Metropolitan regions (or metropolitan areas) are urban areas that have a high population density.
Metropolitan regions are areas with strong urbanization which house a set of different cities that were coming together over time and approaching their geographic limits, in a process called conurbation.
These contiguous cities, according to the urban hierarchy, exert influence on the urban space, being important economic and political regions of the country.
Metropolitan regions generally have the best infrastructure, health and education services, quality of life and the greatest job offers.
Although they have numerous advantages, metropolitan regions can present several problems such as urban violence, mobility problems and pollution.
Furthermore, the cost of living in metropolitan areas is much higher than in smaller cities.
In the metropolitan region, a major city (usually a Metropolis) exerts greater influence over the other adjacent cities, for example, the city of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the most important of the Brazil.
Both are large industrial, financial, educational and research centers that share economic, political, social or cultural aspects with nearby cities.
Metropolitan Regions of Brazil
Metropolitan region of Sao Paulo
Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro
According to the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), around 45% of the Brazilian population lives in metropolitan regions.
Although in most cases metropolitan regions develop in capitals, they can occur in large cities in the country (Regional Metropolises). In Brazil, there are 68 metropolitan regions, of which the following stand out:
- Sao Paulo
- Rio de Janeiro
- Belo Horizonte
- Porto Alegre
- Brasilia
- strength
- savior
- Recife
- Curitiba
- Campinas
- Manaus
- Paraíba Valley
- Goiania
- Bethlehem
- Victory
- Sorocaba
- Baixada Santista
- North Coast
- St. Louis
- Christmas
- Piracicaba
- Sorocaba
Metropolitan Regions of the World
In the world, there are several metropolitan regions, of which the following stand out:
- Tokyo, Japan)
- Seoul (South Korea)
- Shanghai (China)
- New Delhi (India)
- Mexico City (Mexico)
- Beijing (China)
- Mumbai (India)
- Jakarta (Indonesia)
- New York (United States)
- Cairo (Egypt)
- Calcutta (India)
- Istanbul (Turkey)
- London, United Kingdom)
- Los Angeles (United States)
- Buenos Aires (Argentina)
- Paris, France)
- Lima (Peru)
- Chicago (United States)
- Bogota (Colombia)
- Madrid (Spain)
Creation and Purpose of Metropolitan Regions
Metropolitan regions are created through specific public functions, which share common interests among municipalities.
The most important objective of metropolitan regions is to enable the management, organization of cities and planning. They are defined by federal or state laws, as indicated in the Constitution of Brazil:
CHAPTER III - OF THE FEDERATE STATES
Art. 25. States are organized and governed by the Constitutions and laws they adopt, observing the principles of this Constitution.
§ 1º The powers that are not prohibited by this Constitution are reserved to the States.
§ 2 It is incumbent upon the States to directly exploit, or through concession, local piped gas services, in accordance with the law, the issuance of a provisional measure for its regulation being prohibited. (Wording given by Constitutional Amendment No. 5 of 1995)
§ 3 The States may, by means of a complementary law, establish metropolitan regions, urban agglomerations and micro-regions, constituted by groupings of neighboring municipalities, to integrate the organization, planning and execution of public functions of interest ordinary.
Expand your knowledge of the subject by reading the articles:
- urban geography
- urban hierarchy
- Brazilian Urban Network
- Brazilian population
- Brazilian Infrastructure
- Urban violence
- Metropolis and Megalopolis
- What are Global Cities?
- Megacities
- Conurbation
- Urbanization
- Enem geography: subjects that fall the most
