conurbation

a large densely populated urban sprawl formed by the growth and coalescence of individual towns or cities

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

conurbation

a continuous urban area resulting from the fusion of previously independent towns. The term was introduced by Patrick Geddes in Cities in Evolution (1915). Related terms are urban agglomeration and METROPOLITAN AREA.

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Conurbation

(called agglomeration of settled points in Russian), a cluster of populated areas, mostly urban, but also rural, which are growing closer and blending in places and are united by intensive economic, labor, and cultural ties.

Communality of the populace’s everyday life is typical of the conurbation; it is manifested in part in “pendulum-like” transportation to work within its limits. Conurbation is the most developed and complex form of the group distribution of populated areas; conurbations are primarily located around the larger cities, which then become the nuclei of the conurbations, but multicentered conurbations also arise in heavily populated industrial areas—for instance, in coal basins.

Conurbations in developed countries are concentrations of a considerable portion of the population. Forty-two percent of the urban population of the USA was living in 16 conurbations as of 1962; in the USSR up to 40 percent of the urban population was living in 40 conurbations in 1959. The Moscow conurbation includes over 130 populated areas with 8 million inhabitants. The growth of conurbations reflects the territorial concentration of industry and labor resources. In the capitalist countries spontaneous growth of conurbations, sometimes to enormous dimensions, is typical. In the USSR and other socialist countries the formation of conurbations is subjected to regulation by regional planning.

REFERENCES

Dubrovin, P. I. “Aglomeratsiia gorodov (Genezis, ekonomika, morfologiia).” In Voprosy geografii, collection 45. Moscow, 1959.
Davidovich, V. G., and G. M. Lappo. “Voprosy razvitiia gorod-skikh aglomeratsii v SSSR.” In the collection Sovremennye prob-lemy geografii. Moscow, 1964.
Davidovich, V. G. “O vzaimosviazannom rasselenii v gorodskikh aglomeratsiakh.” In the collection Gradostroitel’ stvo i raionnaia planirovka. Kiev, 1967.
Bogorad, D. I. “Zadachi izucheniia i regulirovaniia rosta gorodskikh aglomeratsii.” In Nauchnye problemy geografii naseleniia. Moscow, 1967.

S. A. KOVALEV

Conurbation

a group of contiguous and closely inter-related independent cities that form a unity because of the intensive economic, cultural, and domestic relations between them and the large-scale service facilities they share (transport, water supply). Conurbations are considered one of the elements or types of population agglomeration.

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References in periodicals archive

But as development intensifies, many conurbations experience an evolving character that triggers waves of buyer flight and then a new type of influx," he said.

Look for urban cycles, property investors told

The two maps in the panel show the different position of Birmingham in migration terms compared with the other districts of the conurbation: the paler the shading, the lower the level of per-thousand net metropolitan loss.

The beginnings of an urban renaissance? Recent migration flows into and out of English cities, as revealed in a new study, just may be the glimmerings of a new pro-urban movement

Judging by the data presented above, after London, West Midlands metropolitan county is probably the conurbation that has been most dependent on overseas sources of labour in the 1990s, followed by West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester.

Migration and British cities in the 1990's

Scuttling gangs were neighbourhood-based youth gangs which were formed in working-class districts across the Manchester conurbation, from the independent county borough of Salford to the west of the city to the townships of Bradford, Gorton and Openshaw to the east.(16) Contrary to Humphries' assertion that gang violence was underpinned by deprivation, the gangs were formed in a wide range of neighbourhoods, from the central "slums" to the more prosperous working-class neighbourhoods in manufacturing districts such as Gorton and Openshaw.

Youth gangs, masculinity and violence in late Victorian Manchester and Salford

That is bigger but otherwise not dissimilar to Northumbria, which covers the conurbation of Tyne and Wear and the wide open spaces of Northumberland.

An option that must be explored

The Sunday Mercury understands that the council leaders agreed to introduce a PS30-a-year charge if OAPs want 'free' train and tram travel to continue within the conurbation.

RING-AND-RIDE TRIP CHARGES COULD TREBLE; Controversial ideas for lifeline service hit by cuts

People perhaps don't realise how easily and rapidly the whole area could coalesce into a conurbation stretching from Chesterfield to Ilkley and from Castleford to Halifax.

'Charter' is death of the green belt; MAILBAG

This conurbation is connected by citizens from Wolverhampton to Solihull and from Rubery to Sutton Coldfield totalling 2.3 million people but apart from the one million who live in Birmingham, the others see it as a fragmented area of separate townships, sensing huge gaps in our culture and heritage.

Stop bickering and sort out LEP bid; viewpoint

AMID all the economic gloom, you reported splendid news recently that the Teesside conurbation is to receive pounds 62m to improve bus travel.

Great to catch bus news amid doom and gloom; Your Say

But average rises on most routes, including those in the West Midlands conurbation, are expected to be no higher than one per cent above inflation, the DfT said.

Rail winner's vow to passengers

It is a key component of the Urban Transport Plan of the Nice conurbation and aims to increase the use of public transport in order to reduce the impact of cars in the city and improve the environment and the quality of life in urban areas.

EIB LOAN IN NICE