Latest revision as of 06:40, 5 February 2010

Continuously built-up areas may arise through the coalescence of neighboring localities which, while retaining their administrative independence, may constitute one agglomeration ¹, containing a central city ² and suburbs ³ with specialized functions. The terms conurbation ⁴ or metropolitan area ⁴ are generally employed to designate a number of different agglomerations which, though geographically contiguous, have retained their own individuality. In many cases, however, the term conurbation is used as a synonym for agglomeration. The fusion of conurbations and large cities leads to the megalopolis ⁵ or metropolitan belt ⁵ which may extend over a large area. Metropolitan regions ^6★ may refer to agglomerations which include the commuter belt.

• 2. Another term used as synonym is urban nucleus.
• 3. Other terms used as frequent synonyms are satellite communities and suburban zone.
  Suburb, n. - suburban, adj. - suburbanization, n.: the process of rapid population growth in the suburban zones adjacent to a large city. Densely populated areas contiguous to large cities are occasionally referred to as the urban fringe, and the zone marking the transition between urban and rural settlement, as the rural-urban fringe or exurbia.
• 4. Urban populations are often regrouped in statistical areas such as the standard metropolitan statistical area (United States), the densely inhabited district (Japan) or the conurbation (England).

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