urban agglomeration
Merged metropolitan area
An urban agglomeration is a continuous built-up area formed when a city expands to absorb surrounding towns and suburbs.
The term appears in demographic and planning contexts to describe metropolitan regions that function as single urban units regardless of administrative boundaries: The Tokyo urban agglomeration is the world's largest, with over 37 million people.
Unlike "city," which often refers to legal jurisdictions, agglomeration captures the physical reality of urban sprawl.
- industrial hubRegion of concentrated manufacturing
- conurbationMerged continuous urban area
- suburbOutlying residential district
- bedroom communityResidential area near employment center
- metropolisLarge important city
metro area · satellite city · city limits · financial district · labor market · population density · megacity · green spaces · housing development · mixed use · city center · inner city · public space · business park · high rise · concrete jungle · demographic trends · traffic
- city groupssister cities, twin towns, metropolitan area, megacity, capital cities
- urban regionsmegalopolis, metroplex, conurbation, metro area, megaregion
urban agglomerationrural area
Low-density agricultural region
countryside · hinterland · rural district · wilderness · backcountry
urban agglomerationhamlet
Tiny rural settlement
small village · homestead · farmstead · remote settlement · one-horse town
urban agglomerationwilderness
Uncultivated, uninhabited natural region
open country · natural landscape · virgin forest · prairie · steppe