Urban agglomerations school knowledge. Urban agglomeration

Introduction

1 The concept of urban agglomeration

1.1 Hierarchy of urban systems

1.4 Problems big cities

2 Largest urban agglomerations in the world

2.1 Overseas Europe

2.2 Foreign Asia

2.3 USA and Latin America

Conclusion

List of used literature

The city is one of man's greatest and most complex creations. The appearance of cities - the stone chronicle of humanity - preserves the memory of major events world history. Cities are the main arena for political, economic, social processes taking place in modern world, the place where the greatest values ​​​​created by human labor are concentrated.

How and why do cities grow? How to reveal mysterious secret spatial concentration of cities in different points globe? What is their internal structure? These questions concern all people and constitute a professional task. geographical study cities.

The purpose of the course work is to consider the largest urban agglomerations, ways of their formation and development.

The objectives of this work are:

· in identifying the features of the structure and formation of the largest urban agglomerations;

· in considering the hierarchy of urban systems;

· in identifying urban problems.

Urban agglomerations are a developing form of settlement and territorial organization of the economy. Concentrating huge scientific, technical, industrial and socio-cultural potential, they are the main bases for acceleration scientific and technological progress and provide great influence to the vast territories surrounding them, so their study is especially relevant today.

The course work consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion and a list of references and includes one table. It is written on 28 pages. The first chapter includes four subchapters, the second – three. Eight various sources literature.

1. The concept of urban agglomeration

In the historical evolution of settlement forms, replacement traditional types populated areas - urban and rural settlements developing relatively autonomously - are increasingly receiving new “group” forms of highly concentrated settlement, formed when settlements are placed close together and intensive connections are formed between them. These are urban agglomerations - rapidly developing clusters of populated areas throughout the world, often consisting of dozens and sometimes hundreds of settlements, including rural settlements, closely connected with each other. There is no uniform terminology to refer to these population clusters. Along with the term “urban agglomeration”, the terms “local settlement systems”, “districts of large cities”, “group settlement systems”, “constellation of cities” are used.

The most common term “urban agglomeration” is not entirely appropriate. In technology industrial production agglomeration means “the formation of large pieces (aggregation) from fine ores and dusty materials by sintering.” In economic literature, the term “agglomeration” characterizes territorial combination, concentration of industrial enterprises in one place.

The term “agglomeration” in relation to settlement was introduced by the French geographer M. Rouget, according to which agglomeration occurs when the concentration of urban activities goes beyond administrative boundaries and extends to neighboring communities.

IN Russian literature the concept of urban agglomeration was used, and quite widely, already in the 10s and 20s, although under different names: this is also the “economic district of the city” A.A. Krubera, and “agglomeration” by M.G. Dikansky, and the “economic city” of V.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky.

There are many definitions for the word “agglomeration”.

According to N.V. Petrov, urban agglomerations are compact clusters of territorially concentrated cities and other populated areas, which in the process of their growth come closer (sometimes grow together) and between which diverse economic, labor, cultural and everyday relationships intensify.

E.N. Pertsik gives another definition: an urban agglomeration is a system of territorially close and economically interconnected populated areas, united by stable labor, cultural, social and production ties, a common social and technical infrastructure, - qualitatively new form resettlement, it arises as a receiver of the city in its compact (autonomous, point) form, a special product of modern urbanization. And large urban agglomerations are the most important areas in which progressive industries, administrative, economic, scientific and design organizations, unique cultural and art institutions, and the most qualified personnel are concentrated.

The boundaries of an urban agglomeration are mobile in time due to changes the most important parameter agglomerations - the range of daily movements from place of residence to places of employment: within the framework of the spatial self-organization of these movements, their range increases in proportion to the increase in the speed of means of transport, and the time spent increases slightly.

The development of urban agglomerations is characterized by: the build-up of gigantic urban clusters, including non-stop growing and spreading cores, drawing ever new territories into their orbit, concentration in them large masses population; the rapid development of suburbs and the gradual (although not clearly visible everywhere) redistribution of the population between city centers and suburban areas; attracting the rural population to non-agricultural work, especially in urban areas; pendulum migrations and systematic movements of people within agglomerations to work, places of study, cultural services and recreation, acquiring an unprecedented scale.

E.N. Pertsik offers various criteria for urban agglomerations: urban population density and continuity of development; availability big city-center (usually with a population of at least 100 thousand people); intensity and range of work, cultural and social trips; proportion of non-agricultural workers; share of people working outside their place of residence; the number of satellite urban settlements and the intensity of their connections with the center city; number telephone conversations with center; industrial relations; communications for social, domestic and technical infrastructure (unified engineering systems of water supply, energy supply, sewerage, transport, etc.). In some cases, a combination of characteristics is taken as a criterion, in others it is focused on one of them (for example, the boundaries of an agglomeration are distinguished by 1.5- or 2-hour isochrones of labor movements from the center city).

1.1 Hierarchy of urban systems

Cities are growing and developing. In some cases, formerly small cities have become megacities, often with populations above 8 million.

The evolution of settlement forms under the influence of development processes and concentration of production leads to the convergence and fusion of agglomerations, the formation of megalopolises - urbanized zones of the supra-glomeration level, including vast territories (city à agglomeration à urbanized zone à urbanized area à megalopolis).

So, there are five main hierarchically subordinate forms of urban settlement (according to Yu.L. Pivovarov):

1. Compact city (in its traditional form) – the main element of settlement on initial stages urbanization of a country or region. According to the Dictionary of General Geographical Terms, a city is understood as: “a collection of monasteries, incorporative (that is, registered as an accounting unit) and governed by a mayor or alderman.” A city in Denmark is understood as a settlement with over 250 inhabitants, in Japan - 30 thousand, in Russia from 5 to 12 thousand inhabitants.

2. Agglomeration - (from Latin agglomero - add, accumulate) an elementary form of developed group settlement. It represents a cluster around the center (big city) of closely located urban and rural settlements united by intensive and stable ties. We consider agglomeration for areas with great development potential as a stage form in the transition from an autonomous city to more complex forms of settlement.

3. Urbanized (metropolitan) area - main structural element resettlement in the future. It means a relatively vast area, the core of which is usually several agglomerations with their surroundings, united by common functional and morphological characteristics. This socio-spatial form of settlement is based on the comprehensive planning of vast territories, specialization and clear identification of functional zones. It includes the metropolitan area itself and the territories of the vast metropolitan region.

4. The urbanized zone is the largest link (combining several elements) in the prospective spatial structure of the country’s settlement. This is the territory with high density urban settlements and a large proportion of the urban population. An urbanized zone is distinguished by the intensity of development of urban settlements (and not by their number).

5. Megalopolis (from the Greek megalu - large, polis - city) is the largest form of settlement. These are extensive urbanized zones with a strip-like configuration, which are formed as a result of the actual merging of many neighboring agglomerations of different ranks. Typically, such urbanized strips stretch along the most important transport routes and multi-highways, or some kind of economic axes.

1.2 Spatial structure urban agglomerations

In urban agglomerations, with their significant features planning structure And administrative division Fundamentally different zones can be identified, which allows us to consider these zones as typical and functionally regular formations.

1. The historical core of the city is a very small area in which the most architecturally and historically outstanding buildings, administrative cultural and business centers of the agglomeration are concentrated. These are the historical center of Moscow within the Garden Ring; central core London, including the City, Westminster and West End; southern part New York County, which occupies the territory of Manhattan Island. The historical centers of European capitals are characterized by very dense buildings, which took shape over many centuries; a radial-ring layout or one close to it inherited from the historical past; gradual displacement of residential buildings by government or business significance; widespread development of commercial establishments, hotels, museums, etc. The daytime population sharply exceeds the nighttime population.

2. The central zone of the city includes, in addition to the historical core, the intensively built-up area closest to it, which was formed in European capitals mainly before mid-19th V. and later surrounded by a ring railways, stations, industrial areas. In the following decades, this area was significantly transformed, but to a large extent still retains the old layout; there are many valuable buildings here. As you grow and territorial expansion administrative, business, cultural, scientific, trade functions of the capitals, this zone is increasingly being rebuilt, undergoing redevelopment, acquiring the functions of a center. The central areas of capitals can include: the central planning zone of Moscow, the department of Paris within the old fortress walls, the central zone of St. Petersburg to the Obvodny Canal, including Vasilievsky Island, Petrogradskaya side. For central zones In general, it is characterized by a significant excess of the daytime population over the nighttime population, and a gradual decrease in the size of the permanent population.

3. The outer zone of the city in Moscow and St. Petersburg is administratively included in the city, in Paris it is allocated to the so-called “first urban zone”, in London the outer zone of the “old suburbs” can be classified as the peripheral zone of the city. Currently, the bulk of the population of capital cities is concentrated in peripheral zones, and as the entire territory of these zones is filled with continuous development, their population grows, but then shows an objective tendency to decrease and expand beyond the city limits.

4. Large city (or the core of an agglomeration, an urbanized zone of an agglomeration, a city with the first internal zone of a suburban zone). An example would be St. Petersburg with settlements subordinate to the city, the Parisian “agglomeration within wide boundaries”, “Greater London” with the first internal metropolitan belt, Greater New York- urbanized area of ​​New York.

5. The suburban area forms, together with the city, a broader entity that can be considered an agglomeration. These are the Moscow and St. Petersburg agglomerations, the London metropolitan area. It is important to distinguish between the territories of agglomerations covering capital cities and their suburban areas, the “metropolitan cores,” which include capital cities and inner rings of suburban areas. Conventionally, these “nuclei” of agglomerations could be called “Big City” (Greater Moscow, Greater London, Greater New York). All agglomerations as a whole are characterized by: a consistent shift of population from the inner rings of the agglomeration to the outer ones; strong development pendulum migrations, gradually fading as they move towards the periphery of the agglomeration and are especially intense in its core, the development of satellite cities in the outer rings.

6. External zone of the capital region. The metropolitan region should be understood as a zone that is under the direct and intense influence of the capital and requires targeted urban development activities associated with it; however, here the most important urban planning parameter that constructs the agglomeration, the daily pendulum labor movements, ceases to operate. The external zone becomes the arena of major events for the development of systems of cities - “counter magnets” that contribute to the unloading of the agglomeration, to create recreational areas, agricultural bases, etc. The capital regions can be classified as: the Moscow region - Moscow and the Moscow region; London - southeast England; The New York Region is a neighborhood planning association district of New York City.

1.3 Ways of agglomeration formation

Formation of an agglomeration “from the city”. Upon reaching a certain “threshold” (which is greatly influenced by the size of the city, its economic profile, local and regional natural conditions) a dynamically developing large city feels an increasing need for new development resources - territories, water supply sources, infrastructure. However, within the city limits they are exhausted or close to exhaustion. Further continuous (perimeter) expansion of the urban area is associated with negative consequences.

Therefore, the center of gravity of development is objectively moving to the area surrounding the city. Satellite settlements arise (most often based on existing small settlements) of various profiles. Essentially, these are parts of a big city, which, becoming the center of an agglomeration, creates a system of additions and partners. On the one hand, everything that does not fit in the city “spills out” beyond its borders. On the other hand, much of what strives for it from the outside settles on the approaches. Thus, the agglomeration is formed by two counter flows.

In some cases, objects that make up the city-forming base of satellites (industrial enterprises, test sites, research laboratories, design bureaus, sorting stations, warehouses, etc.) seem to be spun off from the existing economic complex of the city. In others, they arise in response to the needs of the city and country, created through the efforts different industries farms, being attracted by favorable development conditions in the area surrounding the city.

Development of the agglomeration “from the region”. Characteristic for resource zones, in places where the mining industry is developing, where during development large deposits Usually a group of villages of similar specialization arises. Over time, one of them, located more conveniently than others in relation to the settlement area and having best conditions for development, attracts objects of non-local significance. It becomes an organizational, economic and cultural center, science and engineering are developing in it, and enterprises in the construction industry and transport organizations are concentrated there. All this determines its priority growth and gradual rise in the territorial group of settlements, which over time acquire the role of satellites in relation to it.

This is how a city arises, which takes on the functions of an agglomeration center. Among his companions, under the influence of their main “profession,” a closed labor balance prevails: the residents of the village work mainly at the enterprise located here in the village. Therefore, labor ties with the city center in formations of the type under consideration are weaker than in agglomerations developing “from the city.” With further growth and increasing multifunctionality of the city center, the differences between the agglomerations of the two categories described are weakening, although there remains a significant difference in the nature of the territory used.

1.4 Problems of big cities

The widespread and uncontrollable growth of large cities and agglomerations makes us think about internal laws and the reasons for this phenomenon, identify the shortcomings of this form of settlement and evaluate its true advantages.

The most important disadvantages of large cities and, to a certain extent, large urban agglomerations are well known:

1. Extraordinary complication transport problems. The saturation of large cities with automobile transport increases, while the speed of its movement decreases in inverse proportion.

2. There is an increase in the cost of engineering equipment;

3. Pollution environment, primarily air. According to chemical studies, the plume of polluting and thermal effects major cities can be traced at a distance of up to 50 km, covering an area of ​​800-1000 km 2. Moreover, the most active impact occurs on an area 1.5-2 times larger than the area of ​​the city itself. It is no coincidence that cities such as Los Angeles and Mexico City received the nickname “smogopolis”. It is no coincidence that a comic piece of advice was given to townspeople: “Let everyone breathe less and only in case of emergency.”

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• Creator of Nightmares, Pekhov A., Bychkova E., Turchaninova N.. Banngok is a cybernetic giant that has captured the entire southeast of Asia. The urban agglomeration of Alexandria in northern Africa. Beijing is a powerful industrial metropolis on the verge of…

URBAN AGGLOMERATION (from the Latin aggloméra - to annex, accumulate, pile up), a compact territorial grouping of settlements (mainly urban), united by diverse and intensive connections (economic, labor, cultural, everyday, recreational, etc.). An urban agglomeration as an integral territorial socio-economic formation arises on the basis of functional and spatial development a large core city (or several core cities). Surrounded by a large city, settlements of various types are formed (suburbs, satellite cities, etc.), serving as its production, transport, recreational, utility and other additions. The spatial proximity and complementarity of settlements in an urban agglomeration contribute to the creation of favorable conditions for the development of various fields of activity in them.

There are: monocentric urban agglomerations with one core city, which is the focus of the development and functioning of surrounding settlements located in its suburban or so-called external, peripheral zone (for example, the largest urban agglomerations in Russia - Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and etc.); polycentric urban agglomerations, having as cores several large city centers located relatively close to each other [for example, the Lower Rhine-Ruhr agglomeration in Germany, its main centers are the actually merged cities of Duisburg, Essen, Bochum and Dortmund (the so-called Ruhrstadt) , as well as Cologne, Dusseldorf and Bonn; see Conurbation]. In large urban agglomerations, local settlement nests are often formed - agglomerations of the 2nd order (for example, Noginsko-Elektrostalskaya, Orekhovo-Zuevskaya, Kolomenskaya, Serpukhovskaya and other agglomerations surrounded by the Moscow metropolis). In places with the most favorable conditions for the territorial concentration of various activities and populations, expanding urban agglomerations are connected into megalopolises. These include: a chain of agglomerations on the Atlantic coast of the United States, stretching from Boston to Washington (Boswash), the Pacific coast of California - from San Francisco to San Diego (San-San); Japan - from Tokyo to Osaka (Tokaido), etc.

An urban agglomeration, as an area of ​​interconnected settlement, usually closes within itself the weekly life cycle of the population. The external boundaries of an urban agglomeration, as a rule, are determined by 1.5-2.0 hours of time required to reach the city center; As communications and transportation facilities improve, the boundaries of the urban agglomeration are expanding.

The formation of an urban agglomeration contributes to a more complete use of the potential of large cities, while at the same time being effective means solutions to their problems. The disorderly growth of urban agglomeration leads to negative consequences(on a larger scale and more acutely reproducing the disadvantages of large cities): excessive crowding of the population and concentration of spheres economic activity in a limited area, a sharp aggravation of environmental and transport problems, an acute shortage of water resources, etc. Improving the spatial organization of the urban agglomeration on a planned basis - important task state policy in the field of urban planning.

In most countries of the world in the 20th century (especially in the 2nd half of the 20th century), urban agglomerations became the most important links in the territorial organization of the economy, powerful nodes in the supporting framework of settlement. In highly developed countries, the growth of urban agglomerations occurs as a result of the “unloading” of core cities from the areas of economic activity that have grown excessively in them due to the expansion of their suburban areas - the development of suburbanization processes (see the article Urbanization); The population of suburban areas usually exceeds the population of city centers.

In Russia, the development of urban agglomerations occurs mainly by attracting new industrial and service facilities, as well as the population (including from other regions of the country), into the zone of gravity of large centers. The practice of constant expansion of urban areas, that is, the absorption of suburban zones by core cities, obscures the real picture of the development of agglomeration processes in the country. On average, the share of suburbs and satellite cities in the population of Russian urban agglomerations is about 20% (mid-2000s), this figure has not changed since the early 1990s. In total, there are 53 large urban agglomerations in Russia (with a population of central cities at least 250 thousand people; 2002, census). They are home to 66.0 million people (45.5% of the country's population), including 46.2 million people in agglomeration cities and 19.8 million people in suburban areas. During 1989-2002, the number of urban agglomerations did not increase, and their population decreased by 2.1% (city centers - by 1.1%, suburban areas - by 4.3%).

Lit.: Dubrovin P.I. Cities agglomerations (genesis, economics, morphology) // Questions of geography. M., 1959. Sat. 45; Lappo G. M. Development of urban agglomerations in the USSR. M., 1978; Problems of studying urban agglomerations. M., 1988; Animitsa E. G., Vlasova N. Yu. Urban studies. Ekaterinburg, 1998; Pertsik E. N. Cities of the world. Geography of world urbanization. M., 1999.

An urban agglomeration is a compact and relatively developed set of mutually complementary urban and rural settlements, grouped around one or several powerful core cities and united by diverse and intensive connections into a complex and dynamic unity; this is the area, the space of potential and real interactions into which the weekly life cycle the majority of residents of a modern large city and its satellite zone.

Urban agglomerations play the role of leading key elements in the supporting framework of settlement and in the territorial structure of the economy.

Each agglomeration, promoting the integration of a wide variety of activities, simultaneously carries out its own well-defined, more or less specialized general economic and social functions. Therefore, an urban agglomeration, like its basis - a large city - is not only a form of population settlement, but also a form of territorial organization of industry and the economy in general; it is a convenient form for the population of combining housing with places of employment, as well as places of recreation, education, etc. .

In general, the process of delimiting urban agglomerations, i.e. determining their boundaries, consists of five main stages:

• defining the purpose and principles of delimitation;
• selection of territorial cells;
• determination of delimitation criteria;
• establishing quantitative values ​​for selected criteria;
• identifying the outline of an urban agglomeration.

All criteria for the delimitation of urban agglomerations, which are relatively simple and universal, can be divided into the following groups:

• criteria for the size of the core city (primarily population size);
• criteria for the development of the outer zone (the number and population of urban settlements in it, their relationship with the core, the size of the rural population);
• integral criteria, i.e. characterizing the agglomeration as a whole (population density, complexity (development) of the urban agglomeration, etc.).
• criteria for identifying the boundaries of an urban agglomeration based on determining its spatial or temporal radius, which fixes the size of the territory under consideration, within which the agglomeration has developed or is developing.

For a settlement system to be an agglomeration, the corresponding development coefficient* K development = P · (M · m + N · n) must be at least 1.0, where P is the size of the urban population of the agglomeration; M and N are the number of cities and urban-type settlements, respectively; m and n are shares in the urban population of the agglomeration.

During the intercensus period (1989–2002), administrative transformations covered a fairly large number of regions, and many settlements changed their administrative status.
In several regions, no qualitative transformations were observed (Kaliningrad region), and in some only one transformation was recorded (Republic of Mordovia, Chuvash Republic - Chuvashia, Stavropol region, Tambov and Penza regions).

Direct changes affected both urban and rural settlements. Since 1991, the number of regions with administrative changes exceeded the number of regions where the traditional expansion of the city network continued. If in Soviet period for a small village it was more profitable and more prestigious to be in the urban category, then in the crisis of the 1990s, the exact opposite became profitable.
The process of active transfer of urban settlements to rural ones began in 1991, with the Orenburg region taking the lead (16 urban-type settlements transferred to the category of rural settlements).

The greatest number of changes in the status of settlements occurred in regions not covered by the agglomeration process. In those regions where there were urban agglomerations, changes did not always affect the settlements that were part of the urban agglomerations (Ryazan and Vladimir regions).

The transfer of settlements to the rural category affected agglomerations in different ways. Where they include sufficient quantity cities and urban-type settlements, the change in status did not entail a decrease in the development coefficient.

A significant type of transformation was the opening of some closed administrative-territorial formations (ZATO). The period of statistical opening of ZATOs occurred in 1994. At this time, many new settlements appeared on the map of cities and towns, which somewhat changed the idea of ​​the Russian settlement system. Most of the newly discovered settlements are located in satellite zones of large cities, such as Moscow, Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk, Murmansk, Penza. Thanks to the “new” cities, some agglomerations (Tomsk) were able to remain on the list of urban agglomerations, and also increase their development coefficient.

The opening of ZATO increased the urban population of the Russian Federation by 1 million people. Part of the population of this million ended up living in cities and towns that are part of urban agglomerations. This circumstance “saved the life” of some agglomerations and gave new impetus to their development.

Cases of transformation of urban-type settlements into cities have been recorded, but their number is not as large as the number of transformations of urban-type settlements into rural settlements.

Urban-type settlements that became cities did not always end up within the boundaries of agglomerations. This phenomenon was recorded in only four regions - in Leningrad (Sertolovo and Nikolskoye), Vladimir (Kurlovo), Bryansk (Rognedino) and Kursk (Kurchatov).

In most cases, new cities were not part of agglomerations and did not significantly change their composition. Most often, cities arose in territories of new development (North, Western and Eastern Siberia), near oil, gas and other fields. In connection with this, some urban-type settlements Tyumen region were transferred to the city category.

For the period 1989–2002 Many urban agglomerations have grown and their populations have increased. The growth in the number of core cities was often achieved by including nearby cities and towns. Sometimes the inclusion of other cities and urban-type settlements into the city was carried out to smooth out a very strong population decline. Thus, during the period from 1989 to 2002, more than 20 urban settlements with a total population of more than 300 thousand people were included in the line. There were cases when the inclusion of cities occurred due to the rapid growth of the core city. An example is the Moscow agglomeration, whose population has increased (since 1979) by almost 2.5 million people. Today the population of the Moscow agglomeration numbers more than 15 million people. Moscow itself significantly increased its population and area, while “capturing” many villages and urban-type settlements located in close proximity to it.

Similar transformations associated with active development Lipetsk, deprived the Lipetsk agglomeration of all urban-type settlements: all of them were included in the period from 1991 to 1998 within the boundaries of Lipetsk, and due to this, the population of Lipetsk increased by 56 thousand people. (from 450 thousand in 1989 to 506 thousand in 2002).

Currently, most cities with a population of more than 290 thousand people are the cores of agglomerations. Some cities with smaller populations are also the cores of, sometimes polycentric, agglomerations. For example, Pyatigorsk (140 thousand people) and Kislovodsk (130 thousand people) are the cores of the polycentric Kavminvodsk agglomeration.

Potential agglomerations are those that meet one or more criteria and at the same time do not meet other criteria. Their monitoring is extremely important in the sense that some of them could theoretically become part of the established urban agglomerations in the future.

The group of potential urban agglomerations includes: Orel, Sochi, Cherepovets, Khabarovsk, Orenburg, Chita, Komsomolsk, Ulan-Udinsk. Most potential urban agglomerations are located in remote areas of the country, from this we can conclude that the potential eastern regions has not yet been exhausted and there are reserves there for further strengthening the network of urban agglomerations of the Russian Federation.

Period 1989–2002 was accompanied by a mass of events and factors that were previously absent. The end of the 1980s is the beginning of the perestroika period in Russia. At this time, all guidelines for the development of the country and, consequently, urban agglomerations change dramatically. Decay Soviet Union entailed a number of processes, such as the outflow of population abroad (especially from large and developed cities), an acute economic crisis, a decrease natural increase population, which had an extremely negative impact on the development of agglomeration processes.

From 1989 to 2002, only one was removed from the lists of urban agglomerations - the Grozny agglomeration. This happened for obvious reasons: war, destruction of cities, mass outflow of population, and the emergence of a large number of refugees. One also appeared on the list of new urban agglomerations in Russia - Tyumen. Thus, the number of urban agglomerations in Russia has not changed.

Considering what recent years Since only one new agglomeration has been formed, we can say that the process of forming a network of urban agglomerations in Russia is almost complete. It is unlikely that new urban agglomerations will emerge in Russia in the next decade. Today, the development of agglomerations is going in a different direction - intensifying connections within already formed urban agglomerations, drawing the population into them and, as a result, increasing the level of development.

The dislocation of agglomerations and the degree of their development coincide with the main strip of settlement, and from west to east there are fewer of them.

Of the 52 agglomerations in Russia, 43, or 83%, are located in the European part of Russia. The remaining nine agglomerations are located in the regions of Siberia and the Far East, including only one in the Far East - the Vladivostok agglomeration. The growth of the Novosibirsk agglomeration is striking, which emphasizes the increasing importance as the capital of Siberia.

On European territory Russia is concentrated in urban agglomerations that have a high level of development. The densest network of agglomerations is observed here. In the Central region, almost all capitals and centers of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation are the cores of urban agglomerations. High urbanization, favorable transport position, favorable natural and climatic conditions have long attracted people to them. The rapid development of science and industry in the twentieth century provided the region with a permanent population, a dense network of urban settlements and contributed to the good development of agglomeration processes.

The quantitative growth of urban agglomerations has been completed, but qualitative growth is not taking place at full strength for various reasons. One of them is a large natural population decline, which clearly does not contribute to an increase in the population of agglomerations and, accordingly, an increase in the development coefficient. The second reason is the deep economic crisis, which during the 1990s caused an outflow of the population, first from the city to the village, and then (since 1994) back, which led to some erosion of the population across the territory. The crisis has also exacerbated regional differences. The massive outflow of population from the regions of the North, Eastern Siberia and the Far East deprived large cities (sometimes they are already included in the group of potential urban agglomerations) of the opportunity to form agglomerations. The population is directed to European part Russia, whose territory receives additional incentives for the development of urban agglomerations; Most of the residents who left Siberia settled in large cities, which, as a rule, are the cores of agglomerations.
The phase of intensive development of the network of urban agglomerations in the Russian Federation has largely passed. Further development Russian agglomerations have followed the path of their qualitative improvement and structuring, in relation to both each urban agglomeration separately and their network as a whole.

In the 21st century, agglomerations should become the basis for the development of urban space, the leading form of settlement of residents, concentrating the main human life activities. The development of a settlement as part of an agglomeration provides many advantages, the main of which are the following:

• concentration of scientific, economic potential, implementation of organizational and administrative functions, a wide range of services, improving the standard of living and culture;
• a high degree of use of labor resources in a densely populated area and a wide choice of places to apply labor;
• the possibility of effectively regulating a large city by the development of satellites with sufficient capacity;
• more full use the benefits of the economic-geographical location and resources of the area;
• the possibility of systematic use of cultural values;
• the most complete and intensive use of the territory.

Education and quality development of urban agglomerations are certainly beneficial for the population. A person living within an agglomeration has more possibilities for self-realization (large selection educational institutions, variety of places of employment and leisure). In the process of agglomeration, a developed urban space is formed, which leads to the consolidation of a full-fledged urban standard of living (which is extremely important in the context of unfinished urbanization and a shortage of cities throughout Russia).

In the context of world globalization, only within urban agglomerations is it possible to intensively develop the settlements themselves, the economy, human personality. Due to the concentration of a large population in a certain territory, the concentration of the money supply increases, and accordingly, there is a more rapid development of the financial and banking sectors, which is extremely necessary for the country’s economy at the present stage of development.

Due to the constantly increasing socio-economic and cultural potential of the agglomeration, the influx of labor is increasing, including cheap labor, the shortage of which is felt today in many sectors of the economy due to their lack of prestige (in the city’s life support sectors - housing and communal services, urban transport, as well as trade and - predominantly migrants are employed).
The need for housing, offices, cultural and social facilities is increasing, which leads to a revival of construction. This process can be fully observed in the Moscow metropolitan region.

The concentration of a huge amount of resources (financial, human) at a certain point (populated area) contributes to the influx of additional capital. The volume of investment in high-tech sectors of the economy is increasing.

Thus, the city and its satellite zone become a center for the diffusion of innovations into the surrounding area, increasing the level of socio-economic development of the entire surrounding area. With the full development of the satellite zone and the cities located in it, innovations spread over a large area.

Consequently, urban agglomerations are “growth points”. Their development is extremely important for Russia with its huge space. Properly planned development of urban agglomerations will allow more intensive development of the entire territory of the country.

The development of urban agglomerations also has some negative sides.

Within urban agglomerations, the load on the territory increases, and a lot appears (increased air pollution, increased noise levels, etc.). Active construction is underway within the agglomerations, and this leads to a reduction in green spaces and the destruction of the natural landscape. The development of the agglomeration territory contributes to the settlement of residents in its remote parts, and a person usually works in the city center, this leads to increased time spent on travel and the development of transport fatigue (it forms if more than 1.5 hours are spent on transport in day). In addition, the concentration of socio-economic potential in the agglomeration leads to some devastation of the territory outside it.

In places merging, united into a complex multicomponent dynamic system with intensive production, transport and cultural connections. The formation of urban agglomerations is one of the stages of urbanization.

Distinguish monocentric(formed around one large core city, for example, the New York metropolitan area) and polycentric agglomerations (having several core cities, for example, clusters of cities in the Ruhr basin of Germany).

The proximity of populated areas sometimes gives the so-called agglomeration effect - economic and social benefits by reducing costs from the spatial concentration of production and other economic facilities in urban agglomerations.

Merger criteria

Criteria for combining territories into different countries are different. But the main generally accepted criteria for combining cities and settlements into one agglomeration are:

• direct adjacency of densely populated areas (cities, towns, settlements) to the main city (city core) without significant gaps in development;
• the area of ​​built-up (urbanized) territories in the agglomeration exceeds the area of ​​agricultural land and forests;
• mass labor, educational, household, cultural and recreational trips (commuting migrations) - at least 10-15% of the working population living in the cities and settlements of the agglomeration work in the center of the main city.

Not taken into account:

• existing administrative-territorial division;
• direct distance itself (without taking into account other factors);
• close subordinate settlements without direct connections along transport corridors;
• nearby self-sufficient cities.

An example of established agglomeration criteria is the definition of the term "agglomeration" adopted by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, namely:

a) agglomerations unite several municipalities with at least 20 thousand inhabitants;

b) each agglomeration has a main zone, the core of the city, which includes at least 10 thousand inhabitants;

c) each community of the agglomeration has at least 2 thousand people of working age, of which at least 1/6 are employed in the main city (or groups of main cities for a polycentric agglomeration),

d) for polycentric agglomeration, additional criteria may be:

• no gaps in development (agricultural land, forests) of more than 200 meters,
• the excess of the area of ​​the built-up area over the undeveloped area in the agglomeration is 10 times,
• population growth in previous decades was at least 10% above average.

Agglomerations in developed countries concentrate significant populations. The growth of agglomerations reflects the territorial concentration of industrial production and labor resources. The spontaneous growth of agglomerations sometimes leads to the formation of a megalopolis (superagglomeration or superagglomeration), the largest form of settlement.

Conurbation

Conurbation- (from Latin con - together and urbs - city),

1. An urban agglomeration of a polycentric type has as cores several cities more or less equal in size and importance in the absence of a clearly dominant one (for example, a cluster of cities in the Ruhr Basin, Germany).
2. in some countries it is synonymous with any urban agglomeration.

The most significant conurbations ( polycentric agglomerations) were formed in Europe - the Ruhr region in Germany (according to various estimates, depending on the composition of the cities included, from 5 to 11.5 million inhabitants), Randstad Holland in the Netherlands (about 7 million).

Largest agglomerations

The largest agglomeration in the world is led by Tokyo, which has 38 million inhabitants. According to the UN, in 2010 there were about 449 agglomerations on Earth with a population of more than 1 million, including 4 - more than 20 million, 8 - more than 15 million, 25 - more than 10 million, 61 - more than 5 million. 6 states have more than 10 millionaire agglomerations: China (95), USA (44), India (43), Brazil (21), Russia (16), Mexico (12).

According to some estimates, there are up to 22 millionaire agglomerations in Russia, including 7 in non-millionaire cities. The Moscow agglomeration, the largest in Russia, has, according to various estimates, from 15 to 17 million and is in 9-16 place in the world. Another one (St. Petersburg) Russian agglomeration has from 5.2 to 6.2 million people, three (polycentric conurbation Samara-Togliatti, Ekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod) - more than 2 million, Novosibirsk - about 1.8-1.9 million people.