megalopolis (redirected from megalopolitan)

megalopolis (mĕgəlŏp`lĭs) [Gr.,=great city], a group of densely populated metropolitan areas that combine to form an urban complex. It was first used in its modern sense by Jean Gottman (1957) to describe the huge urban area along the eastern seaboard of the United States from Boston to Washington, D.C. According to Gottman, it resulted from changes in work and social habits.

---

megalopolis

A major conurbation. Generally the term describes any densely populated social and economic entity encompassing two or more cities and the increasingly urbanized space between them. It particularly came to describe the urbanized region of the northeastern U.S. that arose in the second half of the 20th century. Stretching between the metropolitan areas of Boston on the northeast to Washington, D.C., on the southwest, it included the metropolitan areas of New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, Md. The name, meaning “great city,” was coined by French geographer Jean Gottmann.

---

Megalopolis

Ancient city, central Peloponnese, Greece. Occupying both banks of the Helisson River, it was founded in 371–368 BC by Epaminondas of Thebes as the seat of the Arcadian League. Attacked several times by Sparta, it joined the Achaean League in 234 BC. It declined rapidly after being plundered by Cleomenes III of Sparta in 223 BC, and by the 2nd century AD it lay in ruins. The nearby modern town lies in a rich lignite-bearing region that fuels thermal power stations.