Man builds his cities in breadth and height, occupying more and more space around the centers of their states. Thus, unusually large cities are formed in which millions live, seek their happiness, work and rest.
Lights of a big city, metropolis city, hypnotize. The second word, so exquisitely impressive, is increasingly being used in conversations. It has long since replaced the word "city" for some of these centres. As we know, a metropolis is a very large city. Or maybe we know very little about him, about this beautiful word? We offer a little more detailed understanding of what a metropolis is.
Megapolis: the word and its origin
The word itself comes from a combination of two Greek forms. If someone came up with an association with such a phenomenon of ancient civilization as policies, city-states, then this is very helpful. Megalo, which means "big" in translation, and polis, which translates as "city", - these two components make up the modern designation of the largest city. So, we got the answer to the most important question - what ismetropolis. We know the definition and origin of the word. We will touch on its historical development further.
The history of the use of the word "metropolis" in geographical science began in the 17th century. The English researcher T. Herbert first used this term as a designation of the capitals of states. Since then, the evolution of the meaning of the word has tied it to the name of only especially large cities in the world. According to the criteria introduced in UN publications, a metropolis must have at least 10 million inhabitants.
Features of the metropolis
Megapolis is the largest form of settlement, which is formed as a result of the merger of many neighboring urban agglomerations.
For reference, let's digress to the additional concept of agglomeration (from Latin agglomero - "I attach") - a set of cities with strong economic and cultural ties. As a result, they become a single functional unit. They form around large cities, mainly in industrial areas with a high population density. With further growth and development of ties, cities and agglomerations are united into megacities.
World trends in the context of history
Now we know what a metropolis is in geography. The formation and development of large cities were constantly monitored. So, according to statistics, in 1900 there were only 10 cities in the world that could be considered megacities. In 1955, there were already 61 cities with more than a million inhabitants, and in 1990 - as many as 276. As can be seen fromfigures, the trend towards globalization, the consolidation of settlements, are gaining momentum.
The most populous cities have historically appeared in America. So, back in 1950, there were more than 12 million inhabitants in New York. The Eurasian continent lagged behind quite a bit - Shanghai with its 10 million and London.
Before the start of the new millennium, in 1995, the picture of the world's megacities was even more impressive. In Japan, the mega-city of Tokyo-Yokohama had over 26 million inhabitants. New York did not grow so much - up to 16 million, Mexico City - up to 15.5.
We looked at what a metropolis is, definition by geography, some statistics. Next, you need to touch on the problems of a modern big city.
What is a metropolis: the ecological side of the issue
In addition to comfort and a wide range of opportunities, life in a big city has many negative aspects. Residents of megacities are well acquainted with them, but those who are full of desire to move there will have to meet them. And better be prepared.
What is a metropolis in the context of the impact of its scale on the life of the population? A person in it is surrounded by many dangerous factors. You might not even think about them: an extremely fast pace of life, a constant background noise, nervous stress experienced at moments, for example, waiting in a traffic jam, a long road to work and home. The psyche of a resident of the metropolis is constantly negatively affected.
In big cities, there is a higher probability of not beingfrequent, but global problems: terrorism, man-made disasters. The epidemiological danger is considered separately in this issue.
Spread of diseases in the metropolis
Due to the dense population, frequent and long contacts of people in big cities, the risk of a rapid spread of diseases is off scale here.
So, the United States closely faced this problem in 2013. The country has survived an influenza epidemic in which hundreds of thousands of cases have been reported. Hospitals were full, and people were getting worse in the queues for medical care. There were also many deaths. New York at that moment was the most vulnerable to the disease.
With a high population density, any epidemic quickly gets out of control. It is worth looking back at this, evaluating the metropolis as a place to live.
Ecology is problem 1
After the examples given here, we already know what a metropolis city is: it is not only convenience and opportunities, but also many dangers.
However, the leader among the problems of a big city, after all, is environmental. Working industrial zones, automobile smog deal a colossal blow to people's he alth. Residents of the metropolis are more likely to have heart attacks, they suffer from allergies, experience nervous breakdowns and other he alth troubles.
Conclusion
Thus, we have considered what a metropolis is. This is the largest form of human settlement in the world, and it hasmany advantages for a comfortable life, but also many problems. The most important of the latter is the environmental situation, which adversely affects the he alth of citizens.
We hope you enjoyed learning more about the largest human settlements of our time. And despite a significant number of negative factors, I would like to believe that pleasant impressions from the world's megacities will be more vivid and large-scale.
