how many alpha global city regions can be found in europe

Globally, they are considered key centres of influence, for several reasons.įrom a political point of view, Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union, a major centre for international politics, and home to many international organizations. Central Belgium and the Randstadįocussing on central Belgium (the Brussels area) and the Dutch Randstad (a crescent of cities in the west of the Netherlands), both regions have a combined number of inhabitants of 15.1 million. The project discerns eight megacity regions in northwest Europe: southeast England, the Paris region, central Belgium, the Dutch Randstad, Rhine-Main, Rhine-Ruhr, northern Switzerland and greater Dublin.Īrchitect and designer Edwin Heathcote explains: “Ironically, the suburban growth of the cities in this belt, which has coincided with the decline of heavy industry, infrastructural developments and city- scale airport hubs, may be making Friedman’s vision a reality.” Additionally, there are also plans for a Hamburg-Copenhagen megacity. In recent years, a POLYNET study researched “sustainable management of European polycentric mega-city regions”. As early as the 1960s, architect Yona Friedman predicted “the development of a dense urban belt stretching from the City of Oxford in South East England to the Rhine-Ruhr region of Germany”. In Europe, too, urbanization is a discernible trend. The Greater Shanghai region would then possibly be home to more than 170 million inhabitants by 2020. None of those exist today, but the Chinese government is reportedly planning to connect multiple cities in various regions, resulting in several of these gigacities. The United Nations defines megacities as urban or metropolitan areas withĪt least 10 million inhabitants – and on an even larger scale, gigacities count more than 100 million inhabitants. In densely populated areas, neighbouring cities fuse together and one-time suburbs become part of the metropolis. With this development comes the logical growth of cities. Even though trends differ across regions and development levels, virtually all countries across the world are becoming increasingly urbanized. These staggering numbers illustrate the massive urbanization of society. Two thirds of the world’s population will be living in an urban area by 2050. According to the United Nations, approximately

More than half the world’s population lives in cities.

How many alpha global city regions can be found in europe