A conurbation is a region that includes a series of cities, large towns and other urban areas that, through population growth and physical growth, end up merging. For both geography and urban planning, the terms "conurbation" and "suburban cone" are used to describe both the process and the result of the growth of several cities - one or several of which may play a central or dominant role - that become integrated into a single system that is usually hierarchical or, in some cases, the different units that make it up maintain their functional and dynamic independence.
Thus, a conurbation is usually made up of several cities that differ functionally and organically, and each of them has its own spatial organization. From a spatial point of view, the conurbation does not require the physical continuity of the built spaces, although it is common for the suburban areas of one city to come into contact with one another, intertwining through roads. The peri-urban area, on the other hand, occupies the entire space between cities. In this way, the conurbation reaches a regional scale, on the order of a few hundred square kilometers. The different cities that make up the conurbation have differentiated activities, their own dynamics, their own economic resources and the ability to attract investments, their own center, periphery and suburban spaces, their own social groups and personality, a way of being and a culture that identifies them.
Etymology
This neologism is due to Patrick Geddes (Cities in evolution, 1915; in Spanish Ciudades en evolution), who tries to describe the growth, as a whole, of a group of cities, although the use that he initially gave it -closer to the idea of the generalized extension of the city- does not correspond exactly to the meaning that this term has subsequently had among geographers and urban planners.
Types of conurbations
The conurbation must be differentiated from the urban agglomeration, a phenomenon characterized by the expansion of a city, to which the entire dynamics of the area is due, which affects several neighboring nuclei and municipalities, which are absorbed or suburbanized by the city to form a continuous whole in which there is only one organization of space (a center, a periphery, suburban areas and peri-urban spaces), although points of articulation such as subcenters can be distinguished in the suburban area, corresponding to the main squares of the suburbanized municipalities. In the agglomeration there is spatial continuity, but not functional independence, nor dynamic independence.
Urban continuity
Introduction
A conurbation is a region that includes a series of cities, large towns and other urban areas that, through population growth and physical growth, end up merging. For both geography and urban planning, the terms "conurbation" and "suburban cone" are used to describe both the process and the result of the growth of several cities - one or several of which may play a central or dominant role - that become integrated into a single system that is usually hierarchical or, in some cases, the different units that make it up maintain their functional and dynamic independence.
Thus, a conurbation is usually made up of several cities that differ functionally and organically, and each of them has its own spatial organization. From a spatial point of view, the conurbation does not require the physical continuity of the built spaces, although it is common for the suburban areas of one city to come into contact with one another, intertwining through roads. The peri-urban area, on the other hand, occupies the entire space between cities. In this way, the conurbation reaches a regional scale, on the order of a few hundred square kilometers. The different cities that make up the conurbation have differentiated activities, their own dynamics, their own economic resources and the ability to attract investments, their own center, periphery and suburban spaces, their own social groups and personality, a way of being and a culture that identifies them.
Etymology
This neologism is due to Patrick Geddes (Cities in evolution, 1915; in Spanish Ciudades en evolution), who tries to describe the growth, as a whole, of a group of cities, although the use that he initially gave it -closer to the idea of the generalized extension of the city- does not correspond exactly to the meaning that this term has subsequently had among geographers and urban planners.
Types of conurbations
The conurbation must be differentiated from the urban agglomeration, a phenomenon characterized by the expansion of a city, to which the entire dynamics of the area is due, which affects several neighboring nuclei and municipalities, which are absorbed or suburbanized by the city to form a continuous whole in which there is only one organization of space (a center, a periphery, suburban areas and peri-urban spaces), although points of articulation such as subcenters can be distinguished in the suburban area, corresponding to the main squares of the suburbanized municipalities. In the agglomeration there is spatial continuity, but not functional independence, nor dynamic independence.
There are differences in the result and in the dynamics of the conurbation process between the countries of the first industrialization, in the case of European conurbations, and those that appear in developing or third world countries, in the case of Ibero-American conurbations. Conurbations of the first type correspond to a regional process associated with an industrial development model in which initiatives are spread throughout an area where several cities are capable of directing the transformation process. Those of the second case correspond fundamentally to the crisis of traditional rural society and are generated around an openly macrocephalic capital. There is no regional development, but mere urban growth supported by the demand generated by the increase in population, with abundant primitive tertiary and temporary jobs in construction and public works, which are accompanied by administrative and professional services and with urban industry arising under the protection of the market that concentration entails. A good example of this case is the urban system developed around Mexico City, where to the impressive macrocephaly of the capital is added a whole crown of cities that in many cases exceed one million inhabitants, such as Puebla or Toluca.
A third type of conurbation is the one formed by two or three neighboring cities whose development and growth ends up turning them into a system in which it usually happens that one of them is much larger in size than the other and dominates it, making it dependent or turning it into a satellite city.
On the other hand, the phenomenon of conurbation is associated with a type of settlement in which there are many urban-sized nuclei not too far from each other. The case of the Valencian Community in Spain, in the Alicante-Elche-Murcia complex, is a good example, although it could also serve as the basis for a new type, based on leisure and tourism, together with industry and market agriculture. On the contrary, cities located in populated areas where urban centers are very far from each other are forced to undergo considerable growth to give rise to conurbation phenomena, which explains the macrocephaly that usually characterizes them when they occur. This is the case of Madrid, where only recently could we consider the integration of cities such as Toledo or Guadalajara "Guadalajara (Spain)" into the system.
A good Spanish example of a conurbation is the group formed by Oviedo, Gijón, Avilés "Avilés (Asturias)"), Mieres and Langreo, in Asturias or the axis or metropolitan area of Santander-Torrelavega without leaving the Cantabrian Coast, in addition to the example cited in the Valencian Community, the Cádiz-Jerez system. In Extremadura we can find the Don Benito-Villanueva de la Serena conurbation. Urban agglomerations are, on the other hand, Madrid or Bilbao.
There are differences in the result and in the dynamics of the conurbation process between the countries of the first industrialization, in the case of European conurbations, and those that appear in developing or third world countries, in the case of Ibero-American conurbations. Conurbations of the first type correspond to a regional process associated with an industrial development model in which initiatives are spread throughout an area where several cities are capable of directing the transformation process. Those of the second case correspond fundamentally to the crisis of traditional rural society and are generated around an openly macrocephalic capital. There is no regional development, but mere urban growth supported by the demand generated by the increase in population, with abundant primitive tertiary and temporary jobs in construction and public works, which are accompanied by administrative and professional services and with urban industry arising under the protection of the market that concentration entails. A good example of this case is the urban system developed around Mexico City, where to the impressive macrocephaly of the capital is added a whole crown of cities that in many cases exceed one million inhabitants, such as Puebla or Toluca.
A third type of conurbation is the one formed by two or three neighboring cities whose development and growth ends up turning them into a system in which it usually happens that one of them is much larger in size than the other and dominates it, making it dependent or turning it into a satellite city.
On the other hand, the phenomenon of conurbation is associated with a type of settlement in which there are many urban-sized nuclei not too far from each other. The case of the Valencian Community in Spain, in the Alicante-Elche-Murcia complex, is a good example, although it could also serve as the basis for a new type, based on leisure and tourism, together with industry and market agriculture. On the contrary, cities located in populated areas where urban centers are very far from each other are forced to undergo considerable growth to give rise to conurbation phenomena, which explains the macrocephaly that usually characterizes them when they occur. This is the case of Madrid, where only recently could we consider the integration of cities such as Toledo or Guadalajara "Guadalajara (Spain)" into the system.
A good Spanish example of a conurbation is the group formed by Oviedo, Gijón, Avilés "Avilés (Asturias)"), Mieres and Langreo, in Asturias or the axis or metropolitan area of Santander-Torrelavega without leaving the Cantabrian Coast, in addition to the example cited in the Valencian Community, the Cádiz-Jerez system. In Extremadura we can find the Don Benito-Villanueva de la Serena conurbation. Urban agglomerations are, on the other hand, Madrid or Bilbao.