The most ancient cities on the territory of our country were the cities of Central Asia and Transcaucasia, which arose before our era as centers of craft, trade and fortified points. Ancient Russian “cities” appeared in the 6th - 7th centuries. in the Kyiv, Smolensk, Novgorod lands. By the end of the 12th century. There were about 250 cities in Rus', many of which subsequently lost their economic significance and ceased to exist as cities.

In Russia until the beginning of the 18th century. a city was considered a fortress - a fenced place (city - from the word gorodba, a fence near a dwelling). After the first administrative division of the country (under Peter I), large administrative centers began to be classified as cities. In 1875, the “City Regulations” were introduced, which determined the legal status of the city, according to which the category of cities included points that performed administrative functions - the centers of provinces and districts. This was due to certain state policies and in some cases dictated by circumstances of a strategic or political nature. An important criterion for a city was the number of nobles, officials, and clergy living in it. The economic importance of the city was, as a rule, not taken into account. As a result, the network of legal cities in Russia did not have complete identity with the emerging network of economic cities that arose under the influence of the objective law of the social division of labor.

Among Russian scientists there was a widespread opinion, which was also held by V.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, that Russian cities until the second half of the 18th century. had only military-strategic significance. Soviet historical science has proven that ancient Russian cities, along with military and administrative functions, served as large centers of craft and trade at that time, and that craft was the city-forming force. The role of the military-strategic factor in the emergence of many Russian (and foreign) cities was very great. In the period from the XIII to the XVIII centuries. A large number of fortified cities were created in Russia, but many of them did not become economic centers, since they did not have the necessary incentives for their development.

To understand the economic essence of the process of city formation, let us turn to some provisions in V. I. Lenin’s work “The Development of Capitalism in Russia.” V.I. Lenin identifies three stages of development of industrial production and explains the role of each of them in the emergence of non-agricultural industrial centers (cities). He showed the city-forming power of home industry (crafts), manufacturing, and the capitalist factory. V.I. Lenin paid special attention to the role of the factory in the emergence of large industrial settlements and identified three types of factory centers in Russia: 1) cities, 2) factory villages, 3) handicraft villages. It was emphasized that in some large cities, for example Odessa, Kyiv, Rostov, the number of workers was very small, absolutely and relatively. At the same time, among the factory and handicraft villages, especially common in the central provinces, large industrial centers stood out. For example, the town of Orekhovo-Zuyevo is second only to the capitals in terms of the number of workers, and in the so-called “handicraft” villages - Vorsma, Pavlovo, Bogorodskoye - large factories and factories are located.

In the second half of the 19th century. the formation of handicraft and factory villages proceeded very intensively, especially in areas of rapid development of industrial capitalism (Donbass, Central Russia). However, these young, fast-growing economic centers did not receive city status at that time.

The number of legally recognized cities was small and did not correspond to the enormous scale of the state, and their location did not reflect the territorial features of the process of formation of economic regions. At the time of the October Revolution, the country officially had 655 cities, of which 407 were located in the European part of the country (183 in Central Russia) and only 79 in the vast expanses of Siberia and the Far East. In fact, there were more of them, since since 1785, almost no new points have been added to the list of cities, except for those that were located in the territories annexed to Russia after this date. But during this time, Russia made a huge leap in its economic development, and the network of cities changed significantly. By the beginning of the October Revolution, many “legal cities” were essentially not cities, since they had lost their administrative functions and had no economic significance. At the same time, many new, including large, industrial settlements grew up, which were considered factory or artisanal villages. Already in the first years of Soviet power, the list of cities was revised. In the 1920s, the socialist reconstruction of the national economy began in the USSR, accompanied by the rapid pace of industrialization of the country. This process led to the emergence of new cities, rapid population growth in old cities and major shifts in their distribution. The network of cities in the USSR underwent significant quantitative and qualitative changes.

Unlike many countries in the world, new cities are growing rapidly in our country and the population of existing ones is increasing. By the time of the 1970 census, there were 5,504 urban settlements in the country, including 1,935 cities. Thus, from 1917 to 1970 the number of cities increased almost 2.5 times. Such a gigantic scale of urban development is due to the high pace of industrialization, the development of various types of non-productive activities and nation-building. According to D. G. Khodjaev, of the total number of new cities, 751 are industrial, 64 are transport hubs, 201 are administrative centers and 18 are resorts. In addition, many cities of science with a broad focus and highly specialized profile have been created, which are located not only in highly developed densely populated areas, but also in centers of new development. In total, during the years of Soviet power in the USSR by 1979, 1,174 cities were formed.

According to the degree of renewal of the city network, the territory of the USSR can be divided into two unequal parts - western and eastern. The boundary between them runs along the western border of the Volga region and the northern border of the Donetsk-Dnieper economic region. In the west, where the urban network was previously quite developed, the share of new cities in most of the territory is 25-47%, and in the Baltic states and adjacent regions of the RSFSR it decreases to 3%. Throughout the rest of the vast territory, from 67 to 70% of cities were created during the years of Soviet power. The highest proportion of new cities is in the Donetsk-Dnieper region (83% of the total number of urban settlements).

The USSR is characterized by a rapid increase in the total number of cities of all categories, but at the same time the number of large and largest cities is growing faster than small ones (Table 10).

In 1926, there were only two millionaire cities in the USSR - Moscow and Leningrad. According to preliminary data from the 1979 census, there were 18 of them, and several more will join this group in the near future.

The development of a network of cities is constantly accompanied by the transition of urban settlements from one population group to another, usually a higher one. The population of cities in which large-scale construction is taking place or non-productive functions are developing is increasing at the fastest rates. The growth of industrial production, which occurs mainly due to increased labor productivity, does not have a big impact on the population dynamics of large cities. In several large cities (centers of the coal industry), the population has been declining in recent years due to increased mechanization of labor and a reduction in the need for living labor. Simultaneously with the increase in the number of cities, the concentration of the urban population increases. Thus, in 1959, 49.1% of the urban population lived in cities with a population of over 100 thousand, and in 1979 - already 67%.

The rapid course of urbanization processes in the country leads to more complex forms of urban settlement and the emergence of large urban agglomerations, the number of which is growing rapidly. In the USSR, their formation as strongholds of the settlement system occurs purposefully. Soviet scientists formulated a first approximation of the definition of the concept itself, established criteria and principles for identifying agglomerations, and proposed methods for managing their functional and territorial structure. “An urban agglomeration is a compact spatial grouping of settlements united by diverse intensive connections into a complex, multi-component dynamic system” (Lappo, 1978).

The main features of agglomeration are the territorial proximity of urban settlements, the compactness of their grouping around the main core (or cores), the division of labor between settlements and the complementarity of functions that predetermine the development of inter-settlement production, labor, cultural, everyday and recreational ties.

The main elements of the territorial structure of agglomerations are its center, or core, the node of the highest concentration of production and population, and the peripheral zone, a territory that performs auxiliary, service functions in relation to the core of the agglomeration.

Single-center agglomerations are distinguished with a single core, which subordinates all other settlements to its influence and differs sharply from them in size and economic potential. Examples of agglomerations of this type are Baku, Gorky, and Kharkov.

Multicenter agglomerations have several centers interconnected with each other. The latter, as a rule, are not equivalent in size and level of economic development, but each of them has its own peripheral zone and group of satellite settlements. For example, the agglomerations Donetsk - Makeevka or Kuibyshev - Tolyatti - Syzran.

Isolation (delimitation) of agglomerations is one of the complex methodological problems, which is actively studied by Soviet scientists V. G. Davidovich (1974), G. M. Lappo (1978), F. M. Listengurt (1975), etc. There is not yet a single methods and, moreover, any officially recognized criteria for these purposes.

Let us consider the method for isolating agglomeration proposed by Lappo. He considers a large city with a population of at least 250 thousand people as a potential core of an agglomeration, and the area of ​​group settlement gravitating towards it is outlined by an isochron of two-hour accessibility (common in urban planning) by all types of land and water transport. The territory allocated in this way represents the area of ​​possible development of the agglomeration. In order to establish the degree of its “formation”, the number and size of satellites gravitating towards the core, the nature and intensity of connections between them are determined. There must be at least five urban settlements (core and satellites) in such an agglomeration, and the total number of inhabitants of the satellite zone should be at least 50 thousand people. At the same time, the “agglomeration” coefficient is introduced,

which shows the share of the population of satellites in the total population of the agglomeration, not less than 0.10. Then the real connections between the core of the agglomeration and its peripheral zone are identified, and the actual boundaries of the agglomerations are determined.

Based on their functional structure, agglomerations are distinguished, uniting different types of settlements that interact on the basis of the division of labor in material production and non-production spheres. Agglomerations of this type are most widespread; they are large in size and have rapid growth rates. They are characterized by a complex sectoral structure of social production, reflecting a high stage of its development. An example of such agglomeration can be: Moscow, Leningradskaya. Agglomerations that unite predominantly settlements of the same type in their specialization, for example, mining settlements in basin mineral deposits, are much less common. Essentially, this type of agglomeration reflects the initial stage of the economic and social formation of groups of cities, followed by further development and complexity of the functions of each of them and their entirety as a whole.

The economic potential of agglomerations, due to the concentration of productive forces, is very high, and the possibilities for their growth are significant. In the USSR, a certain policy is being pursued to manage the development of agglomerations in order to further improve the territorial organization of society. Agglomerations are regulated by various methods depending on specific conditions. The most effective is targeted planning of the functions performed by agglomerations and their scale. Considerable importance is also attached to urban planning methods. In Fig. 22 shows various schematic options for regulating agglomerations. There are two levels of regulation - local and regional. In the first, the streamlining of the development of the agglomeration itself is carried out mainly by urban planning methods (the creation of new satellite cities, the use of free territories to expand various functional zones, etc.), in the second - through the organization of production and settlement in territories lying outside the boundaries of the agglomerations themselves . Here cities and agglomerations are created - counterweights that take on a number of national economic functions and thereby ease the load on already established large agglomerations. For example, the development of Kaluga, Ryazan, Kalinin, Vladimir and other industrial hubs of the Central region contributed to regulating the growth of Moscow.

G. M. Lappo (1978) in 1970 identified 63 agglomerations within the USSR with a population of 250 - 500 thousand - 12; 500 thousand - 1 million - 30; 1 - 2 million - 17; over 2 million - 4. 71.1 million people lived in these agglomerations, i.e. 29.4% of the total population of the USSR, or 52.3% of the urban population. All these agglomerations are heterogeneous not only in terms of population, but also in the number and size of the cities and towns included in them, and in the ratio of the population living in them. They also differ from each other in the nature and intensity of connections, the degree of formation, and growth rates. Lappo calculated a synthetic indicator - the agglomeration complexity coefficient using the formula K With = P( mm+ Nn), where P is the population of the agglomeration; M and N - population of cities and urban-type settlements;m, n- their share in the total population of the agglomeration. In accordance with this indicator, he identified five types of agglomerations (Table 11).

The vast majority of agglomerations are concentrated in the European part of the USSR (Fig. 23). The vast zone of regions - Central Russia, the Donetsk-Dnieper region and the Middle Volga region - is especially notable for its saturation. In order to prevent the spontaneous territorial merger of these agglomerations into giant megalopolises, various measures are used to regulate their development.

There are few agglomerations in the Eastern regions; they are all located along the Trans-Siberian Railway, at the eastern end of which the Vladivostok agglomeration is formed.

In Transcaucasia, Central Asia and Kazakhstan, with the exception of Karaganda, so far only capital cities have become agglomeration centers.

The number of small towns is increasing due to the transition of workers' settlements to the category of cities. The population of such cities, as a rule, either grows very slowly throughout the country or decreases. They are characterized by low rates of population reproduction and a reduction in the number of residents due to their outflow. In most cases, small cities are either highly specialized industrial centers or local administrative and trade and distribution centers. The number of places of employment in such cities is limited, and the degree of use of labor resources is small, and therefore in a number of small cities there is a surplus of labor. Creating the necessary cultural and living conditions for the population encounters great difficulties, since the implementation of many types of urban improvement and maintenance is not economically profitable.

Strengthening the city-forming basis of small towns can be achieved through the construction of small production facilities, workshops and branches of large industrial enterprises located in large cities, and the development of recreational and service functions. More than 60 million people live in small towns, with about half living in the smallest urban settlements with a population of 1 to 20 thousand. This category of cities in terms of population does not differ from large rural settlements, in which about half of the rural population currently lives. population (Fig. 24).

Urban forms of settlement include cities and urban-type settlements (in Russia).

A city in the Russian Federation is considered a settlement with a population of more than 12 thousand people, 85% of which are engaged in non-agricultural activities.

Urban settlement - 3-4 thousand people, 85% are not engaged in agriculture.

The oldest city in Russia is Derbent (8th-9th century AD)

Temporary settlements - holiday villages, shift camps for oil workers, houses for hunters and fishermen.

There are now 3 billion people living in cities. By 2050, 5 billion are predicted. The most urbanized areas are America and Europe.

In Russia, the urban population predominates in central Russia and the North.

The most urbanized territories are the Murmansk region, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, and the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. The reason is that there is no agriculture there. Murmansk is the largest city in the world beyond the Arctic Circle (about 400 thousand). St. Petersburg is the northernmost million-plus city.

The least urbanized are the North Caucasus and Southern Federal Districts.

In Chechnya and Ingushetia - more than 50% of the rural population (only 2 regions in Russia).

The level of urbanization of the Leningrad region is less than the Russian average. The two largest cities of the Leningrad region are Vyborg and Gatchina (100 thousand each). Vyborg at the time of joining Russia was the second most important city in Finland.

The first cities arose in ancient times. They mainly occurred in river deltas (Nile, Tigris, Euphrates). They emerge as centers of trade and craft. Along with crafts, surplus products appear that need to be sold. River deltas have access to the seas - it is easier to trade. Memphis, Rome – 100 thousand

During the Middle Ages, the population grew slowly. In the 10th century - 350 million people, the share of the urban population was 3-5%. Large cities were considered to have 10-30 thousand people. The largest cities are Paris, Milan, Prague, Novgorod, London, Pskov, Moscow.

All the largest cities appeared on the site of former Roman cities.

Features and prerequisites for the emergence of medieval cities:

The economic source is the division of labor (separation of crafts from agriculture). A craftsman settles under the walls of a feudal lord's castle, or under the walls of a monastery. Firstly, it is protection, and secondly, it is a sales market. The geographically advantageous location played a decisive role in the development of cities. One of the factors is war. The people who settle near the fortress are townspeople. If there are many of them, a second ring of the wall is built.

The streets were narrow, the facades were short in length, there was no sewerage system, and poor landscaping was a feature of medieval cities.

The political factor also plays a role in the formation of cities. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the leaders were Spain and Portugal. Lisbon was the largest city in the world in the 15th and 16th centuries, and London in the 19th century.

Now the largest city is Tokyo.

There is no global definition of a city.

For Denmark, Sweden and Finland, a city is 200 people not employed in agriculture. In Canada and Australia there are more than 2000. In India and Iran there are 5000 people. In Switzerland and Malaysia - 10,000, Japan - 50,000 people.

City– a settlement whose residents are usually employed outside of agriculture; The classification of a settlement as a city is formalized by law.

Typology of cities:

1. Small (up to 50 thousand)

2. Medium (50 - 100 thousand)

3. Large (100 – 250 thousand)

4. Large (250 – 500 thousand)

5. Largest (500 thousand - 1 million)

6. Millionaire cities (over 1 million)

Urban agglomeration– a compact spatial grouping of settlements (mainly urban), united into one whole by intensive production, labor, cultural, social and recreational connections.

Typology of urban agglomerations:

1. Monocentric - with 1 city-center, which subordinates to its influence all other settlements located in its suburban area, and far exceeds them in size and economic potential.

2. Polycentric - with several interconnected city centers (conurbation).

The largest agglomerations of the Russian Federation: the largest is Moscow with a population of 13.5 million people; it includes about 100 urban and several thousand rural settlements; St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Ekaterinburg, Samara.

Problems of cities:

1. Environmental (for large cities)

2. Competition between major cities

3. Social (mainly for large cities)

Introduction

The city is one of man's greatest and most complex creations. The appearance of cities - the stone chronicle of humanity - preserves the memory of the most important events in world history. Cities are the main arena of political, economic, social processes taking place in the modern world, the place where the greatest values ​​​​created by human labor are concentrated.

How and why do cities grow? How to reveal the mysterious secret of the spatial concentration of cities in different parts of the globe? What is their internal structure? These questions concern all people and constitute the professional task of the geographical study of cities.

The purpose of the course work is to consider the largest urban agglomerations, ways of their formation and development.

The objectives of this work are:

· in identifying the features of the structure and formation of the largest urban agglomerations;

· in considering the hierarchy of urban systems;

· in identifying urban problems.

Urban agglomerations are a developing form of settlement and territorial organization of the economy. Concentrating a huge scientific, technical, industrial and socio-cultural potential, they are the main bases for accelerating scientific and technological progress and have a great influence on the vast territories surrounding them, so their study is especially relevant today.

The course work consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion and a list of references and includes one table. It is written on 28 pages. The first chapter includes four subchapters, the second - three. Eight different literature sources were used to write this work.

Concept of urban agglomeration

In the historical evolution of settlement forms, traditional types of populated areas - urban and rural settlements developing relatively autonomously - are increasingly being replaced by new “group” forms of highly concentrated settlement, formed when settlements are placed close together and intensive connections are formed between them. These are urban agglomerations - clusters of populated areas that are rapidly developing throughout the world, often consisting of tens, and sometimes hundreds of settlements, including rural settlements, closely connected with each other. There is no uniform terminology to refer to these population clusters. Along with the term “urban agglomeration”, the terms “local settlement systems”, “districts of large cities”, “group settlement systems”, “constellation of cities” are used.

The most common term “urban agglomeration” is not entirely appropriate. In industrial production technology, agglomeration means “the formation of large pieces (aggregation) from fine ores and dusty materials by sintering.” In economic literature, the term “agglomeration” characterizes territorial combination, concentration of industrial enterprises in one place.

The term “agglomeration” in relation to settlement was introduced by the French geographer M. Rouget, according to which agglomeration occurs when the concentration of urban activities goes beyond administrative boundaries and spreads to neighboring settlements.

In Russian literature, the concept of urban agglomeration was used quite widely already in the 10s and 20s, although under different names: this is also the “economic district of the city” by A.A. Krubera, and “agglomeration” by M.G. Dikansky, and the “economic city” of V.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky.

There are many definitions for the word “agglomeration”.

According to N.V. Petrov, urban agglomerations are compact clusters of territorially concentrated cities and other populated areas, which in the process of their growth come closer (sometimes grow together) and between which diverse economic, labor, cultural and everyday relationships intensify.

E.N. Pertsik gives another definition: an urban agglomeration is a system of territorially close and economically interconnected populated areas, united by stable labor, cultural, social and production ties, common social and technical infrastructure, a qualitatively new form of settlement, it arises as the successor of the city in its compact (autonomous) , point) form, a special product of modern urbanization. And large urban agglomerations are the most important areas in which progressive industries, administrative, economic, scientific and design organizations, unique cultural and art institutions, and the most qualified personnel are concentrated.

The boundaries of an urban agglomeration are mobile in time due to changes in the most important parameter of agglomeration - the range of daily movements from the place of residence to the places of employment: within the framework of the spatial self-organization of these movements, their range increases in proportion to the increase in the speed of means of transport, and the time spent increases slightly.

The development of urban agglomerations is characterized by: the build-up of gigantic urban clusters, including non-stop growing and spreading cores, drawing ever new territories into their orbit, and the concentration of large masses of the population in them; the rapid development of suburbs and the gradual (although not clearly visible everywhere) redistribution of the population between city centers and suburban areas; attracting the rural population to non-agricultural work, especially in urban areas; pendulum migrations and systematic movements of people within agglomerations to work, places of study, cultural services and recreation, acquiring an unprecedented scale.

E.N. Pertsik offers various criteria for urban agglomerations: urban population density and continuity of development; the presence of a large city center (usually with a population of at least 100 thousand people); intensity and range of work, cultural and social trips; proportion of non-agricultural workers; share of people working outside their place of residence; the number of satellite urban settlements and the intensity of their connections with the center city; number of telephone conversations with the center; industrial relations; communications for social, domestic and technical infrastructure (unified engineering systems of water supply, energy supply, sewerage, transport, etc.). In some cases, a combination of characteristics is taken as a criterion, in others it is focused on one of them (for example, the boundaries of an agglomeration are distinguished by 1.5- or 2-hour isochrones of labor movements from the center city).

Modern society, due to many global processes, is becoming more and more urbanized. Therefore, the issue of studying and describing megacities and agglomerations is more than relevant. The article describes the largest agglomerations in the world, and also gives a definition of the term “agglomeration”.

What is agglomeration

Most modern encyclopedias define an agglomeration as a large concentration of settlements, which are mainly urban, and in exceptional cases, rural entities, which are united into one through economic, political and cultural ties. The world's largest agglomerations began to form in the mid-20th century, when urban growth occurred everywhere. In the 21st century, the process of urbanization intensified and continued in a new form.

An agglomeration can form around one and be called monocentric. Examples of such agglomerations are New York and Paris. The second type of agglomeration is called polycentric, which means that the agglomeration includes several large settlements, which, independently of one another, are central. A striking example of a polycentric agglomeration is the Ruhr region in Germany.

As of 2005, there were about 400 agglomerations around the world, the number of inhabitants in each of them exceeded 2 million people. The largest agglomerations in the world are located rather unevenly on the map, but their greatest concentration is observed in economic areas. The ten largest agglomerations in the world are home to more than 230 million people (much more than the population of the Russian Federation).

Tokyo and Yokohama

Of course, the largest agglomeration is Tokyo. Its population today is approaching 38 million people, which exceeds the population of many European countries (Switzerland, Poland, the Netherlands and others). The agglomeration is inherently polycentric and unites two central cities - Yokohama and Tokyo, as well as a huge number of small settlements. The agglomeration area is 13.5 thousand km 2.

The center of this huge agglomeration is made up of three urban districts, which are located around the imperial palace in Tokyo. In addition, the city is home to 20 more districts and several prefectures (Gumma, Kanagawa, Ibaraki, etc.). This entire structure is commonly called Greater Tokyo.

London

At the moment, there are many definitions of the territory in which the city of London is located. These include the Greater County and even the London Postal or Telegraph District. Scientists usually divide the territorial structure of the British capital into the historical center (City), Inner London (13 city blocks), and Outer London (suburban old areas). All these territorial elements form the structure and population that the largest agglomerations in the world have.

The administrative boundaries of the London agglomeration occupy about 11 thousand km 2 with a population of about 12 million people. This territory also includes the so-called satellite towns of London: Bracknell, Harlow, Basildon, Crawley and others. And also directly those territories that are adjacent to the capital: Essex, Surrey, Kent, Hertfordshire.

Paris

Administratively, the city of Paris is only one of the departments that make up the Ile-de-France region. But the capital has long ago taken over all eight departments; the administrative division is currently arbitrary. And Paris is an urbanized center that has the same qualities as the largest agglomerations and In particular, Paris has a significant number of satellite cities that were built and merged into the capital back in the 1960s.

The construction of the so-called new cities - specially created satellites of Paris - began in the Great Crown in the 1960s.

Paris as the capital of France, together with the so-called new cities and crowns, forms a huge agglomeration, or Greater Paris. The area of ​​the metropolis is 12 thousand km 2, and the population is more than 13 million people. Paris represents the world's largest agglomerations on the map of Europe.

Asian agglomerations

Recently, Asia has begun to gain ground in global economic and cultural life. The largest agglomerations in the world are also concentrated in Asian countries. A clear example is the city of Mumbai, which has a population of over 22 million. Or the capital of the Philippines, Manila, with a population of 20 million, as well as Delhi, with 18 million inhabitants. In China, agglomerations occupy about 10% of the entire country's territory. Megacities such as Shanghai (19 million people) and Hong Kong (15 million inhabitants) are clear examples of urbanization processes in the East.

Thus, in modern conditions of globalization and urbanization, large cities are growing and turning into agglomerations, of which there are more and more in the world.