Major Cities
tOKYOPopulation: 14 million
Major landmarks: Tokyo tower, Tokyo Skytree, Meiji Jingu, Tokyo National Museum. Languages spoken: Japanese, Ryukyuan Site: 35.6764° N, 139.6500° E, Southeast Japan, in the Canto region of Japan Situation: Located on the coast of the Philippine sea, along the Arakawa river, Surrounded by Chiba, Yokohama, Saitama. Tokyo is a coastal city with a large CBD that is located right on the coast. Tokyo's layout can be well explained by the southeast Asian city model. Because, there is a port zone that functions as a CBD located on the coast. Although Tokyo itself only has around 14 million people, there are technically over 37 million people residing in the Tokyo metropolitan area. The metropolitan area includes Tokyo and some neighboring prefectures. Because of this, Tokyo is the world's most populated city and is a metacity because it's overall population is greater than 20 million people. Tokyo is also a world city because it acts as an urban center for the global economy and is part of a network connecting cities around the globe. The description of a primate city fits Tokyo because it's official population is 14 million, which is much more than double the second-largest city in Japan. The second largest city in Japan is Yokohama with a population of 3.7 million. Yokohama is also part of the Tokyo metropolitan area located on the coast of Japan. So, Tokyo is the primate city in Japan. The central place theory also partially fits because Tokyo is very large and there are smaller cities encompassing it. |
guayaquilPopulation: 2.7 million
Major landmarks: Guayaquil historical park, Plaza Guayarte, banco Pichinca monumental stadium, Parque Seminario Languages spoken: Spanish, Quichua Site: 2.1894° S, 79.8891° W, located in the coastal region of Ecuador. Situation: Located on the west bank of the Guayas river, close to the coast on the pacific ocean. Located west of the Rio Guayas, follows it along. Guayaquil partially follows the Latin American city model because of the large housing expanses which have been put up extending from the coast and eventually are becoming part of the city. It also follows the southeast Asian city model because of the location of the CBD on the coast. With the CBD located on the coast, it allows for further expansion inland only which halts the growth of the city. Guayaquil is an edge city. It has a relatively large urban area located right on the coast of the Guayas river. But, further away from the coast, on the west there is a large residential area that slowly develops into a suburban housing district. There are also large rural plots of land and islands further away from the CBD. Guayaquil is neither a megacity or a metacity because of it's small population of 2.7 million. Ecuador follows the rank size rule very closely. For example, Quito is the second largest city with 1.8 million people, then Cuenca with 600 thousand people, and Santo Domingo with 330 thousand. There is a clear correlation between the populations of these cities and their ranking on size in the country. This follows the rank size rule because each city following Guayaquil is constantly decreasing by similar amounts. Guayaquil is also a primate city because there is a very large population within the city. But, as the city is exited there are not any large cities or communities anywhere nearby. |