queensland

A built-up area 200 kilometres long which is centred on Brisbane, includes the local government areas (LGAs) of Gold Coast, Ipswich, Logan City, Moreton Bay, Redland City, Sunshine Coast, Noosa Shire, and Tweed Heads, New South Wales. This area is served by a single public transport network, Translink.

Broader definitions of South East Queensland are also used, including the separate built-up area of Toowoomba (140 kilometres; 87 miles west of Brisbane), which is not part of the Translink network. Expansive definitions of South East Queensland give it a population of more than 3.4 million people (2014), ERP at 30 June 2014. covers 22,420 square kilometres (8,660 sq mi), incorporates ten LGAs, and extends 240 kilometres (150 mi) from Noosa in the north to the Gold Coast (some sources include Tweed Heads).

New Zealand

In 2010 Auckland became a unitary authority encompassing seven former city and district councils including Auckland City, Manukau City, North Shore City and Waitakere City as well as a number of smaller towns, rural area and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf. Auckland Council is the largest council in Australasia and the region has a population of 1,529,300, being almost 33% of the total population of New Zealand. The entire urban area rather than the constituent administrative city was often referred to as “Auckland” by New Zealanders long before formal recognition.

The Wellington Metropolitan Area compromises the four cities of Wellington City, Porirua and the cities of Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt, together known as Hutt Valley. The Wellington Metropolitan Area is the second largest urban population in New Zealand with a population of 409,200.

North America

Canada

Golden Horseshoe (Ontario)

The " Golden Horseshoe" is a densely populated and industrialized region centred on the west end of Lake Ontario in Southern Ontario, Canada. The largest cities in the region are Toronto, Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Brampton, and Hamilton. If metropolitan areas (which are somewhat distinct from the core urban area of the Golden Horseshoe by about 30 to 50 km of less developed and semi-rural land) are included (similar to Combined Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the United States as defined by United States Office of Management and Budget), the total population is 8.8 million people. This is slightly over a quarter (25.6%) of the population of Canada, approximately 75% of Ontario's population, and one of the largest metropolitan areas in North America.

The larger area is named the Greater Golden Horseshoe and includes the metropolitan areas of Kitchener (including adjacent cities it is often referred to as Waterloo Region), Barrie, Guelph, Peterborough, and Brantford. The Greater Golden Horseshoe is also part of the Windsor-Quebec Corridor and its southeastern boundary is across the Niagara River from the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area in the United States.

Greater Montreal (Quebec)

Greater Montreal is Canada's second-largest conurbation. Statistics Canada defines the Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) as having and a population of 3,824,221 as of 2011, which represents almost half of the population of the province of Quebec. Slightly smaller, there are 82 municipalities grouped under th
Montreal Metropolitan Community
to coordinate issues such as land planning, transportation, and economic development.

Lower Mainland (British Columbia)

British Columbia's Lower Mainland is the most populated area in Western Canada. It consists of many mid-sized contiguous urban areas, including Vancouver, North Vancouver (city and district municipality), West Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster, Richmond, Surrey, and Coquitlam, among others. The Lower Mainland population is around 2.5 million (as of 2011) and the area has one of the highest growth rates on the continent of up to 9.2 percent from the 2006 census.

National Capital Region (Ontario and Quebec)

The National Capital Region (NCR) is made up of the capital, Ottawa, and neighbouring Gatineau which is located across the Ottawa River. As Ottawa is in Ontario and Gatineau is in Quebec, it is a unique conurbation. Federal government buildings are located in both cities and many workers live in one city and work in the other. The National Capital Region consists of an area of 5,319 square kilometres that straddles the boundary between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The area of the National Capital Region is very similar to that of the Ottawa-Gatineau Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) although the National Capital Region contains a number of small neighbouring communities that are not contained within the CMA. When all the communities are included, the population of the area is about 1,500,000. Ottawa-Gatineau is the only CMA in the nation to fall within two provinces.

Mexico

Mexico City (CDMX)

The " CDMX" is the most densely populated center in North America. Greater Mexico City refers to the conurbation around Mexico City, officially called Valley of Mexico Metropolitan Area (Zona Metropolitana del Valle de México), constituted by Mexico City itself composed of 16 Municipalities—and 41 adjacent municipalities of the states of Mexico and Hidalgo. However for normative purposes, Greater Mexico City most commonly refers to the Metropolitan Area of the Valley of Mexico (Zona Metropolitana del Valle de México) an agglomeration that incorporates 18 additional municipalities. As of 2019 an estimated 27,782,000 people lived in Greater Mexico City, making it the largest metropolitan area in North America. It is surrounded by thin strips of highlands which separate it from other adjacent metropolitan areas, of which the biggest are Puebla, Toluca, and Cuernavaca-Cuautla, and together with which it makes up the Mexico City megalopolis.

Guadalajara Metropolitan Area ( Zona Metropolitana de Guadalajara)

The Guadalajara conurbation in the state of Jalisco (colloquially known as the City of Guadalajara, as that is the state capital and most populous of the cities) comprises seven municipalities: Guadalajara, Zapopan, Tlaquepaque, Tonalá, El Salto, Zapotlanejo, and Tlajomulco de Zúñiga. Officially two other cities ( Juanacatlán and Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos) are also considered part of the Metropolitan Area, though they are not contiguous with the other seven. The area had an estimated population of 4 500 000 in 2010, spread over a combined area of .

United States

Puerto Rico

The Caribbean area has a conurbation in Puerto Rico consisting of San Juan, Bayamón, Guaynabo, Carolina, Canóvanas, Trujillo Alto, Toa Alta, Toa Baja, Cataño, and Caguas. This area is colloquially known as the " Área Metropolitana", and houses around 1.4 million inhabitants spread over an area of approximately 396.61 square kilometers (153.13 sq mi), making it the largest city in the Caribbean by area.

New York Tri-state area

One example of a conurbation is the expansive concept of the New York metropolitan area (the Tri-state region) centered on New York City, including 30 counties spread among New York State, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, with an estimated population of 21,961,994 in 2007. Approximately one-fifteenth of all U.S. residents live in the Greater New York City area, the world's most brightly illuminated urban conurbation and largest urban landmass. This conurbation is the result of several central cities whose urban areas have merged.

Greater Boston Area

Holding a population of 7,427,336 as of 2005, the Combined Statistical Area including Greater Boston consists of Boston proper and a collection of distinct but intertwined cities including Providence, Rhode Island, Worcester, Massachusetts, and Manchester, New Hampshire. Most importantly, the cities that compose the Greater Boston CSA are interlinked by heavy public transportation infrastructure, maintain continuously urban interstices, and hold mutual commuting patterns.

San Francisco Bay Area

Another conurbation is the combination of the metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose and several minor urban centers with a combined population of nearly 8 million people, known as the San Francisco Bay Area.

Greater Los Angeles Area

The Greater Los Angeles Area consists of the merging of several distinct central cities and counties, including Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura. This area is also often referred to simply as Southern California or colloquially as SoCal (a larger region which includes San Diego). In 2016, Southern California had a population of 23,800,500, making it slightly larger than the New York Tri-State Area, and is projected to remain so due to a faster growth rate. But because Southern California is not yet a recognized Combined Statistical Area by the United States Office of Management and Budget, the New York Tri-State Area officially remains the nation's largest as of now.

Greater Houston area

An example of a conurbation is seen in Greater Houston. Centered in Houston, the area is continuously urbanized from the coastal areas of Galveston extending through the northern side of the metro area, including The Woodlands, Conroe, and Spring, and going up to Huntsville. The suburbs of Fort Bend County, Texas extend through the cities of the Galveston Bay Area and beyond. It has a population of 7,197,883.

Baltimore–Washington Area

The traditionally separate metropolitan areas of Baltimore and Washington, D.C. have shared suburbs and a continuous urbanization between the two central cities ( Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area).

San Diego–Tijuana

The largest conurbation between the United States and Mexico is San Diego–Tijuana. It includes the two countries' busiest border crossing and a shared economy.

Dallas–Fort Worth

Three large cities—Dallas, Fort Worth, and Arlington—make up this area. Each city is linked by bordering city limits or suburbs. The area is also known as the Dallas–Fort Worth “metroplex”, so called because it has more than one principal anchor city of nearly equal size or importance, and is included in the emerging megalopolis known as the Texas Triangle. According to '' Texas Monthly'', the term is a portmanteau

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