The ‘Blue Banana’ is a crescent-shaped area that stretches from North West England to Milan, Italy – it covers the countries of the UK, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy
The UK is joined by six other European countries in a “blue banana” – making it an important economic zone regarding the economy.
The “Blue Banana” is a crescent-shaped area that stretches from North West England to Milan, Italy. It covers the countries of the UK, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. Later versions of the area also include the city of Paris.
The region is known for a high concentration of people and innovation. The term “Blue Banana” was coined in 1989 by French economist Roger Brunet and is considered the ‘Backbone of Europe’. In a TikTok video, it shows a map of Europe and the GDPs of each area. The areas with the highest GDP made an outline of a crescent compared to the rest of the continent that has lower GDPs.
However, this ‘Blue Banana’ may lose its shape as experts say it has been shifting towards European countries in the North. Experts say if current urbanisation trends continue then the area will lose its banana shape and start to look more like a star.
The major cities in the ‘Blue Banana’ are London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, and Milan. The region is also known for its highly developed transportation network including major airports, seaports and highways. One interesting fact about this area is that it can be seen from space at night due to the dense concentration of city lights.
However, the ‘Blue Banana’ does face some issues. It faces the challenges of high pollution and traffic congestion.
Many disregard the ‘Blue Banana’ map for being inaccurate given the economic growth of France and Northern European countries. Others also point out that the ‘Blue Banana’ was coined four years before the creation of the European Union.
In the US, there is a similar region called the ‘Northeast megalopolis’ for its economic output and population density. It runs from Boston, Massachusetts to Washington DC. It also covers 12 states including Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia. The ‘Northeast megalopolis’ was given its name after the term ‘megalopolis’ was popularised in 1961 by French geographer Jean Gottmann.
He wrote that the region’s cities, while discrete and independent, are uniquely tied to each other by sharing some characteristics of a single, massive city. These characteristics include a megalopolis, a term he co-opted from an ancient Greek town of the same name that named itself out of aspirations to become the largest Greek city.UK is joined by X countries in ‘blue banana’ zone and it proves one thing about the economy
