Abstract: Western countries gradually establish their own statistics system of Metropolitan Areas since American government first created in 1910. Metropolitan areas which as the social-economic analysis and management of spatial units were studied in both government and academics. However, the appearances, fills and spreads of suburbs, filling, and the arrival of measuring revolution in the information age of globalization, all leads to the studies of Metropolitan Areas have changed in its emphasis and forms. In contrast, Chinese scholars also discussed the concept of metropolitan area, definition and its formation mechanism, but there are not a national definition of Metropolitan Areas by government or academics. Therefore the contributions of this paper are followed. Firstly, we carding and compare the the concept and practical application of Metropolitan Areas in developed countries, then give review on the research progress of western scholars from the dimension of temporal. Secondly, we summarize and review on the research status and development in order to provide reference for the study of Chinese metropolitanization.