Growth of Urban Areas

Rank-Size Rule

• Defined: the country’s nth-largest settlement is 1/n the population of the largest settlement

• In other words – the second largest city is ½ the size of the largest

Rank-Size Rule  Name Population

1 Charlotte 630,478

2 Raleigh 356,321

3 Greensboro 236,865

4 Durham 209,009

5 Winston-Salem 196,990

6 Fayetteville 168,033

7 Cary 112,414

8 High Point 97,796

9 Wilmington 95,944

10 Asheville 72,789

11 Greenville 72,052

12 Gastonia 69,904

13 Jacksonville 69,688

Rank-Size Rule

Rank Name Population

1 New York 8,143,197

2 Los Angeles 3,844,829

3 Chicago 2,842,518

4 Houston 2,016,582

5 Philadelphia 1,463,281

6 Phoenix 1,461,575

7 San Antonia 1.256.509

Primate CityThe leading city of a country. The city is disproportionately larger than the rest of the cities in the country. (Some books define as – The largest city…)

For example: London, UKMexico City, Mexico Paris, France

- the rank-size rule does not work for a country with a primate city

1 Mexico City Federal District 8,841,916

2 Ecatepec de Morelos State of Mexico 1,734,701

3 Tijuana Baja California 1,590,420

4 Puebla Puebla 1,590,256

5 Guadalajara Jalisco 1,564,514

6 Ciudad Juárez Chihuahua 1,407,849

7 León Guanajuato 1,397,446

8 Zapopan Jalisco 1,260,381

9 Monterrey Nuevo León 1,138,711

Primate City

These cities tend to represent the perceived culture of the country.

Largest City Population Second-largest City Population

Paris 9 million Marseille 2 millionLondon 9 million Birmingham 2 million

Rural Population

Year % Rural Population

1900 87

1950 71

2000 53

2020 38

World Maps of Urban Pop.• Knox, 394,395

% of total Pop. in Urban Areas

% of Urban pop. In cities of less than 500,000

& of Urban pop in cities of 5 mil or more

Africa 39.7 58.9 7.9Asia 39.9 49.7 17.2L. America 77.6 48.0 20.6N. America 80.8 37.5 20.5Europe 73.3 63.3 8.5Oceania 73.3 41.7 0.0World 49.2 51.37 15.3

World Cities

Megacities

• Large cities characterized by both primacy and a high degree of centrality within their national economy – population of 10 million+

• UN anticipates by 2015 – 22 cities of 10 mil.+– With some cities at 25 mil.+– Fastest growing cities are not in core regions

Map of megacities- Fellman, 370

Largest CitiesTen Most Populous in A.D. 19751. Tokyo 19.8 million

2. New York 15.9 million

3. Shanghai 11.4 million

4. México 11.2 million

5. São Paulo 9.9 million

6. Osaka 9.8 million

7. Buenos Aires 9.1 million

8. Los Angeles 8.9 million

9. Paris 8.9 million

10. Beijing 8.5 million

Source: U.N., 2001

* Note that five of these cities are in the Core or more developed world.

MegacitiesTen Most Populous Today

Rank City Population

1 Tokyo, Japan 28 million

2 New York City, United States 20.1 million

3 Mexico City, Mexico 18.1 million

4 Mumbai, India (Bombay) 18 million

5 Sao Paulo, Brazil 17.7 million

6 Los Angeles, United States 15.8 million

7 Shanghai, China 14.2 million

8 Lagos, Nigeria 13.5 million

9 Kolkata, India (Calcutta) 12.9 million10 Buenos Aires, Argentina 12.5 million

Largest CitiesTen Most Populous by A.D. 20151. Tokyo 28.7 million

2. Bombay 27.4 million

3. Lagos 24.4 million

4. Shanghai 23.4 million

5. Jakarta 21.2 million

6. São Paulo 20.8 million

7. Karachi 20.6 million

8. Beijing 19.4 million

9. Dhaka, Bangladesh 19.0 million

10. México 18.8 million

Source: U.N., 2001

* Note that only one of these cities is in the Core of the more developed world!

Megacities examples

• Bangkok• Beijing• Cairo• Kolkata (Calcutta)• Dhaka• Jakarta• Lagos

• Manila• Mexico City • New Delhi• Sao Paulo• Shanghai• Tehran

• Overurbanization – cities grow more rapidly than the jobs and housing they can sustain. Leading to– Instant slums, open sewers, no basic utilities– Squatter settlements-

• Chile – callampas (mushroom cities)• Turkey – gecekondu (built after dusk and before dawn)• India – bustees• Tunisia – gourbevilles• Brazil – favelas (a wildflower that live on the hillsides over

Brazil)• Argentina – villas miserias• Peru - barriadas• Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – 80% of pop. are homeless or live in

unfit housing

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