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The Blue Banana (; ; ; ), also known as the European Megalopolis or the Liverpool–Milan Axis, is a discontinuous corridor of urbanization in Western Europe and Central Europe, with a population of around 100 million. Over time, the region has been referred to by several names, each reflecting its development and significance. Initially, French geographer Roger Brunet, as the leader of RECLUS (Network for the study of changes in locations and spatial units), described the area as 'the European Backbone', which depicted an urban corridor extending from Liverpool to Milan. Characterized by significant industrialization and urbanization, this area has attracted numerous public and private enterprises since the early post-war period, prompting researchers and academics to investigate the factors behind its remarkable development within Europe. It stretches approximately from North West England through the English Midlands across Greater London to the European Metropolis of Lille, the Benelux states with the Netherlands Randstad and the Flemish Diamond and along the German Ruhrgebiet, Rhineland, Southern Germany, Alsace-Moselle in France in the west and Switzerland (Basel and Zürich), Austria (Vorarlberg and Tyrol) to Northern Italy (Milan, Turin, and Genoa) in the south.
Brunet saw the "European Backbone" as the development of historical precedents, e.g. trade routes, or as the consequence of an accumulation of industrial capital. In his analysis, Brunet excluded the Paris urban area and other French conurbations because of French economic insularity. His aim was a greater economic integration in Europe, but he felt that France had lost this connection by the 17th century as a result of its persecution of Huguenots and centralisation in Paris. Later versions do, however, include Paris.
In 1991, in the context of a study on behalf of the European Commission in support of its Regional Policy, researchers criticized the idea of the Blue Banana as a desirable formation, but not an empirical reality, identifying it as the result of regional competition in Europe. Furthermore, their diagram of the Blue Banana had more of a curve, still including Northern Italy, but ending at Barcelona. It also included Paris, and had the Anglo-Scottish border as its northern stem. A study of the history of the Blue Banana as a concept refers to the commission's study as a mistaken rejection of the Blue Banana from Brunet's original conception. From the research on the commission's behalf, the Blue Banana represented a developed core at the expense of the periphery, whereas Brunet empirically viewed the Blue Banana as a region of development at Paris's periphery, beyond the French borders. There are also considerations for an economically strong European pentagon with its borders Paris, London, Hamburg, Munich and Milan, with development axes towards the east (Berlin, Prague, Trieste).Karl-Peter Schön: Einführung. Das Europäische Raumentwicklungskonzept und die Raumordnung in Deutschland. In: Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung: Informationen zur Raumentwicklung, H. 3/4. Bonn: (2000).
If current trends of urbanization continue, 72% of the world's population will live in cities by 2050. This creates a situation where European countries need to take steps to improve their ability to deal with the number of people that will move into the area. As a consequence of the rapid increase of urbanization and an influx of people to cities, the banana is growing instead of shifting.
Due to urbanization, the Blue Banana has become larger in size, branching outwards in a star shape. Despite this, the Blue Banana still remains the core of the conurbation. Although the Blue Banana may not have the same shape it had decades ago, Europe's largest concentration of people, industry, money, and economic power lie within it.
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