History Main / MegaCity

* Although it may not seem like much compared to other entries in this list, UsefulNotes/{{London}} was probably the first modern metropolis with a population of 6.7 million in the 1900s. It is still one and the largest among European cities, with 14 million people living in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_commuter_belt London commuter belt]] which includes the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_London Greater London]] area.

* In ''Literature/SuperMinion'', Fortress City is designed to hold the population of the entire eastern seaboard if need be. It's composed of fifteen concentric rings of eight sectors each, and each sector is big enough to need its own mayor.

A city whose population is larger than a reasonably sized country. The actual size can depend on the average city size of the setting, but for modern or sci-fi settings, you can assume that the number of citizens goes into the hundreds of millions or even billions.

Notice that, despite the introduction, a given city does not count as a Mega City just because it is bigger than ''some'' country. For example, in real life a whopping 41 countries around the world have less than a million inhabitants, 17 of those have less than 100,000, and cities of that size in other countries are normal and therefore would not be seen as mega cities.

-->-- '''[[http://www.tomparisdorm.com/viewstory.php?sid=4084 Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space]]'''

** The UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco Bay Area (in California), depending on where exactly you draw the boundaries, comprises up to 8.5 million people and is potentially the 2nd-largest metropolis in the United States - after the Los Angeles area - with a steadily growing population from immigration into the region. It's a well-networked mesh of cities, suburbs, and large towns that surround the SF Bay, and continue to extend outward from there.

* Literature/{{Discworld}}: While Ankh-Morpork only has a million inhabitants, it is still the biggest city in the [[MedievalStasis setting]]. In ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant'', Carrot points out that it's actually the largest dwarf city, having more dwarfs than any purely dwarf city. (This isn't as far-fetched as it may seem -- a RealLife example is the city of São Paulo, whose Italian community is larger than any city in ''Italy itself''.)

* Another East Asian state, the de facto nation UsefulNotes/{{Taiwan}}, also has one, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei–Keelung_metropolitan_area Taipei metropolitan area]] with 7 to 9.2 million people. Taipei itself is actually ''two'' cities, the capital city Taipei with a population of 2.7 million and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Taipei_City New Taipei]] that completely surrounds it and has a population of 4 million. New Taipei used to be "Taipei County", but as it had become completely urbanized it was designated a city in its own right in 2010. The variance in the population for the metro area as a whole depends on whether Depending on whether [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoyuan,_Taiwan Taoyuan]], population 2.2 million, is included in the Taipei metropolitan area. The larger definition of the metro area contains nearly 40% of Taiwan's total population of 23.7 million (as of 2019).

* Another East Asian state, the de facto nation UsefulNotes/{{Taiwan}}, also has one, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei–Keelung_metropolitan_area Taipei metropolitan area]] with 7 to 9 million people.

* Most of Earth's population lives in such megacities in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'', ''averaging'' out at populations of three to five billion each, made of cluster's of [[{{Arcology}} arcologies]]. Despite a planetary population of nearly 200 billion in the opening days of the thirty-first century, extensive use of such high towers means that they only take up about 10% of the Earth's surface.

-->-- '''Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space'''

** The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BUG%27s Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongsangnamdo metropolitan area]] isn't as large as the Seoul metropolitan area, but it still houses 8 million people, making it the second largest metropolitan area in South Korea.

* UsefulNotes/{{Seoul}} is also this. In fact, half of the population of UsefulNotes/{{South Korea}} resides in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seoul_Capital_Area Seoul Capital Area]] (25.5 out of 51 million) with 10 million of them in Seoul, making it one of the largest metropolitan area in terms of population. Its semi-affectionate nickname as the "Republic of Seoul" isn't completely unfounded when you consider that most of your extended family probably live somewhere in the area.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has Hive Cities, mountains of metal housing millions of inhabitants and dependent on imported food and water from neighboring [[SingleBiomePlanet Farm Planets]]. They tend to settle into very stratified societies, with the administrators and wealthiest citizens living comfortably in the Spire, while gangs, mutants, and worse struggle to survive in the dark and decaying Underhive. Many of the setting's "{{City Planet}}s" aren't actually covered entirely by urbanization, but are rather dotted with hive cities separated by the resulting {{Polluted Wasteland}}s.
** Holy Terra is a proper CityPlanet, though individual complexes stand out as pseudo Mega Cities in their own right: the Imperial Palace covers a good portion of the northern hemisphere, the Inquisition's headquarters is beneath what used to be the southern ice cap, and the Hall of the Astronomicon [[RefugeInAudacity was carved out of the interior of Mount Everest]]. Unlike many settings' hive cities, the value of Terra is not as a trade hub, but as the slow-beating administrative heart of the Imperium and the holiest of religious sites.
** There's also Cammoragh, the ''city dimension'' of Dark Eldar, which supposedly dwarfs imperial Hive worlds in size. Supposedly, because it's an extra-dimensional conglomerate of megapolicies, arranged in a way that [[AlienGeometry defies all common sense]]. It's also arguably the most evil place in the galaxy, and that's saying A LOT in 40k.

The Mega City will probably be the capital or HubCity, and if it's not a MerchantCity, there'll definitely be a BazaarOfTheBizarre if you know where to look. If its land area is restricted, expect it to be a SkyscraperCity.

Occasionally, a Mega City will grow so large that it will encompass the entire planet, making this a SuperTrope to CityPlanet.

Occasionally, a Mega City will grow so large that it will become a CityPlanet.

* Most of Earth's population lives in such megacities in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'', ''averaging'' out at populations of three to five billion each, made of cluster's of [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Arcology arcologies]]. Despite a planetary population of nearly 200 billion in the opening days of the thirty-first century, extensive use of such high towers means that they only take up about 10% of the Earth's surface.

* Most of Earth's population lives in such megacities, ''averaging'' out at populations of three to five billion each, made of cluster's of [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Arcology arcologies]]. Despite a planetary population of nearly 200 billion in the opening days of the thirty-first century, extensive use of such high towers means that they only take up about 10% of the Earth's surface.

* UsefulNotes/MexicoCity. Depending on who asks, the population ranges between 20 and 22 million people. That's more than the entire population of some Latin American countries like Chile.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'' has the city planet of Coruscant. It's rumored that one can walk all the way around the planet without ever setting foot on its surface.