Atmetropolisesthey are big cities that have great economic influence power over other cities that are relatively close. These cities generally have a population of over 1 million inhabitants and offer a wide variety of consumer goods and services.
In some cases, the growth of some cities is so intense that they “touch” each other, in a process called conurbation. When two or more cities conurb each other or when the degree of influence and dependence between two neighboring cities is very high, themetropolitan regions.
Metropolitan regions are also called “metropolitan areas” and are characterized by having a main city and other smaller cities that are influenced by the larger city. These smaller cities are generally made up of populations that work, study or move frequently to the main city. For this reason, many of these smaller cities are calledbedroom towns.
Due to this integration between the cities of the same metropolitan region, the system of public transport needs to be well organized and integrated between all neighborhoods, which is not always it happens.
According to their degree of economic importance, metropolises are classified into three levels:
1) Global metropolis: they are metropolises that have links in terms of transport, economy and politics with different parts of the world. In Brazil, there are two global metropolises: Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Other examples are: London, New York, Paris and Tokyo.
New York, an example of a global city
2) National Metropolis: they are large metropolises that have a level of influence only within the country. Example: Belo Horizonte and Porto Alegre.
Belo Horizonte (MG), one of the Brazilian national metropolises
3) Regional Metropolis: they are medium-sized metropolises, with populations that usually do not exceed 4 million inhabitants and that only influence a nearby region within the country. Examples: Goiânia, Belém, Curitiba and Salvador.
Curitiba, regional metropolis
By Rodolfo Alves Pena
Graduated in Geography
