<P> A megalopolis (sometimes called a megapolis; also megaregion, or supercity) is typically defined as a chain of roughly adjacent metropolitan areas, which may be somewhat separated or may merge into a continuous urban region . </P> <P> Emerging megalopolises in the developing world include the Pearl River Delta, which when formed will constitute the core part of a Southern China Coast megaregion; the Unified Jakarta - Bandung metro area forming the core of the Northern Java megaregion; and the Yangtze River Delta core, a part of a Central Chinese Coast megaregion . </P> <P> The term was used by Patrick Geddes in his 1915 book Cities in Evolution, by Oswald Spengler in his 1918 book The Decline of the West, and Lewis Mumford in his 1938 book The Culture of Cities, which described it as the first stage in urban overdevelopment and social decline . Later, it was used by Jean Gottmann in his landmark 1961 study, Megalopolis: The Urbanized Northeastern Seaboard of the United States, to describe the chain of metropolitan areas along the northeastern seaboard of the U.S. extending from Boston, Massachusetts, through New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and ending in Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia . The latter is sometimes called the "BosWash megalopolis". </P> <P> Megalopolis is a Western deformation of the Greek word that derived from Greek: μέγας (mégas) meaning' great' and Greek: πόλις (pólis) meaning' city', therefore literally a' great city' . This term is closer in meaning to megacity . Because in Greek, πόλις is feminine, the correct term is megalopolis . The Ancient Greek city of Megalopolis was formed by the Arcadian League by bringing together smaller communities . </P>

Who is credited with developing the concept of a 'megalopolis'