KEYMAP

DEFINITION, CONCEPT AND APPROACHES OF METROPOLITAN

REGION
Definition of Metropolitan Region in Various Countries: Definition by Dickinson
Various countries have specific definitions for the metropolitan areas based on statistical data and Dickinson has mentioned the ‘Metropolitan’ cities as “the large city, dominating
socio-economic features; a number of small towns and villages”. Based on this definition, we can say that
‘Metropolis/Metropolitan’ is a stage of the hierarchy of urban bodies. Evolution of
Country Parameters Definition
metropolitan depends on its economic and functional diversities. Actually, the
Canada • At Least 100,000 In Canada, metropolitans are known as Census Metropolitan Areas (CMA). It is an metropolitan economy is a universal feature of modern civilization. 
Population area consisting of one or more adjacent municipalities situated around a major
urban core with at least 100,000 population and half of the population live within Source - Concept Of Metropolitan By Dr. Pranab Kr. Das, April 17, 2020
the urban core.
China • Basic Range Of 1- In China, the National Development and Reform Commission (2019) defined Definition by Indian Constitution LEGEND
hour Commute Area metropolitan areas as “an urbanized spatial form in a megalopolis dominated by a  The 74th Amendment to the Indian Constitution defines a metropolitan area
super-city/s or megacity/s or a large metropolis playing a leading part, and within as An area having a population of 10 Lakh or 1 Million or more, comprised in
the basic range of 1-hour commute area. one or more districts and consisting of two or more Municipalities or
Sweden • A Group Of Sweden defines a metropolitan area as a group of municipalities, based on statistics Panchayats or other contiguous areas, specified by the Governor by public
Municipalities, Based of commuting between central municipalities and surrounding municipalities and notification to be a Metropolitan area.
On Statistics Of taking into account existing planning cooperation in the country’s three geographic Source -74th Amendment Act, 1992
Commuting Between regions.  As per the Census of India 2011 definition of more than 4 million
Central Municipalities population, some of the major Metropolitan Cities in India are:
And Surrounding • Mumbai (more than 18 Million)
Municipalities. • Ahmedabad (around 6.3 million)
• Delhi (more than 16 Million)
U.K. • At Least 75% Of An The United Kingdom metropolitan areas are known as ‘Travel to Work Areas’. The • Kolkata (more than 14 Million) • Pune (around 5.05 million)
Area’s Resident National Statics of U.K defines it as “at least 75% of an area’s resident workforce • Chennai (more than 8.6 million) • Surat (around 4.5 million)
Workforce Work In work in the area and at least 75% of the people who work in the area also live in the • Bangalore (around 8.5 million)
The Area. area. • Hyderabad (around 7.6 million)
U.S.A. • A City With A In the U.S.A, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with Source - Census of India 2011
Population   Of At
Least 50,000.
a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout
the area. The U.S. Census employs a unit called a Metropolitan Statistical Area
The Metropolitan Structure
• An Urbanized Area  (MSA) which includes either (1) a city with a population   of at least 50,000 or (2)
Of At Least 50,000 an urbanized area of at least 50,000 population with a total metropolitan population
Population. of at least 100,000 (75,000 in New England). An urbanized area is defined as
• And A Population having a population of at least 50,000, and a population density of at least 1,000 per
Density Of At Least square mile.
1,000 Per Square
Mile.

India • A Population Of One In India, the Census Commission defines a metropolitan city as an area having a
Million Or More. population of one million or more, comprised in one or more districts and
• In One Or More consisting of two or more Municipalities or Panchayats or other contiguous areas,
Districts. specified by the Governor by public notification to be a Metropolitan area. Where SOURCES
• Consisting Of Two the city having over four million is known as Metro cities. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata,
Or More Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmadabad are the metro cities of India. There are
Municipalities Or 47 one million-plus cities in India as of 2020.
Panchayats Or Other
Contiguous Areas.

Metropolitan Concept And Urban Agglomeration by Dr.Sayani Mukhopadhyay

M. Plan 2nd Year
Metropolis and Metropolitan Concept Third Semester
The word metropolis was first used by Lewis Mumford (1938, 1966). It was Sheet by – Rajdeep,,Aditi,Anchal
Source - Concept Of Metropolitan By Dr. Pranab Kr. Das, April 17, 2020 originally applied to the capital city of a state.
LITERATURE REVIEW
AHMEDABAD METROPOLITAN REGION PLAN
School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi Department of
Regional Planning
01
 KEYMAP
DEFINITION, CONCEPT AND APPROACHES OF METROPOLITAN
REGION (i) Criteria of Metropolitan Character 
Concept of Metropolitan Region: Metropolis Demographic Concept: (a) At least 25% of the population is urban. 
(b) The county had an increase of at least 15% in
total population during the period covered by the
most recent two censuses. 
(c) The county has a population density of at least 50
persons per square mile. 
(ii) Criteria of Integration 
(a) A least 15% of the employed workers living in
the county work in the central county or counties of
the area, or 
LEGEND
(b) The number of people working in the county who
live in the central county or counties of the area is
equal to at least 15 per cent of the employed workers
living in the county, or 
(c) The sum of the number of workers commuting to
and from the central county or counties is equal to at
least 20% of the employed workers living in the
county.
Source: Authors Based On Dijkstra, Poelman And Veneri (2019). Source - Metro Region Concept By TCPO
Source - Conurbations and Metropolitan Regions by Lotus AriseJuly 25, 2021
The general concept of a metropolitan area (MA) is that of a core area Berry and Horton, (1970) in their book Geographic Perspectives on
•The term ‘metropolitan city’ was first
containing a large population nucleus, together with adjacent communities Urban System have tried to list some of the more important
termed by Murphy (‘metro city’) and
that have a high degree of economic and social integration with that core.
Mumford (‘metropolitan city’). metropolitan characteristics.
According to Mumford, a metropolis is
The Urbanization Process one of the stages in the evolution of urban
settlement.
•The areas of influence of metropolitan
cities have been demarcated on the basis
of
• Air travel
• Railway passenger and
commodity flows
Source - Conurbations and Metropolitan Regions by Lotus AriseJuly 25, 2021 • Lang distance telephone calls
Current trends:
• Secondary metropolitan regions are developing
within the primary metro regions except Kolkata
region, basically due to linguistic states. The process
will accelerate in future which will lead to the SOURCES
emergence of new secondary metro centres, especially
the state capitals.
• But the primary metro regions will continue to have pre-
eminent position. Delhi’s importance will increase
disproportionately since it is the national capital.
• Looking at the meso level, Srinagar in the valley of
Kashmir, Shillong in Meghalaya, Aizawl in Mizoram,
Agartala in Tripura, Imphal in Manipur and Gangtok in M. Plan 2nd Year
Sikkim are all primate cities in their own way. Third Semester
Source - Book Geographic Perspectives On Urban
Sheet bySheet
– Rajdeep,,Aditi,Anchal
by – Rajdeep
System By Berry and Horton, (1970)

LITERATURE REVIEW
AHMEDABAD METROPOLITAN REGION PLAN
School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi Department of
Regional Planning
02
 KEYMAP
DEFINITION, CONCEPT AND APPROACHES OF METROPOLITAN
REGION
Planning Approches - Why?? Integrated and Sustainable Approach
It helps you to link your vision and work to the efforts of others who Sustainable development is a dynamic process in
share the same broad goal. Its value is that it forces you to always keep which communities anticipate and accommodate
the longer-term goal in mind. the needs of current and future generations in
ways that reproduce and balance local social,
• It is systematic;
economic, and ecological systems, and link local
• It creates a transparent basis for the processes of planning and
actions to regional concerns
evaluation;
• It enables effective participation in decision-making; and
• Most donors like organisations to use this approach when they make LEGEND
requests for funding. Promoting Inclusive planning - Acknowledging heterogenous nature of community,
having vulnerablity in different sectors. Participatory planning at the community level can
The types of approaches to developed any metropolitan area are as help to balance the relationship between environment, poverty and health.
follows:

Participatory Approach TWIN OBJECTIVE OF

• Planning to make built environments more livable with healthier ecosystems;
• economic development more responsive to the needs of place rather than furthering
Participatory planning is a process by which a community works to PARTICIPATORY the profits of a powerful few and
achieve a specific socioeconomic objective by identifying its issues PLANNING • Focuses on improving environmental and economic conditions which can equitably
and formulating a plan of action to address them. There is a need for
distributed.
experts, but only as facilitators. MANAGING THE
NATURAL
PURPOSE OF PARTICIPATORY APPROACH RESOURCE BASE Mixed-Methods Approach Quantitative
• Identification of the felt needs of the people . Procedure for collecting, analyzing, and “mixing” both quantitative
ENHANCING THE and qualitative research and methods in a single study to understand Mixed Approach
• The empowerment of local disadvantage groups. LIVELIHOODS OF a research problem.
• Integration of local knowledge system into planning. THE POOR Quantitative: Generally involves collecting numerical data that
can be subjected to statistical analysis Qualitative
• Two way learning process between the development and local Qualitative: Involves listening to the participants’ voice and subjecting the data to analytic
people. induction (e.g., finding common themes).
• It identified possible questions to be added in future iterations of the survey; It
Human Development Approach revealed variation in how participants in surveys and interviews respond to
• questions;
It is affirms that education and health-care growth are more
• It revealed variation in definition of a neighbourhood condition;
important than economic growth.
• It necessitated awareness of other data sources;
• About expanding the richness of human life.
• This approach is focused on people and their opportunities and
choices.
Strategic Planning Approach
• Focused on creating fair opportunities and choices for all • Based on the results of the regional analysis Rational planning involves SOURCES
people. and learning from case studies identifying and understanding gaps Human development report
• This approach includes an organization's between previously established goals 2020
Quantitative Approach leaders define their vision for the future and and past performance. Jatayu ,2020, Center for
identify their organization's goals and Regional Systems, Analysis,
• Emphasing on the analysis of relationship between different objectives. Incrementalism means moving from
variables. Planning and Development
Benefits: It forces organizations to be aware of the one strategy to the next, depending (CRESTPENT),
• To make an optimal decision by using mathematical and future state of opportunities and challenges. It on the unfolding of events beyond
statistical models. also forces them to anticipate risks and the control of managers.
M. Plan 2nd Year
• Quantitative research focuses on gathering numerical data and understand what resources will be needed to Third Semester
generalizing it across groups of people or to explain a particular seize opportunities and overcome issues.
phenomenon. Sheet bySheet
– Rajdeep,,Aditi,Anchal
by – Rajdeep

LITERATURE REVIEW
AHMEDABAD METROPOLITAN REGION PLAN
School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi Department of
Regional Planning
03