Main cities and urban agglomerations. City and urban agglomerations

As of 2007, the urban population of Russia was 103.8 million people, or 73.1% of the country's population. 66.6 million people lived in the agglomerations. (62.5% of the urban population and 45.1% of the total population of Russia). For comparison, we note that the share of the urban population of urban agglomerations in the population of the USSR in 1979 was 36.6%, in the urban population - 58.8%, and according to calculations by the TsNIIP of Urban Planning - 53.7%

Today, most cities with a population of more than 250 thousand people are the cores of agglomerations. Also, some cities with smaller populations can be considered cores of agglomerations (sometimes polycentric). For example, Pyatigorsk and Kislovodsk (140 and 130 thousand people, respectively) form a polycentric agglomeration of the Caucasian Mineral Waters.

The post-Soviet stage of development of urban agglomerations is characterized by a slowdown in the pace of development, which decreases as the level of development of the agglomeration increases. In itself, high dynamism and leaps in development are characteristic of the initial stages of GA formation.

The post-Soviet period affected the development of GA in different ways. New economic situation and the development of market relations stimulated the growth of some major cities(including industrial) and stagnation or reduction in growth of others.

Against the backdrop of a general population decline in the country and the growing role of urban agglomerations, multidirectional processes are taking place in their cores. The population of some large cities-nuclei of agglomerations (Moscow, Kazan, Krasnodar) is increasing, while others (often millionaire cities) are decreasing. In particular, Perm and Volgograd dropped out of the list of millionaire cities: Volgograd during this time lost 19 thousand, and Perm - 9 thousand people (the population in 2006 was 992 and 993 thousand people, respectively). The population has decreased by approximately 20 thousand people in cities such as St. Petersburg, Voronezh, Kaluga, Astrakhan, Murmansk, etc. Population decline is observed in all core cities of Central Russia and part of the core cities of Siberia and the Far East. Stabilization of the population of core cities is typical for the south of the country.

Along with cities with a large population decline, there are also those in which the population has grown. They are located mainly in the south of Russia or in areas characterized by high rates of industrial growth. In Makhachkala, the population increased by 152 thousand people during the period 1989-2002, in Tolyatti (part of the Samara Civil Aviation) - by 72 thousand people (Fig.).

Figure 1. Population dynamics of core cities of urban agglomerations for the period 1989-2007

Part of the population decline in the years after the census can be explained by the inaccuracy of current population records, as well as by different ways of counting migrants in the regions Russian Federation. Among the reasons for population decline in large cities are negative natural growth, and most importantly, practically exhausted migration potential rural areas Russia and weak migration flow from neighboring countries.

At the same time, judging by statistical data and field research data, as well as an analysis of the development of Moscow and other (Cheboksary, Omsk, Krasnoyarsk) agglomerations, within the GA of Russia received further development processes such as seasonal dacha suburbanization, increased building density near large cities, active construction of new dacha and cottage settlements, expansion of suburban transport routes, increase in the scale of labor commuting, etc.

The most striking example of such development is the Moscow agglomeration.

Over the past 15 years, the Moscow Civil Aviation has developed at the most intensive pace. This is the most developed GA in Russia, with a powerful core and satellite zone. In terms of development, it is an order of magnitude superior to other GAs. The population of the Moscow agglomeration increased from 1989 to 2007 by 2.7 million people and, as of 2007, numbered 17.4 million people. Moscow itself significantly increased its population and area, while “capturing” many villages and urban-type settlements located in the immediate vicinity. Thus, the urban-type settlements Butovo and Kosino became districts of Moscow.

The active development of the Moscow Civil Aviation is evidenced by the spread of mass pendulum migrations. Daily population exchange occurs not only within the Moscow agglomeration, that is, between Moscow and the Moscow region, but also with the closest neighboring regions - Tula, Vladimir, Kaluga and other regions. The positive balance of labor commuting has now reached 1.8 million people per day.

The Moscow agglomeration is developing not only quantitatively (population growth), but also qualitatively. The density of development in the nearest suburbs increases (often due to dachas), the intensity of transport connections increases, and social infrastructure is created in the suburbs. By 2006, in the Moscow region there were over 1 million plots in gardening, vegetable and dacha associations. Dachas, collective gardens and vegetable gardens, houses in rural areas and cottages - all this is second housing for seasonal living - a manifestation of the Russian specifics of suburbanization. According to experts, seasonal suburbanization reaches 4 million people or more. In addition, in recent years, among buyers of regional housing, there has been an increase in the number and share of Moscow residents, which reaches 40–50%.

During the time that has passed since the All-Russian Population Census (2002-2007), the list of urban agglomerations in Russia has not undergone changes or at least intergradational transitions in terms of the development of existing agglomerations. The main trends in the development of their network have not changed.

During the period from 1989 to 2007, only one dropped out of the list of urban agglomerations - Grozny. This happened for a very clear reason: war. From the ruined city civilian population gone, massive flows of refugees arose. However, back in 1990, during administrative reforms, the Grozny Civil Aviation was replenished with two new cities: Shali and Urus-Martan (40.3 and 39.9 thousand people, respectively).

At the same time, one new one appeared on the map of Russia urban agglomeration- Tyumen. In 1989, K development. Tyumen GA was equal to 0.92, today this figure is 1.4. In other words, the Tyumen agglomeration entered the group of least developed agglomerations in Russia. It increased the development coefficient both due to an increase in the population of the city of Tyumen from 476.9 to 545 thousand people (the relative increase for the period 1989-2006 was 7.3%), and due to an increase in the number of residents, although insignificant, in the suburban zone.

Today Tyumen Civil Aviation consists of two cities (Tyumen and Yalutorovsk) and 5 urban-type settlements. Since the mid-1980s, a large number of new settlements (both cities and urban-type settlements) have been formed on the territory of the Tyumen region (as well as the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug). Some urban-type settlements were subsequently transferred to the category of cities (Nyagan). Let us note that the development of the oil and gas complex of the Tyumen region and autonomous okrugs could not but affect Tyumen itself. Significant resources are concentrated in the city management personnel and, apparently, some of the shift workers.

The development of the Tyumen GA occurred mainly due to the fact that Tyumen is the capital and stronghold of the largest oil-producing region in the country. With widespread population decline and a negative balance of migration in eastern regions For Russia, this sets it apart from the generally negative trends in the dynamics and migrations of the population of Siberia in the 1990s.

It is necessary to note one more positive moment in the development of the GA network. During the period 1989-2002, a case of mutual overlap of two GAs emerged - the highly developed Ekaterinburg (K development 22.1) and the underdeveloped Nizhny Tagil (K development 2.6), which creates the prerequisites for the formation of a polycentric one here in the future.

Potential can be called emerging GAs that currently meet only one or several criteria for their identification, but at the same time do not meet others. Some of them could theoretically become part of the established GAs in the future.

The group of potential GAs includes: Oryol, Sochi, Cherepovets, Khabarovsk, Orenburg, Chita, Komsomolsk, Ulan-Ude and Grozny. Among them, the best chances to be realized as agglomerations are Oryol and Sochi, the latter - in connection with the Olympic Games held here in 2014 and the expected influx of capital, population and active new construction. Most of the remaining potential GAs are located in remote areas of the country. From this we can conclude that there are reserves there too for further strengthening the Russian Civil Aviation network. However, as can be seen from the table, the development coefficients of many potential GAs are decreasing.

Considering that during the period 1989-2007 only one new urban agglomeration was formed, we can say that the process of forming a network of urban agglomerations in Russia is almost complete. Today, the development of agglomerations is going in a different direction - there is an intensification of connections within already formed GAs, a gathering of the population in them and, as a consequence, an increase in the class of development of GAs.

The location of agglomerations coincides with the main settlement zone, and the degree of their development decreases from west to east. Of the 52 agglomerations in Russia, 43, or 83%, are located in European Russia. In the regions of Siberia and the Far East there are 9 agglomerations, and on Far East only one - Vladivostok. We especially note the growth of the Novosibirsk Civil Aviation, which emphasizes the increasing importance of Novosibirsk as the capital of Siberia.

GAs with a high level of development are concentrated on the European territory of Russia. Most highly developed agglomerations (with a coefficient greater than 10.0 - Tula (27.8), Yaroslavl (14.7), Volgograd (10.2), Rostov (17.2) - as well as a large number of developed urban areas - are also located on the European territory of the country. The densest network of agglomerations is observed here. Almost all the capitals of the federal subjects in Central Russia are the cores of agglomerations. The favorable transport location, proximity to the most developed centers, and favorable natural and climatic conditions have long attracted the population to them. The rapid development of science and industry. in the 20th century, it provided the region with a high permanent population, a dense network of urban settlements, and favored the formation of civil society.

Two opposing trends are typical for urban cores. On the one hand, there is a population decline in old large cities, many of them have lost more than 50 thousand people. On the other hand, there is an increase in population in the cities of southern Russia, in the capitals of some republics (Makhachkala) and in cities where industry is developing (Kemerovo, Togliatti).

The nature of agglomeration processes on the territory of Russia has changed and today has a qualitatively different character. If the period 1970-1979 can be called a period of formation of many new agglomerations, then at present there has been stagnation in the quantitative growth of HA. Based on existing trends, it is hardly possible to expect the emergence of new agglomerations in Russia at this stage.

The quantitative growth of the agglomeration network is almost complete, but qualitative development has not gained momentum full strength for various reasons. One of them was a large natural population decline, which does not contribute to the growth of population in agglomerations and, accordingly, an increase in K development. The second reason is the deep economic crisis, which during the 1990s caused an outflow of the population, first from cities (located in the North, East and outside Russia in the former Soviet republics) to the countryside, and then (since 1994) again from villages to Russian cities. This led to some redistribution of the population throughout the country. The crisis has also exacerbated regional differences. Massive outflow of population from the regions of the North, Eastern Siberia and the Far East deprived large cities of the opportunity to form agglomerations, although some of them are included in the group of potential GAs. The population is directed to European part countries, whose territory receives additional incentives for the development of civil aviation, the majority of the population that left Siberia settles in large cities, which, as a rule, represent the cores of agglomerations.

We can say that the phase of extensive development of the GA network of the Russian Federation has basically passed. Their further development followed the path of qualitative improvement - increasing population density, increasing the number of urban and suburban public transport routes, intensifying labor commuting), structuring (allocation of separate zones for residential development, recreation, etc.)

Essentially, the usual dichotomy between the urban population and the rural population needs to be revised: according to the basic sociocultural characteristics, the mixed rural-urban population of the GA can rightfully be considered as a special third category, along with the non-agglomeration rural and urban population.

With the increasing industrial development of cities in the 20th century, the world's population gradually moved to cities.

So, at the end of the 20th century, the number of city dwellers on the planet became almost 50%, while at the beginning of the century the urban population was an insignificant 13% of the Earth's population.

On at the moment There are more than 50% of city dwellers on the planet and everyone strives to live in a metropolis.

In this article I want to look at the 10 largest agglomerations in the World, which shelter more than 230 million residents within their borders.

The most big city-the agglomeration is Tokyo with a population of 37.7 million inhabitants, which is equal to the population of Poland.

The total territory occupied by the Tokyo metropolitan area is 8677 km? and a population density of 4340 people per km?. The Tokyo agglomeration is so large because it combines the 2 large cities of Tokyo and Yokohama and a number of other smaller settlements.

Second place on this list belongs to the capital of Mexico, Mexico City.

The number of inhabitants of the Mexico City agglomeration reaches 23.6 million people, who live on an area of ​​7346 km?. At the same time, the population density is 3212 people per km². The Mexico City metropolitan area is located above all others on this list.

The third largest metropolitan area is New York City, with 23.3 million people living in an area of ​​11,264 km2. The population density is 2,070 inhabitants per km². The city is the largest financial center peace.

In fourth place is the agglomeration of the city of Seoul - the capital South Korea. The population is 22.7 million inhabitants. Total area occupied by the agglomeration is 1943 km? and a population density of 11,680 people per km?.

Fifth place in this list belongs to the Mumbai agglomeration (until 1995 Bombay). The number of inhabitants in the agglomeration is 21.9 million. Territory - 2,350 km? and a population density of 9,320 inhabitants per km?. The city itself and the entire agglomeration are developing very quickly.

Sixth on our list was the urban agglomeration of Sao Paulo (Brazil). Number of residents living within this administrative unit is 20.8 million inhabitants. The agglomeration area is 7944 km? and a population density of 2620 inhabitants per km?.

The Philippine capital Manila ranks seventh on the list of urban agglomerations and has 20.7 million inhabitants. The agglomeration area is 4863 km? and a population density of 4256 people per km?.

The capital of Indonesia, Jakarta, is ranked 8th on this list with a population of 19.2 million inhabitants. The Jakarta metropolitan area is 7,297 km? and a population density of 2631 people per km?.

The ninth place among the largest urban agglomerations in the world is occupied by the capital Delhi. The population in this agglomeration is 18.9 million people with an area of ​​1425 km?. The population density is 13,265 inhabitants per km2, which puts this agglomeration in first place in terms of population density.

Lotus Temple in Delhi

Everything in this world has the ability to change. Moreover, sometimes these changes occur very quickly. Just a century ago, most of the world's inhabitants lived in villages. Today cities are becoming locomotives scientific and technological progress, centers of economic, political and cultural life. Cities increase in size, grow and eventually merge with each other, forming large agglomerations.

The meaning of the word "agglomeration"

This term is currently used in three scientific disciplines- biology, geology and urbanism. However, it is believed that it originally appeared in the bosom of geological science.

In geological science, agglomeration is the thermal treatment of ore and ore concentrate.

Later this term migrated to social geography, urban studies and demography. Here, by analogy, agglomeration is the merging of urban settlements into a single whole. In the second half of the twentieth century, urbanists began to actively use this word to refer to general global trends provoked by processes of global urbanization.

Urban agglomeration

Cities are expanding, acquiring new factories and enterprises, attracting everyone more new residents. As a result, more and more residential areas and sleeping areas are being built on the outskirts... Unnoticed by itself and its residents, the city begins to “absorb” the once independent villages and towns located nearby. This is how the process of connection is born.

An agglomeration is a compact merger of several cities, which from now on become a single whole, one organic system with its own internal stable connections.

To more vividly imagine what agglomeration is, imagine that you are flying high into the sky on a clear, cloudless night. Looking down you will see earth's surface, in some parts of it, there are dense and bright clumps of light, indicating places of compact urban development. It is by these spots of light that the largest urban agglomerations can be identified.

All agglomerations are divided into two types:

• monocentric (those that formed around one large nucleus);
• polycentric (formed from several centers).

Historical aspect

The process of formation of urban agglomerations is very interesting and sometimes unexpected. For example, the city of Vasilkov, founded in 988, was once the same important city Kievan Rus, like Kyiv. Today it is just part of the large Kyiv agglomeration.

The very first agglomerations, oddly enough, appeared in ancient world. These were Rome, Alexandria and Athens. In the 17th century, London and Paris joined the ranks of urban agglomerations. True, these were tiny (by modern standards) agglomerations, numbering only 700 thousand inhabitants.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, blocks of buildings stretching for many kilometers into the distance seemed completely wild. Today this is perceived very prosaically. Moreover, children from large cities may not see a forest, a wide field or an ordinary village for years. All this is the reality of our century.

By 1970, there were already 16 large agglomerations in the United States, in which about 40% of the country's population was concentrated. However, agglomerations continue to grow today! And if individual cities used to merge with each other, today entire urban agglomerations are merging. Scientists have even come up with a name for this phenomenon - conurbation.

Formation of Russian agglomerations

All Russian agglomerations are the creations of the 20th century. Previously, there were simply no conditions for their formation. The only exception here can be considered only St. Petersburg, the agglomeration of which began to form somewhat earlier.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, during the era of the industrial boom, plants and factories began to appear near large Russian cities. The settlements that naturally appeared nearby became the basis for future satellite cities. Thus, already at the beginning of the twentieth century, Mytishchi, Lyubertsy, Kuskovo, Orekhovo-Zuyevo and others were “born” around Moscow.

The largest agglomerations in Russia

According to modern Russian standards, an agglomeration is a group of settlements with a population in its central city(core) at least 100 thousand inhabitants. At the same time, at a distance of 1.5 hours transport accessibility there must be at least two more cities or towns away from it.

Monocentric agglomerations with one central core city dominate in Russia. Such a center, as a rule, far exceeds its surroundings both in size and level economic development. Russian agglomerations are not alien to global characteristics and trends: high population density, high degree industrialization, as well as an abundance of scientific and educational complexes.

Today in Russia there are 22 millionaire agglomerations (that is, more than one million people live in each of them). The largest Russian agglomeration, it goes without saying, is Moscow with a population of about 16 million people. It is followed by St. Petersburg (approximately 5.5 million), Rostov (about 2.5 million), Samara-Togliatti (2.3 million), Ekaterinburg and Nizhny Novgorod (2 million inhabitants in each agglomeration).

The specifics of the definition of the concept “city” depend, of course, on the position from which the problem is viewed. In the very general view a city is a large populated area, the vast majority of whose residents are employed outside agriculture: in industry, trade, service sector, science, culture.

The following can be distinguished characteristic features modern cities:

• economic - employment of the population outside agriculture;
• ekistic - the concentration of a significant population in a relatively small area and, therefore, high density population (up to several tens of thousands of inhabitants per 1 km2 of city territory);
• demographic - the formation of specific urban characteristics and its structure;
• architectural - the formation of a characteristic urban architectural and planning environment;
• sociological - the formation of an urban lifestyle;
• legal - cities, as a rule, - administrative centers adjacent territory.

The degree of favorable development of a city in one direction or another is determined by it.

Sociologists suggest looking for specific features of a city in the structure of its “ social space", "in an urban lifestyle", which is primarily expressed in a higher degree of mobility of urban residents and in an increase in the number of contacts between them, considered as a measure of potential human interactions.

In the literature you can find the following characteristics urban lifestyle: increased population mobility; freedom to choose your environment, as well as the ability to easily isolate yourself from it; settled working hours and the ability to plan free time; family disintegration; decrease average size families and households.

In the system of geographical division of labor, each city is, first of all, a place of complex concentration of functions involved in this division of labor. This leads to the economic definition of a city as a place of complex concentration of socio-economic functions.

From the perspective of population studies, a city is a place of life (in a broad sense) of concentrated masses of the population, distinguished by specific socio-demographic characteristics and factors of population development.

In our opinion, the most correct economic structure and functional profile of cities can be quantitatively characterized by identifying the city-forming contingent of the city’s workers, i.e. that part of the workers who are employed in the city-forming sectors of the city’s economy, in enterprises and institutions of significance beyond the scope of this paragraph (industry, external, warehouses and bases of procurement and supply organizations, administrative institutions, research institutes and educational institutions, construction organizations, rural, other non-urban institutions).

Currently, the concept of “city” is undergoing significant transformation. Being a form of settlement of people in a territory, the city has long been associated in our minds not only with the place where non-agricultural activities are concentrated (industry, trade, transport, etc.), but also with the place where the population accumulates, housing is concentrated, and roads intersect. The concept of “city” is inextricably linked with the idea of ​​some kind of center - functional, populated, residential. It may be noted that the execution various functions Such a center is no less typical of cities than their industrial role. In this sense, cities as centers have long been in focus. territorial structure settlements, but at the same time remained only separate, albeit focal points on the map. The essence of the new modifications introduced into the development of cities is that the city as a point form of settlement is being replaced by urban agglomerations.
Industrial, labor, cultural connections between the city and its environment at a certain, sufficiently high level the development of productive forces becomes so close that neither the city nor the surrounding areas settlements They cannot exist without each other. This process of merging and merging is happening so quickly and intensively that some scientists propose replacing the concept of “city” as outdated.

Cities carry a variety of economic and superstructural functions, the content of which in different historical eras changed significantly. In this regard, the very concept of “city” has changed historically. In city definitions late XIX and the beginning of the 20th century. preference was given to trade, while industry was given a lesser role.

IN pre-revolutionary Russia the definition of a city corresponded to the administrative-territorial and class structure Russian Empire. The name “city” initially meant a fortified settlement, a fenced place, and the territory of the city was limited to the boundaries of the fortress. Gradually, the city “overgrows” with a population living outside its borders, but in close proximity to the walls of the fortress. Over time, these villages turn into parts of the city (in Russia these are “suburbs” or “posads” with a craft and trade population). Moreover, the term “city” itself takes on two meanings: a city as a fortress and a city as a populated area, i.e. a fortress with the surrounding suburbs.

Until the beginning of the 20th century. the term "agglomeration" was used to define territorial clusters industrial enterprises, and to denote the process of large concentration of population in cities it was introduced by A. Weber (1903). As large cities grew and more and more urban and rural settlements, this term began to be used to designate new territorial entities. The main features of such formations:

• tight economic ties on the combination and cooperation of industrial enterprises between the production and consumption of industrial and products (indicators of the closeness of these connections are significantly more powerful cargo flows within the agglomeration compared to external cargo flows);
• labor (some of the workers in enterprises and institutions of one settlement live in other settlements, i.e. within the agglomeration there is an interconnectedness and daily pendulum movements occur between the main city and the settlements of the suburban zone, as well as between these settlements);
• cultural, everyday and recreational (institutions or recreational places of one or more settlements partially serve residents of other settlements, daily or weekly pendulum migrations occur for cultural, everyday or purposes);
• close administrative-political and organizational-economic (causing daily business trips between the settlements of the agglomeration - on matters of production, service and public work).

All mentioned characteristic features determine the specifics of the development of the agglomeration as a diversified, multifunctional center of national importance with specialization in the most progressive industries national economy. Thus, agglomeration should be considered simultaneously as a subsystem common system location of production and as a subsystem of the overall settlement system of the country.

The economic prerequisite for the rapid development of agglomerations is the advantages inherent in this form of production location and settlement, namely: a high degree of concentration and diversification of production, which determines its maximum efficiency; concentration of qualified personnel, close connection production with science and training centers; maximum efficient use production and social systems.

There is also a form of settlement in which the role of “leader” is played not by one, but by two or a group of cities; Some authors use the term “conurbation” in this case. Other authors use the terms “agglomeration” and “conurbation” as equivalent. The difference lies in the fact that agglomeration took shape when a large city “annexed” the surrounding territories, and conurbation occurred when several often equivalent ones merged. economically and according to the population of cities. In the case of such an understanding, gender and centric, highly developed systems of urban settlements should be considered conurbations. But usually such systems are transformed into monocentric (with one center), in which case the distinction between conurbation and agglomeration is erased.

The stages of population dynamics in agglomerations are as follows:

• the population of the core increases, and the outer (suburban) zone decreases due to migration to the core; in general, the population of the agglomeration is growing;
• the core grows strongly, the outer zone also grows, strong concentration throughout the agglomeration;
• the core continues to grow and the highest concentration is in the suburban area, the agglomeration continues to grow;
• the population of the core begins to decline, but in the suburban area it increases, the agglomeration as a whole is growing;
• the population of the core is declining, growth continues in the suburban zone, but the population in the agglomeration is decreasing (this stage is now typical for a number of);
• both the population of the core and its population in the outer zone are decreasing, the population of the agglomeration is decreasing.

It is noteworthy that at the beginning of the 20th century. the largest agglomeration on Earth was London (with 4.5 million inhabitants), which today ranks 20th. Accordingly, over a hundred years the population of London has grown by approximately 2.5 times. And the first agglomeration with a population of over 10 million people in the 1940s. became New York, which is currently in 7th place. For the 20th century The population of this city increased approximately 10 times. The population of today's leader, Tokyo, has grown about 30 times in 100 years. But the population of most of today's largest urban agglomerations has grown 100 times or more over the past 100 years (Mexico City, Seoul, Sao Paulo, etc.). It is precisely these ultra-high rates of urban growth in large developing countries (about 5% of annual population growth on average over 100 years) that have formed the modern list of the largest agglomerations in the world, almost 2/3 of which are located in developing countries.

Over time suburban settlements within agglomerations are beginning to develop faster than the central city, including due to the movement of some residents from the central city to the suburbs. This process is called suburbanization(from Latin word suburb - suburb). At the same time, residents are being “pushed out” of central cities in a complex environmental situation, increased crime, high real estate costs, high taxes and other conditions that are much better in suburban communities.

A necessary condition for suburbanization is the development of transport to ensure transportation between the place of residence and the place of work, since the majority of those moving continue to work in the main city. That is why the first signs of suburbanization appeared in developed countries after the development of suburban railway services. But intensive suburbanization began only with the mass motorization of the population, since only a personal car provides a fairly high degree of freedom in the relative location of the place of residence and place of work.

Initially, the wealthiest segments of the population, the elite of society, move to the suburbs. By doing this, they create a model of behavior for the rest of the population that cannot be implemented for material reasons. But as the welfare of society grows, increasingly wider masses of the population are involved in resettlement. Intensive suburbanization is associated with the relocation of the large “middle” class in developed countries. Following the relocation of residents, industry and other areas of employment begin to move to the suburbs. The movement of trade and services is directly related to the resettlement of residents and occurs almost simultaneously with it. Management functions are also moving to the suburbs to some extent. However, the movement of jobs to the suburbs is still happening to a lesser extent than the relocation of residents.

Currently, most developed countries have already passed the stage of suburbanization. As a result, the bulk of the urban population in these countries lives in the suburbs. And the crisis of the main cities, which was one of the reasons for suburbanization, intensified even more as a result. The main cities lost a significant part of the tax base, the number of jobs in them decreased and, accordingly, unemployment increased, the concentration of marginal segments of the population with low incomes increased, etc. Therefore, if in the first decades after the Second World War, the majority of developed countries implemented government programs, aimed at deconcentrating the population and economy, spurring suburbanization, then in recent decades state and local programs have been aimed at reviving urban centers. Although mainly not as places of residence, but as places of concentration of various progressive activities.

But urban agglomerations are not the final form of urban settlement development. In some areas, especially attractive for urban development, neighboring agglomerations grow and merge with their peripheral parts. Sometimes smaller agglomerations fall under the influence of a larger agglomeration, becoming second-order agglomerations. The resulting systems of 3–5 agglomerations are called urban areas. In Russia, similar areas have formed around the Moscow agglomeration, along the Volga, along the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains, and in the Kuznetsk coal basin.

In some cases, as a rule, along the most important transport routes, the number of merged agglomerations can be dozens. These currently largest forms of urban settlement are called urbanized areas or megalopolises (megacities)– both last definitions are, in principle, unambiguous. Megalopolis (from the Greek megas - large; in the genitive case - megalu - large and polis - city, a giant cluster of cities) is originally the proper name of the first such urban structure, which was described in the 1950s. French urbanist J. Gottman in the northeastern United States. Subsequently, similar formations formed in other regions of the Earth. The characteristics of the largest cities on Earth are presented in Table 2.3.4.