Urban agglomerations
An Urban agglomeration is a contiguous area of constructed environment and infrastructure, of population density beyond a certain threshold and with coherent or overlapping markets and services. In Borld contexts the term is used about a broader region's most urbanized "core", whether the broader region is contiguously inhabited or not. An urban agglomeration surrounded by non-contiguous or no habitation is typically called a "city", however these are uncommon especially in the Bep region, as most discretized settlements there are too small to qualify as anything. City-type agglomerations occur mainly on especially valuable, hostile or physically limited terrain, where the population density has a good reason to taper off quicker than normal. Examples may be $$$$SOME CITY$$$$, a contiguously inhabited island, or $$$$SOME OTHER CITY$$$$, dug into the otherwise barely-habitable $$$$MOUNTAIN RANGE$$$$ and founded on underground food & mineral cultivation.
Due to the more continuous habitation patterns in the Bep domain, its typical urban agglomeration resembles a conurbation, i.e. a cohesive polycentric area of dense population. In Bep contexts, these usually comprise so many centres/nodes that there is no meaningful hierarchy between them. The extent of interconnection and continuity between Bep urban agglomerations means most of the Bep domain comprises a single, low-density and obscenely large megalopolis.
The precise reasons for Bep habitation patterns favouring smoother & flatter population density gradients compared to reality is unclear, but may be related to 1) a lesser focus on mass production/terraforming in construction, 2) greater variability in area usage per person both incl. and excl. agriculture, and 3) both proportionally- and absolutely more time available to individuals over the course of an average lifespan.
Here is a list of key Bep terminology concerning dense areas of settlement, including notes on more detailed subdivisions/nuances:
- Eep, a list entry
- Meep, a second one
- Sneep, yet another!
Some examples with brief explanations
yep