Metropolitan evolution is conceptualised from a broad, long term perspective that focuses on demographic and sectoral economic variables. Emphasis is placed on understanding these changes from a process-oriented approach that considers its general relevance rather than its outcomes or microanalytic details. A selective review of the literature provides a significant perspective and background on the stages model that is applied to the study of metropolitan change. This is then related to the Pareto city size distribution by considering the interurban population distribution coefficient and its expected performance over the various phases of metropolitan evolution. A hypothetical interurban manufacturing employment distribution coefficient, analogous to the Pareto population coefficient, is also considered and is related to the process of metropolitan and interurban sectoral economic change. The relationship between metropolitan change and national urban size distribution is viewed as a significant component of the emerging hierarchy of global metropolitan cities in both advanced and developing nations.
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