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Often when talking about a city, metropolitan area and urban area are used in seemingly interchangeable ways.

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But these terms are quite distinct and refer to different areas and populations.

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However, combining these two areas, along with nearby cities, combine to form what is known as a megalopolis.

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A megalopolis is a cluster of cities that, including their suburbs, create one massive urban complex, like a megacity.

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The concept is a new one, as humans have industrialized and that industrialization boomed the populations of urban regions.

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John Gottman popularized the idea with his writing, Megalopolis,

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which proposed the idea that eventually the area between Boston and Washington, D.C. could become one massive megacity.

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Today, it can be argued that this Megalopolis idea exists in many areas across the world,

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and that Gottman's ideas are starting to come to fruition.

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While Gottman was referring to Boston, Washington's area, Boss Wash, as some call it,

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every populated continent on Earth has megalopolises, all spanning multiple cities.

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Let's start with one that inspired Gottman's work in the first place,

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which spans cities including New York City, Baltimore, and Philadelphia.

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The population of this area is over 52 million,

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and is consistently densely populated between all the cities and their suburbs.

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This inspired the idea of Mega City 1 from Judge Dredd, which in the future spans a much larger size from Quebec to Florida and as westward to the eastern border of Ohio.

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Down in South America, a massive megalopolis extends through the state of Sao Paulo in Brazil that contains three-quarters of the state's population.

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With over 32 million inhabitants, this area is known as the Expanded Metropolitan Complex of Sao Paulo.

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It includes the two cities of Campinas and, of course, Sao Paulo.

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This isn't the only area included, however, as over 70 municipalities are included.

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This makes it the largest megalopolis in South America, and third largest in either of the Americas.

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Over in Europe, megalopolises expand between nations, as the continent makes massive metro complexes between cities easily possible.

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These megalopolises are curved, forming a banana shape, the green, golden, and blue bananas.

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It could be argued that the area is the largest megalopolis in the world, stretching over a thousand miles across, spanning eight nations and 24 cities, the Blue Banana is one of, if not the best example, of a megalopolis in the Western world.

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The London area is the largest contributor to the high population of the Blue Banana, with nearly 14 million citizens, while the Italian city of Milan is the second largest city in the belt, with over 8 million.

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Overall, the cities alone combine for a population of over 90 million, and including all residents, the number increases to over 110 million.

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The largest megalopolises unsurprisingly exist in Asia, where in China we have the Pearl River Delta.

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This area is potentially the largest single urban area in the world, where estimates put the number close to 120 million residents.

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This is where considerations for megalopolises and their size really start to matter.

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It's rather subjective where lines are drawn in these megacities,

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as some say specific areas can be included in an urban area,

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where others say it can be a separate entity.

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At any rate, Asia consistently houses the largest urban areas.

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Depending on the definition of megalopolis, a larger area does exist.

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The island of Java in Indonesia.

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It's the most populated island in the world,

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and also potentially the largest urban area in the world with 140 million people.

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That's the same population as the largest country on Earth, Russia.

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Java is over double the population of Great Britain, and a population density per kilometer almost four times that.

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The concept of Megalopolis started as a prediction for the future.

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The idea was that urban areas would become almost indistinguishable as separate areas, and a megacity would form.

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While this concept hasn't completely reached fruition, several areas have achieved what can be considered an urban area that would be unprecedented in decades past,

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and certainly have the potential to rival the original concepts for the Megalopolis.

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This is Cody of Geography Hub.