An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities A city is a relatively large and permanent urban settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law, towns A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while many British "small towns& or conurbations 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 and industrially developed area. In most cases, a conurbation is a polycentric urban agglomeration, in which transportation has developed to link areas to, but the term is not commonly extended to rural Rural areas are large and isolated areas of an open country , often with low population density. The terms "countryside" and "rural areas" are not synonyms: a "countryside" refers to rural areas that are open. A forest, wetlands, etc. with a low population density is not a countryside settlements such as villages A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousands , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New York City and the Saifi Village in Beirut, Lebanon, and hamlets A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. The name comes from Anglo-Norman hamelete; Old North French hamelet, the diminutive of Old North French hamel, another diminutive of Old North French ham of Germanic origin, cognate with Dutch.

Urban areas are created and further developed by the process of urbanization Urbanization is the physical growth of urban areas as a result of global change. Urbanization is also defined by the United Nations as movement of people from rural to urban areas with population growth equating to urban migration. The United Nations projected that half of the world's population would live in urban areas at the end of 2008. Measuring the extent of an urban area helps in analyzing 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. It is a key geographic term and urban sprawl Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density, auto-dependent development on rural land, with associated design features that encourage car dependency. As a result, some critics argue that sprawl has certain disadvantages,, and in determining urban and rural populations (Cubillas 2007).

Unlike an urban area, a 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 cities and their zone of influence. One or more large cities may serve as its hub or hubs, and the metropolitan area is normally named after either the largest or most includes not only the urban area, but also satellite A satellite town or satellite city is a concept in urban planning that refers essentially to smaller metropolitan areas which are located somewhat near to, but are mostly independent of, larger metropolitan areas cities plus intervening rural Rural areas are large and isolated areas of an open country , often with low population density. The terms "countryside" and "rural areas" are not synonyms: a "countryside" refers to rural areas that are open. A forest, wetlands, etc. with a low population density is not a countryside land that is socio-economically connected to the urban core city, typically by employment Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as: "A person in the service of another under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, where the employer has the power or right to control and direct the employee in the material details of how ties through commuting Commuting is regular travel between one's place of residence and place of work or full time study. Institutions that have few dormitories or near-campus student housing are called commuter schools in the United States, with the urban core city being the primary labor market. In fact, urbanized areas agglomerate and grow as the core population/economic activity center within a larger metropolitan area or envelope.

Metropolitan areas tend to be defined using counties or county sized political units as building blocks. Counties tend to be stable political boundaries; economists prefer to work with economic and social statistics based on metropolitan areas. Urbanized areas are a more relevant statistic for determining per capita land usage and densities (Dumlao & Felizmenio 1976).

Definitions

They vary somewhat amongst different nations. European Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus region (Specification of borders) and the Black Sea to the southeast. Europe is bordered by the countries define urbanized areas on the basis of urban-type land use Land use is the human modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as fields, pastures, and settlements. The major effect of land use on land cover since 1750 has been deforestation of temperate regions. More recent significant effects of land use include urban sprawl, soil erosion, soil degradation, salinization,, not allowing any gaps of typically more than 200 meters, and use satellite photos instead of census blocks to determine the boundaries of the urban area. In less developed countries, in addition to land use and density requirements, a requirement that a large majority of the population, typically 75%, is not engaged in agriculture and/or fishing is sometimes used.

Australia

In Australia, urban areas are referred to as "urban centres" and are defined as population clusters of 1000 or more people, with a density of 200 or more persons per square kilometre.^[1]

Canada

In Canada The land occupied by Canada was inhabited for millennia by various groups of Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French expeditions explored, and later settled, along the Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. In 1867, with the union of three, an urban area is an area that has more than 400 people per square kilometre and has more than 1,000 people. If two or more urban areas are within two kilometres of each other, they are merged into a single urban area. The boundaries of an urban area are not influenced by municipal or even provincial boundaries.^[2]

China

In China, an urban area is an urban district, city and town with a population density higher than 1,500 persons per square kilometre. As for urban districts with a population density lower than 1,500 persons per square kilometre, only the population that lives in streets, town sites, and adjacent villages is counted as urban population. ^[3]

France

In France France (pronounced /ˈfrænts/ frantss or /ˈfrɑːnts/ frahnts; French pronunciation (help·info): [fʁɑ̃s]), officially the French Republic (French: République française, pronounced: [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a state in Western Europe with several of its overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian,, an urban area is a zone (aire urbaine The aire urbaine is a statistical region created by the INSEE (National statistics bureau of France) that is comprised by a commuter belt (couronne périurbaine) surrounding a contiguous urban core (pôle urbain). As defined, it is similar (though not identical) to the more general term, "metropolitan area", used in English) encompassing an area of built-up growth (called an "urban unit" (unité urbaine In France an unité urbaine is a statistical area defined by INSEE, the French national statistics office, for the measurement of contiguously built-up areas. According to the INSEE definition , an "unité urbaine" is a commune alone or a grouping of communes which: a) form a single unbroken spread of urban development, with no distance)^[4] - close in definition to the North American urban area) and its commuter belt (couronne périurbaine A couronne périurbaine, a statistical area devised by the French INSEE demographic statistics institution, describes a commuter belt area around an area of dense habitation). Although the official INSEE INSEE is the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies. It collects and publishes information on the French economy and society, carrying out the periodic national census. Located in Paris, it is the French branch of Eurostat, European Statistical System. The INSEE was created in 1946 as a successor to the National Statistics translation of aire urbaine The aire urbaine is a statistical region created by the INSEE (National statistics bureau of France) that is comprised by a commuter belt (couronne périurbaine) surrounding a contiguous urban core (pôle urbain). As defined, it is similar (though not identical) to the more general term, "metropolitan area", used in English is "urban area",^[5] most North Americans would find the same as being similar in definition to their 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 cities and their zone of influence. One or more large cities may serve as its hub or hubs, and the metropolitan area is normally named after either the largest or most.

Japan

In Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, 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. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is urbanized areas are defined as contiguous areas of densely inhabited districts (DIDs) using census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses include agriculture, business, and traffic. In enumeration districts as units with a density requirement of 4,000 inhabitants per square kilometre (10,000 /sq mi).

New Zealand

Statistics New Zealand Statistics New Zealand is the national statistical office of New Zealand defines New Zealand urban areas Statistics New Zealand defines New Zealand urban areas for statistical purposes. The urban areas comprise cities, towns and other 'conurbations' of a thousand people or more. In combination, the urban areas of the country constitute New Zealand's urban population. At the 2001 census, the urban population made up 86% of New Zealand's total for statistical purposes as a settlement with a population of a thousand people or more.

Norway

Statistics Norway As the central Norwegian office for official government statistics, Statistics Norway provides the government with extensive research and analysis activities. It is administratively placed under the Ministry of Finance and has a board appointed by the government. It relies extensively on data from the various cities and municipalities defines urban areas ("tettsteder") similarly to the other Nordic countries. Unlike in Denmark and Sweden, the distance between each building has to be of less than 50 meters, although exceptions are made due to parks, industrial areas, rivers, and similar. Groups of houses less than 400 metres from the main body of an urban area are included in the urban area.^[6]

Poland

In Poland Poland /ˈpəʊlənd/ (Polish: Polska), officially the Republic of Poland (Rzeczpospolita Polska), is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north. The total area of, official "urban" population figures simply refer to those localities which have the status of towns (miasta). The "rural" population is that of all areas outside the boundaries of these towns. This distinction may give a misleading impression in some cases, since some localities with only village status may have acquired larger and denser populations than many smaller towns.^[7]

Sweden

Urban areas in Sweden Urban area is a common English translation of the Swedish term tätort. The official term in English, used by Statistics Sweden, is, however, locality. There are 1,940 localities in Sweden . They could be compared with census-designated places in the United States (tätorter) are statistically defined localities, totally independent of the administrative subdivision of the country. There are 1,940 such localities in Sweden, with a population ranging from 200 to 1,252,000 inhabitants. ^[8]

England and Wales

The United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland[note 7] is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many small islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land's Office of National Statistics The Office for National Statistics is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom produced census results from urban areas since 1951, since 1981 based upon the extent of irreversible urban development indicated on Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey is an executive agency of the United Kingdom government. It is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, and one of the world's largest producers of maps. The name reflects the original military purpose of the organisation in mapping Britain during the Napoleonic Wars when there was a threat of invasion from France, and its maps. The definition is an extent of at least 20 hectares and at least 1,500 census residents. Separate areas are linked if less than 200 metres apart. Included are transportation features.^[9]

United States

In the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language there are two categories of urban area. The term urbanized area denotes an urban area of 50,000 or more people. Urban areas under 50,000 people are called urban clusters. Urbanized areas were first delineated in the United States in the 1950 census, while urban clusters were added in the 2000 census. There are 1,371 urban areas and urban clusters List of United States Urban Areas -- Below is a list of urban areas in the United States as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau ordered according to their 2000 Census populations. In the table, UA refers to "urbanized area" and UC refers to "urban cluster" (urban areas with population less than 50,000). The list includes urban with more than 10,000 people.

The U.S. Census Bureau defines an urban area as: "Core census block groups or blocks A census block is the smallest geographic unit used by the United States Census Bureau for tabulation of 100-percent data . Several blocks make up block groups, which again make up census tracts. There are on average about 39 blocks per block group, but there are variations. Blocks typically have a four-digit number where the first number that have a population density of at least 1,000 people per square mile (386 per square kilometer) and surrounding census blocks that have an overall density of at least 500 people per square mile (193 per square kilometer)."

The concept of Urbanized Areas as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau is often used as a more accurate gauge of the size of a city, since in different cities and states the lines between city borders and the urbanized area of that city are often not the same. For example, the city of Greenville, South Carolina Greenville is the seat of Greenville County, in upstate South Carolina, United States. One of the principal cities of the Greenville-Mauldin-Easley Metropolitan Statistical Area , it had a population of 56,006 at the 2000 census. The metropolitan area had an estimated population of 601,986 in 2006 has a city population under 60,000 but an urbanized area over 300,000, while Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro ( /ˈɡriːnzbʌroʊ/ ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city, by population, in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. As of the 2000 census, Greensboro was home to 223,891 residents. As of July 1, 2009, its estimated has a city population over 200,000 but an urbanized area population of around 270,000 — meaning that Greenville is actually "larger" for some intents and purposes, but not for others, such as taxation, local elections, etc.

The largest urban area in the United States is that of New York City New York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over global commerce, finance, media, culture, art, fashion, research, education, and entertainment. As host of the, with its city proper The term city limits refers to the defined boundary or border of a city. The terms town limits and village limits mean the same as city limits, but apply to towns and villages. Similarly, the term corporate limits is a legal name that refers to the boundaries of municipal corporations. The limits of a municipality may be expanded through population exceeding 8 million and its metropolitan area population almost 19 million. The next four largest urban areas in the U.S. are those of Los Angeles Los Angeles is the second largest city in the United States, the largest city in the state of California and the Western United States, with a population of 3.83 million within its administrative limits on a land area of 498.3 square miles (1,290.6 km2). The urban area of Los Angeles extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population, Chicago Chicago ( /ʃɨˈkɑːɡoʊ/ or /ʃɨˈkɔːɡoʊ/) is the largest city in both Illinois and the Midwest, and the third most populous city in the United States, with over 2.8 million living within the city limits. Its metropolitan area, commonly named "Chicagoland", is the 26th most populous in the world, home to an estimated 9.7 million, Miami Miami is a major city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida. Miami is the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida. It is the principal city and the center of the South Florida metropolitan area, which had a 2008 population of 5,414,712; ranking 7th largest in the U.S.. The Miami Urbanized Area (as and Philadelphia Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania and the sixth-most-populous city in the United States.^[10] About 70 percent of the population of the United States lives within the boundaries of urbanized area (210 out of 300 million). Combined, these areas occupy about 2 percent of the United States. The majority of urbanized area residents are suburbanites; core central city residents make up about 30 percent of the urbanized area population (about 60 out of 210 million).

See also

• ABCD Region ABCD, sometimes called ABC is an industrial region made up of seven municipalities with the greater metropolitan area of São Paulo, Brazil.The name "ABCD" is derived from the principal initials of four of these cities: Santo André (A), São Bernardo do Campo (B), São Caetano do Sul (C), and Diadema (D). The region also includes the: Industrial region made up of seven municipalities with the greater metropolitan area of São Paulo, Brazil

Developed environments Developed environments are environments in geography. Different kinds of developed lands are developed environments. The main developed environments are Urban, Suburban, Rural and (not as much) Exurban communities:

• • Rural
  • Suburban
  • Urban
  • Exurban
  • Micro-urban

Settlement types:

• • Hamlet
  • Village
  • Town
  • City
  • Metropolis
  • Megalopolis
  • Types of inhabited localities in Russia
• Urban biosphere reserve
• Urban culture
• Urban decay
• Urban warfare
• Urban Terrain

Lists:

• Largest urban areas in China
• Largest urban areas in Norway
• Largest urban areas in Sweden
• Largest urban areas in Denmark
• Largest urban areas in Scandinavia
• Largest urban areas in United Kingdom
• Largest urban areas in New Zealand
• Largest urban areas of the European Union
• Largest urban areas of the United States
• List of the 100 largest urban areas in Canada by population
• List of urban areas by population

References

1. ^ "1216.0 - Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), 2001". Australian Bureau of Statistics. http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/B03C37D9D89F7C19CA256AD4007F67F8?Open. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
2. ^ "urban area (ua), 2001 census — Geographic Units". Statistics Canada. http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/Products/Reference/dict/geo049.htm. Retrieved 2007-10-07.
3. ^ Scenario Analysis on Urbanization and Rural-Urban Migration in China
4. ^ (French) "Nomenclatures Définitions — Méthodes — Unité urbaine" (HTML). http://www.insee.fr/fr/nom_def_met/definitions/html/unite-urbaine.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-20.
5. ^ (French) "Nomenclatures Définitions — Méthodes — Aire urbaine" (HTML). http://www.insee.fr/fr/nom_def_met/definitions/html/aire-urbaine.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-07.
6. ^ "Population statistics. Population and land area in urban settlements, 1 January 2008". Statistics Norway. June 20, 2008. http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/02/01/10/beftett_en/. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
7. ^ Polish official population figures
8. ^ "Tätorternas landareal, folkmängd och invånare 2000 och 2005". Statistics Sweden. http://www.scb.se/Pages/Product____12991.aspx. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
9. ^ KS01 Usual resident population: Census 2001, Key Statistics for urban areas For the OS definition of an Urban Area, see the notes tab on the Excel version.
10. ^ World Urbanization Prospects: The 2007 Revision Population Database - accessed August 7, 2008

External links

• United Nations Statistics Division (UNSTAT): Definition of "urban"
• World Urban Areas All identified world urbanized areas 500,000+ and others: Population & Density. Author seeks advice on any that appear to be missing: wcox@demographia.com
• United States Urbanized Areas All 452 urbanized areas from 2000 census: Population, Land Area & Density
• U.S. Census Bureau: Maps of urban areas
• U.S. Census Bureau: Maps of urban clusters
• U.S. Census Bureau: Census 2000 Urban and Rural Classification
• Geopolis: research group,university of Paris-Diderot, France for world urban areas
• Gridded Population of the World - contains links to urban area definitions and maps for over 230 countries/territories
• City Mayors - The World's Largest Urban Areas in 2006
• City Mayors - The World's Largest Urban Areas Projected for 2020

Categories: Urban areas

See Also:

• Arts: Photography: Photographers: Urban: Directory
• Recreation: Outdoors: Caving: Urban Exploration: North America: United States: Texas: Directory
• Science: Social Sciences: Urban and Regional Planning: Agencies: United States: Texas: Directory
• Business: Transportation and Logistics: Urban Transport: Transit Systems: Regional: North America: United States: Texas: Directory

What Links Here:

• Home

Recently Viewed Pages:

• Home
• Brain Drain: Encyclopedia
• Tex: Dictionary
• Texas Cattle Fever: Dictionary
• Texas: Dictionary
• United States of America: Dictionary
• Culture of Texas: Encyclopedia
• United States: Encyclopedia
• Rio Grande: Encyclopedia
• Chats and Forums: Images

Most Popular Pages:

• Dobie, J. Frank: Blogs
• Academic: Answers
• Carpa Garcia: Blogs
• Fort Hood, Texas: Images
• Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center: Images
• Abilene, Texas: Shopping
• By Locality: Images
• Culture of Texas: Encyclopedia
• Fisher: Images
• Texan

Related 'Urban Area' Searches: