Megalopolis formations of foreign Europe

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of complex, large-scale and ambitious in its development form of settlement as megalopolis. Genesis, territorial structure, and dynamics of megalopolis development are still not sufficiently studied by scientists. The criteria for identification and delimitation of these objects are clarified. Of particular interest are the processes of systems development and forms of settlement in Europe. Features and levels of development of megalopolis formations were studied in the developed countries of foreign Europe - in regions possessing the prerequisites for their formation. The regional features of development of the European megalopolises are revealed, the prospects of their development are analyzed. The two types of megalopolis formations are outlined by order of its relative maturity in the foreign Europe: 1) mature formations of the largest European countries: Rhine, English, Po valley (North-Italian) megalopolises; 2) large metropolitan settlement systems - the Parisian and the Roman-Neapolitan, promising the formation of megalopolises, and now being the objects of submegalopolis type. The world and European experience of urban development suggests that at certain stage of economic development the formation of more complex and large-scale megalopolis-level systems compared to agglomerations, performing the most important international functions, is initiated.