Metropolis? Think Megalopolis

Just upon personal experience, New York City is one of the most crowded cities in the United States if not the entire world. There are times when you practically walk with others - in droves. There is close to no point in driving your car around the streets and you're better off using the many ways of transport to get from destination to destination, such as the subway, bus, or taxi. Buildings escalate as you walk next to them and they overshadow the 8 million people that crowd into Times Square every New Year. This is one dense city that is well-defined as a Megalopolis.

New York City's location is essential to making it a Megalopolis, in that it's on the island of Manhatten. The fact that it's surrounded by waterways makes it an absolute prime spot for harboring ships and bringing in trade. This further helped the development of the city when it was colonized during the British settlement, and then they further expanded into new suburbs. The Hudson River has allowed for more port facilities and accessibility. These factors have helped to bring settlers close to sites such as NYC, for there is a lot in terms of business and economic relations.

The city has since been built around it's primal site. The amount that it has expanded is slight, however, because now such a small city has to fit it all within the confines. This is why urbanized areas are filled with tall buildings, overcrowding, and dense population. As much as these may sound like hindrances, however, the large amount of people have contributed to growing development of localized transportation and communication. NYC boasts a highly complex subway network, which is unlike any of it's kind around the world.

The Megalopolis known as New York City is perhaps the greatest in the entire U.S., and it can be certain that it will remain that way for a long time more.