Topic: Megacities. Metropolitan areas.

Target group

Second class of a high school and a technical secondary school.

Core curriculum

VII. Diversification of social structures and urbanization processes: linguistic structures and education, cultural perception of space, socio‑ethnical cohesion, urbanization phases, metropolization processes, physiognomic types and functions of cities, forms of urban complexes.

Student:

6) identifies the functions, physiognomic types of cities and forms of urban complexes in the world, links the physiognomic types of cities with civilization circles and the level of economic development of countries.

General aim of education

The student will map the largest cities in the world on the map and discuss the types of city teams.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• explain why some cities are called megacities;

• list the largest urban complexes in the world and show them on the map;

• divide up urban teams and give examples;

• indicate the largest megalopolis on the world map.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion.

• exposing

  • exposition.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers;

• Google Earth;

• physical map of the World;

• geographical atlases;

• projector.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

• Students get acquainted with the content of the abstract. They prepare to work on the lesson in such a way to be able to summarize the material read in their own words and solve the tasks themselves.

Introduction

• The teacher gives the pupils the topic and goals of the lesson.

Realization

• The teacher asks students to explain the concept of a megamast. Students use the geography teaching handbook.

• The teacher launches the Google Earth program and shows satellite cities of Tokyo, New York, Paris, etc. using satellite imagery. Talk.

• The teacher displays on the interactive whiteboard a table from the e‑textbook Megacity. Students read the most populated cities of the world and point to the world map. Among the given cities, cities belonging to developing countries are indicated.

• Pupils are reflecting on the problem: Why are cities in developing countries more numerous than in highly developed countries? Students analyze the question in a parch, then share their conclusions on the forum.

• The teacher divides the urban teams into monocentric polycentric agglomerations and megalopolis. Students look for explanations in the textbook. They explain on the class forum. They give examples of urban teams in the world.

• On the screen the teacher displays a diagram from the e‑textbook: monocentric and polycentric agglomeration. Students indicate differences.

• Students give examples of urban teams in the world, they use various source materials: Internet, e‑textbooks, geography textbooks. They determine the names of cities that are part of urban teams, they give numbers.

• The teacher asks students to think about the problems that arise from the functioning of big cities. Stock market ideas. Each pair presents the discussed example, which is saved on the mental map.

Summary

• Students perform interactive exercises on a multimedia board, included in the e‑manual.

• The teacher assesses the students' work, taking into account the contribution and their possibilities.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Megacities. Metropolitan areas.

In certain countries, a minimum number of inhabitants is required before a given place can be recognised as a city. In Denmark, for example, 200 residents are sufficient, whereas in India there must be a minimum of 20 thousand inhabitants.

Cities with a population of over 10 million inhabitants are called megacities. In 1950 there were only two – New York‑Newark and Tokyo. In 1995 the number had risen to 14. There are currently more than 20, and in 2025 they are expected to exceed 30.

Data from 2014 is presented in the table.

The chart shows that the majority of megacities are located in underdeveloped countries. It seems to be a paradox – the degree of urbanisation there is low, yet cities are growing to immense sizes.

There is a simple explanation for the apparent paradox. The low level of urbanisation in developing countries means that people who wish to move to a city have a limited choice. Migrating to a city is life‑changing, which is why the metropolitan areas with the best development prospects are most frequently chosen. The choice usually falls on the country's capital, the largest city or a port city. Sometimes all of these criteria are fulfilled at once. This is why there is a mass influx of migrants to one urban centre, which, in a city with an already high natural increase, causes the population to rise dramatically. The population of Lagos, for example, has grown to 34 times its previous size over the course of 65 years.

A large percentage of city residents in developing countries have a low income, and some of them arrive in the city with no means of living. This is why they seek out areas of the city which are unappealing to others and attempt to live there. These areas could be, for example, floodplains by a river, the steep slopes of hills located in the suburbs or areas in very close proximity to the centre. As time goes on, these areas grow to the size of housing estates and districts. They are usually called slums, however in India they are known as bustees, and in Latin America favelas.

Life in these areas is not easy. Residents earn low incomes, if at all, meaning that houses are built with the cheapest materials available, hence their small size and low quality. Population density there is high. Since the areas are often occupied illegally, there is usually no water supply, sewers or power networks. There is a lack of state care and no one is responsible for safety, so crime flourishes. Diseases appear, caused by the lack of clean water and fires break out, etc.

The problems caused by the rapid urbanisation of cities in developing countries do not only affect residents with low incomes. City authorities usually cannot keep up with the development of infrastructure, which leads, for example, to an inefficient transport system or difficulties disposing of rubbish.

An increasing population, the building of new industrial plants and the establishment of shopping centres causes cities to expand outwards – they occupy a larger and larger area. This causes neighbouring cities to converge, until consequently their suburban areas meet. Due to the ease of travelling between the cities, administrative authorities and companies begin to co‑operate more closely, people commute to work, to school and to go shopping. This is how metropolitan areas (agglomerations) are formed.
If one of the cities in a metropolitan area is significantly larger, and is dominant in terms of population or its economy, we call it a monocentric agglomeration. Some examples are the Berlin and Moscow metropolitan areas, and in Poland, the Warsaw and Wrocław agglomerations.

In certain cases, the neighbouring cities have developed at the same speed, due to, for example, vast deposits of raw materials. Then, the growth of each of them has contributed equally to the creation of the metropolitan area. Since none of the cities stands out, we call this a polycentric agglomeration (conurbation). Some examples are: the region in the West of Germany between Düsseldorf and Dortmund, called the Ruhr district, and in Poland, the area between Gliwice and Dąbrowa Górnicza (the Upper Silesian metropolitan area).

Metropolitan areas which are especially large in terms of population and expanse have even been given their own name – megalopolis. A classic metropolitan area of this type is located on the East coast of the United States between Boston and Washington, occupying an area a little less than half of Poland, where around 45 million people live. Other examples of megalopolises are: the Japanese Pas Taiheiyō (83 million inhabitants), the British agglomeration encompassing London, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool (20.5 million inhabitants) as well as the Brazillian megalopolis which combines the São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro‑Nova Iguaçu agglomerations (34.5 million inhabitants).