The face of the world is rapidly changing: villages and towns give way to cities, the latter, in turn, merge into a single whole and become agglomerations. This is a demographic and economic process that is developing systematically and in stages, it cannot be stopped. Progress itself dictates to humanity the conditions for its greatest acceleration. The entire twentieth century is a period of mass industrialization. The result was the development of industries in various areas and the associated growth of the urban population, which provides any industrial enterprise with the main resource - workers.
History of Appearance
Urban agglomeration is the process of expansion of the territory of a settlement due to its development and absorption of adjacent settlements. Urbanization took place quite rapidly, within 80-95 years. If we compare the census data at the beginning and end of the 20th century, they clearly show the ratio of the rural and urban population. In percentage terms, it looks like this: in 1903, 13% were urban dwellers; by 1995, this figure is 50%. Trendhas survived to this day, but the first major urban agglomerations appeared in the ancient world. Examples include Athens, Alexandria and, of course, the great Rome. Much later, in the 17th century, the first agglomerations arose in Europe - these are Paris and London, which occupied a significant area in the British Isles. In the 19th century, the formation of large urban settlements began in North America. The term "agglomeration" itself was first introduced by the French geographer M. Rouge. According to his definition, urban agglomeration is the exit of non-agricultural activities beyond the administrative framework of the settlement and the involvement of surrounding settlements in it. The definitions that exist today are quite diverse in presentation, but the general principle is the process of expansion and growth of the city. This takes into account many criteria.
Definition
N. V. Petrov characterizes the agglomeration as a cluster of cities and other settlements according to the territorial principle, while in the process of development they grow together, there is an increase in all types of relationships (labor, cultural, economic, etc.). At the same time, clusters should be compact and have clear administrative boundaries, both internal and external. Pertsik E. N. gives a slightly different definition: urban agglomeration is a special form of urbanization, which implies the accumulation of geographically close settlements that are economically interconnected and have a common transportnetwork, engineering infrastructure, industrial and cultural relations, general social and technical base. In his works, he emphasizes that this type of association is the most productive environment for scientific and technical activities, the development of advanced technologies and industries. Accordingly, it is here that the most qualified workers are grouped, for the convenience of which the service sector is developing and conditions are being created for a good rest. The largest cities and urban agglomerations have mobile territorial boundaries, this applies not only to the actual location of individual points, but also to the time periods spent on moving a person or cargo from the core to the periphery.
Criteria for determining agglomeration
Among modern cities, there are many quite developed ones, with a population of over 2-3 million people. It is possible to determine to what extent a given locality can be classified as an agglomeration using certain evaluation criteria. However, here, too, the opinions of analysts differ: some suggest focusing on a group of factors, while others only need one feature that is clearly expressed and documented. The main indicators according to which cities can be attributed to the agglomeration:
- Population density per square meter2.
- Number (from 100 thousand people, the upper limit is unlimited).
- The speed of development and its continuity (no more than 20 km between the main city and its satellites).
- Number of absorbed settlements (satellites).
- Travel intensityfor various purposes between the core and the periphery (for work, study or leisure, the so-called pendulum migrations).
- Availability of a unified infrastructure (engineering communications, communications).
- Common logistics network.
- Proportion of the population employed in non-agricultural work.
Types of urban agglomerations
With all the diversity of the structure of interaction and conditions for the coexistence of cities and their satellites, there is a concise system for determining the type of settlement. There are two main types: monocentric and polycentric agglomerations. The largest number of existing and emerging mergers fall into the first category. Monocyclic agglomerations are formed on the principle of dominance of one main city. There is a core, which, when growing, includes other settlements in its territory and forms the direction of their further development in symbiosis with its potentialities. The largest urban agglomerations (the vast majority) were created precisely according to the monotype. An example is Moscow or New York. Polycentric agglomerations are rather an exception; they unite several cities, each of which is an independent core and absorbs nearby settlements. For example, in Germany, this is the Ruhr basin, which is completely built up by large entities, each of which has several satellites, while they do not depend on each other and are united into one whole only according to the territorialground.
Structure
The largest urban agglomerations in the world were formed in cities with a history ranging from 100 to 1000 years. This has developed historically, any production complexes, retail chains, cultural centers are easier to improve than to create new ones from scratch. The only exceptions are American cities, which were originally planned as agglomerations for higher economic development rates.
So, let's make a brief conclusion. An urban agglomeration is a structured settlement, which (approximately, there are no clear boundaries) can be divided into the following sections:
- Center of the city, its historical part, which is the cultural heritage of the region. Its attendance peaks during the daytime, there are often restrictions on the entry of personal vehicles into this territory.
- The ring surrounding the central part, the business center. This area is built up very densely with office buildings, in addition, there is an extensive system of catering establishments (restaurants, bars, cafes), the service sector is also quite widely represented (beauty salons, gyms and sports halls, fashion ateliers, etc.). The trading network is well developed here, especially expensive shops with exclusive goods, there are administrative state institutions.
- Residential area, which belongs to the old buildings. In the process of agglomeration, it often turns into business districts. This is due to the high costland for residential buildings. Due to the constant demand for it, buildings that do not belong to architectural or historical monuments are being demolished or modernized for office and other premises.
- Multi-storey mass building. Remote (sleeping) areas, production and industrial zones. This sector, as a rule, has a large social orientation (schools, large retail outlets, clinics, libraries, etc.).
- Suburban areas, parks, squares, satellite villages. Depending on the size of the agglomeration, this territory is being developed and equipped.
Stages of development
All urban agglomerations of the world are undergoing basic formation processes. Many settlements stop in their development (at some stage), some are just starting their way to a highly developed and comfortable structure for people to live. It is customary to divide the following stages:
- Industrial agglomeration. The connection between the core and the periphery is based on the production factor. Labor resources are tied to a specific enterprise, there is no common market for real estate and land.
- Transformational stage. It is characterized by an increase in the level of pendulum migration, respectively, a common labor market is being formed, the center of which is a large city. The core of the agglomeration is beginning to actively form the service and leisure sector.
- Dynamic agglomeration. This stage provides for the modernization and transfer of production facilities to peripheral areas. In parallel, developinglogistics system, which allows faster splicing of the core and satellite cities. Single labor and real estate markets are emerging, common infrastructure is being built.
- Post-industrial agglomeration. The final stage, which is characterized by the end of all interaction processes. The existing links (core-periphery) are strengthened and expanded. Work begins on raising the status of the agglomeration to attract more resources and expand areas of activity.
Features of Russian agglomerations
To increase the rate of economic growth and the development of science-intensive production, our country must have clearly formulated and calculated plans for the near and long term. Historically, there has been a situation in which the urban agglomerations of Russia were built exclusively according to the industrial type. With a planned economy, this was enough, but during the forced transition to the transformational stage (the formation of a market economy), a number of problems arose that had to be eliminated during the 1990s. Further development of urban agglomerations requires centralized state intervention. That is why this topic is often discussed by experts and the highest authorities. It is necessary to fully restore, modernize and relocate production bases, which will entail dynamic agglomeration processes. Without the participation of the state as a financing and managing body, this stage is inaccessible to many cities. The economic advantages of functioning agglomerations are undeniable, so there isthe process of stimulating associations of territorially connected cities and towns. The largest urban agglomeration of the world can be created in Russia in the near future. There are all the necessary resources for this, it remains to correctly use the main one - the administrative one.
The largest urban agglomerations in Russia
In fact, there are no clear statistics today. According to the criteria for assessing agglomerations in the Russian Federation, 22 of the largest, which are developing steadily, can be distinguished. In our country, the monocentric type of formation prevails. The urban agglomerations of Russia in most cases are at the industrial stage of development, but their provision with human resources is sufficient for further growth. By number and stage of formation, they are arranged in the following sequence (the first 10):
- Moscow.
- St. Petersburg.
- Rostov.
- Samara-Togliatti.
- Nizhny Novgorod.
- Novosibirsk.
- Yekaterinburgskaya.
- Kazan.
- Chelyabinsk.
- Volgograd.
The number of urban agglomerations in the Russian Federation is growing due to the creation of new associations, which do not necessarily include million-plus cities: the merger occurs due to a resource indicator or industrial interests.
Global agglomerations
Amazing numbers and facts can be obtained by studying this topic. Some global agglomerations have areas andpopulation comparable to that of the whole country. It is rather difficult to calculate the total number of such subjects, because each expert uses a certain (chosen by him) group of features or one of them. But when considering the ten largest, one can count on the unanimity of experts. So:
- The world's largest urban agglomeration is Tokyo-Yokohama. Population - 37.5 million people (Japan).
- Jakarta (Indonesia).
- Delhi (India).
- Seoul-Incheon (Republic of Korea).
- Manila (Philippines).
- Shanghai (PRC).
- Karachi (Pakistan).
- New York (USA).
- Mexico City (Mexico).
- Sao Paulo (Brazil).
Problems of urban agglomerations
With all the positive aspects of the development of the economy, culture, production and science, there are a fairly large number of shortcomings that characterize megacities. Firstly, the large length of communications and the ever-increasing load (with active development) leads to problems in the housing and communal services, respectively, the level of comfort of citizens decreases. Secondly, transport and logistics schemes do not always provide the proper level of speed for the transportation of goods and people. Thirdly, a high level of environmental pollution (air, water, soil). Fourth, agglomerations attract most of the working population from small towns that are not their satellites. Fifth, the complexity of the administrative management of large territories. These problems are known to every city dweller, and their elimination requires long-term and labor-intensive work of all city structures.
