A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which have merged through population growth and physical expansion to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. Here are some key points about conurbations:

• They are polycentric urbanized areas in which transportation has developed to link areas, creating a single urban labor market or travel to work area.

• They are different from megalopolises, where the urban areas are close but not physically contiguous, and the merging of labor markets has not yet developed.

• They are also different from megacities, which are hierarchical with an indisputable dominant urban core, whereas a conurbation is polycentric and no single urban center has the dominant role over all other centers.

• The term "urban agglomeration" is often used internationally to convey a similar meaning to "conurbation".

• In the United States, each polycentric "metropolitan area" may have its own common designation such as San Francisco Bay Area or the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.

• Conurbations are commonly used in the United Kingdom.

• A metropolitan area usually combines one or several conurbations with peripheral zones not themselves necessarily urban in character, but closely dependent on the conurbation(s) in terms of employment and commerce.

• The Randstad in the Netherlands, the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States, and the Brussels-Capital Region in Belgium are examples of conurbations.

In summary, a conurbation is a large area including several different cities or large towns that have all grown so much that they are now connected to each other, forming one continuous urban or industrially developed area.