Patrick Geddes, Lewis Mumford and Jean Gottmann: divisions over ‘megalopol is’

Abstract

The term ‘megalopolis’, meaning a large city, was in use in the general press by the 1820s: its occurrence in the scholarly press largely reflects use in the twentieth century by Patrick Geddes and Lewis Mumford to denote an overlarge city doomed to destruction, and by Jean Gottmann to denote a large and highly connected urban region, notably that in the northeastern USA. Gottmann's definition dominates dictionaries of geography, but is ignored outside the discipline. The Oxford English dictionary is urged to recognize Gottmann's (and hence geographers') usage: compilers of geographical dictionaries are urged to revise their definitions.