A city is a relatively large and permanent urban An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets settlement A settlement is a general term used in archaeology, geography, landscape history and other subjects for a permanent or temporary community in which people live, without being specific as to size, population or importance. A settlement can therefore range in size from a small number of dwellings grouped together to the largest of cities with.^[1][2] Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while many British "small towns& within general English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into South-East Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria. Following the economic, political, military, scientific, cultural, and colonial influence of Great Britain and the United Kingdom from the 18th century, and of meanings, many cities have a particular administrative In business, administration consists of the performance or management of business operations and thus the making or implementing of major decisions. Administration can be defined as the universal process of organizing people and resources efficiently so as to direct activities toward common goals and objectives, legal Law is a system of rules, usually enforced through a set of institutions. Laws can shape or reflect politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a primary social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus ticket to trading on derivatives markets. Property law defines rights and, or historical History is the study of the human past. Scholars who write about history are called historians. It is a field of research which uses a narrative to examine and analyse the sequence of events, and it sometimes attempts to investigate objectively the patterns of cause and effect that determine events. Historians debate the nature of history and its status based on local law.

For example, an article of incorporation approved by the local state legislature In the United States of America, a state legislature is a generic term referring to the legislative body of any of the country's 50 states. The formal name varies from state to state. In 24 states, the legislature is simply called the "Legislature," or the "State Legislature", while in 19 states, the legislature is called the & distinguishes a city government from a town in Massachusetts Massachusetts has been significant throughout American history. Plymouth was the second permanent English settlement in North America. Many of Massachusetts's towns were founded by colonists from England in the 1620s and 1630s. The Merrimack Valley has been, since 1650, a center of creativity through the poetic word. America's first published poet. In the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland[note 7] is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many small islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land and parts of the Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and previously as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states. All but two of these countries were formerly part of the British Empire, a city is traditionally a settlement with a royal charter In medieval Europe, royal charters were used to create cities . The date that such a charter was granted is considered to be when a city was "founded", regardless of when the locality originally began to be settled.^[1] Historically, in Europe, a city was understood to be an urban settlement with a cathedral A cathedral (French cathédrale from Lat. cathedra, "seat" from the Greek kathedra , seat, bench, from kata "down" + hedra seat, base, chair) is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop. It is a religious building for worship, specifically of a denomination with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Roman Catholic,, hence the official status of St David's St David's and the Cathedral Close, more commonly known as St David's, , is a city and community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. With a population of 1,797 in 2001, it is the smallest city in the United Kingdom. Lying on the River Alyn on St David's peninsula, the city is the de facto ecclesiastical capital of Wales and the final resting place of Saint as a city in the United Kingdom despite its population of 1,797 in 2001.

Cities generally have advanced systems for sanitation Sanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes. Hazards can be either physical, microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease. Wastes that can cause health problems are human and animal feces, solid wastes, domestic wastewater , industrial wastes, and agricultural, utilities A public utility is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and regulation ranging from local community-based groups to state-wide government monopolies. Common arguments in favor of regulation include, land usage, housing A house is a home, shelter, building or structure that is a dwelling or place for habitation by human beings. The term includes many kinds of dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures. In some contexts, "house" may mean the same as dwelling, residence, home, abode, lodging,, and transportation Transport or transportation is the movement of people and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline, and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations. The concentration of development greatly facilitates interaction between people and businesses A business is a legally recognized organization designed to provide goods or services, or both, to consumers, businesses and governmental entities. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies. Most businesses are privately owned. A business is typically formed to earn profit that will increase the wealth of its owners and grow the business, benefiting both parties in the process. A big city or metropolis A metropolis is a large city, in most cases with over half a million inhabitants in the city proper, and with a population of at least one million living in its urban agglomeration.[citation needed] Big cities belonging to a larger urban agglomeration, but which are not the core of that agglomeration, are not generally considered a metropolis but usually has associated suburbs Suburb mostly refers to a residential area. They may be the residential areas of a city, or separate residential communities within commuting distance of a city. Some suburbs have a degree of political autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods. Modern suburbs grew in the 20th century as a result of improved and exurbs A commuter town is an urban community that is primarily residential, from which most of the workforce commute out to earn their livelihood. Many commuter towns act as suburbs of a nearby metropolis that workers travel to daily, and many suburbs are commuter towns. Commuter towns belong to the metropolitan area of a city, and a ring of commuter. Such cities are usually associated with metropolitan areas A metropolitan area is a large population center consisting of a large metropolis and its adjacent zone of influence, or of more than one closely adjoining neighboring central cities and their zone of influence. One or more large cities may serve as its hub or hubs, and the metropolitan area is normally named after either the largest or most and urban sprawl Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density, auto-dependent development on rural land, with associated design features that encourage car dependency. As a result, some critics argue that sprawl has certain disadvantages,, creating numerous business commuters Commuting is regular travel between one's place of residence and place of work or full time study. Institutions that have few dormitories or near-campus student housing are called commuter schools in the United States traveling to urban centers of employment Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as: "A person in the service of another under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, where the employer has the power or right to control and direct the employee in the material details of how. Once a city sprawls far enough to reach another city, this region can be deemed a conurbation A conurbation is a region comprising a number of cities, large towns, and other urban areas that, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban and industrially developed area. In most cases, a conurbation is a polycentric urban agglomeration, in which transportation has developed to link areas to or megalopolis A megalopolis is typically defined as a chain of roughly adjacent metropolitan areas. The term was used by Lewis Mumford in his 1938 book, The Culture of Cities, which described it as the first stage in urban overdevelopment and social decline. Later, it was used by Jean Gottmann in 1957, to describe the huge metropolitan area along the eastern.

Contents 1 Birth 1.1 Theories 1.1.1 Agricultural primacy 1.1.2 Urban primacy 1.2 Causes of establishment 2 Geography 3 History 3.1 Ancient times 3.2 Middle Ages 3.3 Early modern 3.4 Industrial age 4 External effects 5 Distinction between cities and towns 5.1 Australia 5.2 Belarus 5.3 Belgium 5.4 Brazil 5.5 Bulgaria 5.6 Canada 5.7 China 5.8 Chile 5.9 Germany 5.10 Iceland 5.11 India 5.12 Indonesia 5.13 Italy 5.14 Japan 5.15 Mexico 5.16 Netherlands 5.17 New Zealand 5.18 Norway 5.19 Pakistan 5.20 Poland 5.21 Portugal 5.22 Romania 5.23 South Korea 5.24 Sweden 5.25 Taiwan 5.26 Turkey 5.27 Ukraine 5.28 United Kingdom and Ireland 5.29 United States 5.30 Venezuela 6 Global cities 7 Inner city 8 21st century 9 See also 10 Notes 11 References 12 External links

Birth

There is insufficient evidence to assert what conditions in world history gave rise to the first cities. Theorists, however, have offered arguments for what the right conditions might have been and have identified some basic mechanisms that might have been the important driving forces.

Theories

Florence Florence (Italian: Firenze listen , pronounced [fiˈrɛntse]; alternative obsolete spelling: Fiorenza, Latin: Florentia) is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with 367,569 inhabitants (1,500,000 in the metropolitan area), the second most populated place in Italy Italy (pronounced /ˈɪtəli/ ; Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a country located partly on the European Continent and partly on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine North-south view of central Caracas Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela. It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range (Cordillera de la Costa). The valley's temperatures are springlike. Terrain suitable for building lies from Cerro El Ávila Cerro El Ávila , usually just referred to as "El Ávila," is a mountain in the mid-north of Venezuela. The mountain rises next to the capital Caracas and separates the city from the Caribbean Sea. It is a National Park in Venezuela Venezuela (pronounced /ˌvɛnɨˈzweɪlə/ ; Spanish: [beneˈswela]), officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish: República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It is a continental mainland with numerous islands located off its coastline in the Caribbean Sea. The republic is Paris Paris ([paʁi] in French, pronounced /ˈpærɪs/ in English) is the capital and largest city of France. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region (or Paris Region, French: Région parisienne). The city of Paris, within its administrative limits largely unchanged since 1860, has an estimated, France France (pronounced /ˈfrænts/ frantss or /ˈfrɑːnts/ frahnts; French pronunciation (help·info): [fʁɑ̃s]), officially the French Republic (French: République française, pronounced: [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a state in Western Europe with several of its overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian,

Agricultural primacy

The conventional view holds that cities first formed after the Neolithic revolution The Neolithic Revolution was the first agricultural revolution—the transition from hunting and gathering communities and bands, to agriculture and settlement. Archaeological data indicate that various forms of domestication of plants and animals arose independently in at least seven or eight separate locales worldwide, with the earliest known. The Neolithic revolution brought agriculture Agriculture is the production of food and goods through farming. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of human civilization, with the husbandry of domesticated animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more densely populated and stratified societies. The study of agriculture is known as, which made denser human populations possible, thereby supporting city development.^[3] The advent of farming encouraged hunter-gatherers to abandon nomadic lifestyles and to choose to settle near others who lived by agricultural production. The increased population density encouraged by farming and the increased output of food per unit of land, created conditions that seem more suitable for city-like activities. In his book, Cities and Economic Development, Paul Bairoch Born of Jewish parents who emigrated from Poland, Paul Bairoch was one of the great post-war economic historians who specialized in global economic history, urban history and historical demography. He published or co-authored more than two dozen books and 120 scholarly articles takes up this position in his argument that agricultural activity appears necessary before true cities can form.

According to Vere Gordon Childe Vere Gordon Childe was an Australian philologist by training who later specialised in archaeology. Usually known as just Gordon Childe, he was perhaps best known for his excavation of the unique Neolithic site of Skara Brae in Orkney and for his Marxist views which influenced his thinking about prehistory. He is also credited with coining the, for a settlement to qualify as a city, it must have enough surplus of raw materials to support trade.^[4] Bairoch points out that, due to sparse population densities that would have persisted in pre-Neolithic, hunter-gatherer societies, the amount of land that would be required to produce enough food for subsistence and trade for a large population would make it impossible to control the flow of trade. To illustrate this point, Bairoch offers an example: "Western Europe during the pre-Neolithic, [where] the density must have been less than 0.1 person per square kilometer".^[5] Using this population density as a base for calculation, and allotting 10% of food towards surplus for trade and assuming that there is no farming taking place among the city dwellers, he calculates that "in order to maintain a city with a population of 1,000, and without taking the cost of transportation into account, an area of 100,000 square kilometers would have been required. When the cost of transportation is taken into account, the figure rises to 200,000 square kilometers...".^[5] Bairoch noted that 200,000 square kilometers is roughly the size of Great Britain Great Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island. With a population of about 61.8 million people in mid-2009, it is the third most populated island on Earth. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1,000 smaller islands and islets. The island of.

Urban primacy

In her book The Economy of Cities, Jane Jacobs Jane Jacobs, OC, O.Ont was an American-born Canadian writer and activist with primary interest in communities and urban planning and decay. She is best known for The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961), a powerful critique of the urban renewal policies of the 1950s in the United States. The book has been credited with reaching beyond makes the controversial claim that city-formation preceded the birth of agriculture. Jacobs does not lend her theory to any strict definition of a city, but her account suggestively contrasts what could only be thought of as primitive city-like activity to the activity occurring in neighboring hunter-gatherer settlements. To argue this view, Jacobs suggests a fictitious scenario where a valued natural resource leads to primitive economic activity—in her example, the resource is obsidian Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock. It is produced when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly without crystal growth. Obsidian is commonly found within the margins of rhyolitic lava flows known as obsidian flows, where the chemical composition induces a high viscosity and polymerization. The stock of obsidian is controlled and traded with neighboring hunting groups. Hunters who do not control the stock travel great distances to barter what they have, valuing obsidian because it "makes the sharpest tools to be had".^[6] This activity brings more people to the center as jobs are created and goods are being traded. Among the goods traded are seeds of all different sorts, stored in unprecedented combinations. In various ways, some accidental, the seeds are sown, and the variation in yields are observed more readily than they would be in the wild. The seeds that yield the most grain are noticed and trading them begins to occur within the city. Owing to this local dealing, the city dwellers find that their grain yields are the best, and for the first time make deliberate and conscious selection. The choices made now are purposeful, and they are made among various strains of already cultivated crosses, and their crosses, mutants and hybrids.^[6]

Causes of establishment

Bucharest Bucharest (Romanian: București pronounced [bukuˈreʃtʲ] ) is the capital city, industrial, cultural, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at 44°25′57″N 26°06′14″E / 44.4325°N 26.10389°E , Romania Romania (pronounced /roʊˈmeɪniə/ roe-MAY-nee-ə; dated: Rumania, Roumania; Romanian: România [romɨˈni.a] ( listen)) is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, north of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta in 1837

Theorists have suggested many possible reasons for why people would have originally decided to come together to form dense populations. In his book City Economics, Brendan O'Flaherty asserts "Cities could persist—as they have for thousands of years—only if their advantages offset the disadvantages" (O'Flaherty 2005, p. 12). O'Flaherty illustrates two similar attracting advantages known as increasing returns to scale In economics, returns to scale and economies of scale are related terms that describe what happens as the scale of production increases. They are different terms and should not be used interchangeably and economies of scale Economies of scale, in microeconomics, are the cost advantages that a business obtains due to expansion. They are factors that cause a producer’s average cost per unit to fall as scale is increased. Economies of scale is a long run concept and refers to reductions in unit cost as the size of a facility, or scale, increases. Diseconomies of scale, which are concepts normally associated with firms. Their applications are seen in more basic economic systems as well. Increasing returns to scale occurs when "doubling all inputs more than doubles the output [and] an activity has economies of scale if doubling output less than doubles cost" (O'Flaherty 2005, p. 572-573). To offer an example of these concepts, O'Flaherty makes use of "one of the oldest reasons why cities were built: military protection" (O'Flaherty 2005, p. 13). In this example, the inputs are anything that would be used for protection (e.g.: a wall) and the output is the area protected and everything of value contained in it. O'Flaherty then asks that we suppose that the area to be protected is square and each hectare inside it has the same value of protection. The advantage is expressed as: (O'Flaherty 2005, p. 13)

(1) O = s², where O is the output (area protected) and s stands for the length of a side. This equation shows that output is proportional to the square of the length of a side.

The inputs depend on the length of the perimeter:

(2) I = 4s, where I stands for the quantity of inputs. This equation shows that the perimeter is proportional to the length of a side.

So there are increasing returns to scale:

(3) O = I² / 16. This equation (solving for s in (1) and substituting in (2)) shows that with twice the inputs, you produce quadruple the output.

Also, economies of scale:

(4) I = 4O^{1 / 2}. This equation (solving for I in equation (3)) shows that the same output requires less input.

"Cities, then, economize on protection, and so protection against marauding barbarian armies is one reason why people have come together to live in cities..." (O'Flaherty 2005, p. 13).

Similarly, "Are Cities Dying?", a paper by Edward L. Glaeser, delves into similar reasons for city formation: reduced transport costs for goods, people, and ideas. An interesting piece from Glaeser's article is his argument about the benefits of proximity. He claims that if you double a city size, workers have a ten percent increase in earnings. Glaeser furthers his argument by stating that bigger cities do not pay more for equal productivity than in a smaller city, so it is reasonable to assume that workers become more productive if they move to a city twice the size as they initially worked in. However, the workers do not benefit much from the ten percent wage increase, because it is recycled back into the higher cost of living in a bigger city. They do gain other benefits from living in cities, though.

Geography

Map of Haarlem Haarlem (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈhaːrlɛm] ), in the past usually Harlem in English, is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is also the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic. Haarlem lies in the northern part of the, the Netherlands The Netherlands (pronounced /ˈnɛðɚləndz/ ; Dutch: Nederland, pronounced [ˈneːdərlɑnt] ( listen)) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in North-West Europe. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany, of around 1550. The city is completely surrounded by a city wall and defensive canal. The square shape was inspired by Jerusalem.

Modern city planning has seen many different schemes for how a city should look. The most commonly seen pattern is the grid The grid plan or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. In the context of the culture of Ancient Greece, the grid plan is called Hippodamian plan, favoured by the Romans, almost a rule in parts of the Americas The Americas, or America, are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World, comprising the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions. America may be ambiguous in English, as it is more commonly used to refer to the United States of America. The Americas cover 8.3% of the Earth's total, and used for thousands of years in China. Derry was the first planned city in Ireland, begun in 1613, with the walls being completed five years later. The central diamond within a walled city with four gates was thought to be a good design for defence. The grid pattern was widely copied in the colonies of British North America.

The Ancient Greeks often gave their colonies around the Mediterranean a grid plan. One of the best examples is the city of Priene. This city had different specialized districts, much as is seen in modern city planning today. Fifteen centuries earlier, the Indus Valley Civilization was using grids in such cities as Mohenjo-Daro. In medieval times there was evidence of a preference for linear planning. Good examples are the cities established by various rulers in the south of France and city expansions in old Dutch and Flemish cities.

Grid plans were popular among planners in the 19th century, particularly after the redesign of Paris. They cut through the meandering, organic streets that followed old paths. The United States imposed grid plans in new territories and towns, as the American West was rapidly established, in places such as Salt Lake City and San Francisco.

Other forms may include a radial structure, in which main roads converge on a central point. This was often a historic form, the effect of successive growth over long time with concentric traces of town walls and citadels. In more recent history, such forms were supplemented by ring-roads that take traffic around the outskirts of a town. Many Dutch cities are structured this way: a central square surrounded by concentric canals. Every city expansion would imply a new circle (canals + town walls). In cities such as Amsterdam and Haarlem, and Moscow, this pattern is still clearly visible.

History

Further information: Historical cities and List of largest cities throughout history

Towns and cities have a long history, although opinions vary on whether any particular ancient settlement can be considered to be a city. A city formed as central places of trade for the benefit of the members living in close proximity to others facilitates interaction of all kinds. These interactions generate both positive and negative externalities between others' actions. Benefits include reduced transport costs, exchange of ideas, sharing of natural resources, large local markets, and later in their development, amenities such as running water and sewage disposal. Possible costs would include higher rate of crime, higher mortality rates, higher cost of living, worse pollution, traffic and high commuting times. Cities will grow when the benefits of proximity between people and firms are higher than the cost.

The first true towns are sometimes considered to be large settlements where the inhabitants were no longer simply farmers of the surrounding area, but began to take on specialized occupations, and where trade, food storage and power was centralized. In 1950 Gordon Childe attempted to define a historic city with 10 general metrics.^[7] These are:

1. Size and density of the population should be above normal.
2. Differentiation of the population. Not all residents grow their own food, leading to specialists.
3. Payment of taxes to a deity or king.
4. Monumental public buildings.
5. Those not producing their own food are supported by the king.
6. Systems of recording and practical science.
7. A system of writing.
8. Development of symbolic art.
9. Trade and import of raw materials.
10. Specialist craftsmen from outside the kin-group.

This categorisation is descriptive, and it is used as a general touchstone when considering ancient cities, although not all have each of its characteristics.

One characteristic that can be used to distinguish a small city from a large town is organized government. A town accomplishes common goals through informal agreements between neighbors or the leadership of a chief. A city has professional administrators, regulations, and some form of taxation (food and other necessities or means to trade for them) to feed the government workers. The governments may be based on heredity, religion, military power, work projects (such as canal building), food distribution, land ownership, agriculture, commerce, manufacturing, finance, or a combination of those. Societies that live in cities are often called civilizations.

Ancient times

Further information: Cities of the Ancient Near East, polis, and City-state

Early cities developed in a number of regions of the ancient world. Mesopotamia can claim the earliest cities, particularly Eridu, Uruk, and Ur. After Mesopotamia, this culture arose in Syria and Anatolia, as shown by the city of Çatalhöyük (7500-5700BC). It is the largest Neolithic site found to date. Although it has sometimes been claimed that ancient Egypt lacked urbanism, several types of urban settlements were found in ancient times.

The Indus Valley Civilization of ancient India and China are two other areas with major indigenous urban traditions. Among the early Old World cities, Mohenjo-daro of the Indus Valley Civilization in present-day Pakistan, existing from about 2600 BC to 1900 BC, was one of the largest, with an estimated population of 40,000 or more.^[8] Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, the large Indus capitals, were among the first cities to use grid plans, drainage, flush toilets, urban sanitation systems, and sewage systems. At a somewhat later time, a distinctive urban tradition developed in the Khmer region of Cambodia, where Angkor grew into one of the largest cities (in area) of the world.

In the ancient Americas, early urban traditions developed in Mesoamerica and the Andes. Mesoamerica saw the rise of early urbanism in several cultural regions, including the Classic Maya, the Zapotec of Oaxaca, and Teotihuacan in central Mexico. Later cultures such as the Aztec drew on these earlier urban traditions. In the Andes, the first urban centers developed in the Chavin and Moche cultures, followed by major cities in the Huari, Chimu and Inca cultures.

This roster of early urban traditions is notable for its diversity. Excavations at early urban sites show that some cities were sparsely populated political capitals, others were trade centers, and still other cities had a primarily religious focus. Some cities had large dense populations, whereas others carried out urban activities in the realms of politics or religion without having large associated populations. Theories that attempt to explain ancient urbanism by a single factor, such as economic benefit, fail to capture the range of variation documented by archaeologists (Smith 2002).

The growth of the population of ancient civilizations, the formation of ancient empires concentrating political power, and the growth in commerce and manufacturing led to ever greater capital cities and centres of commerce and industry, with Alexandria, Antioch and Seleucia of the Hellenistic civilization, Pataliputra (now Patna) in India, Chang'an (now Xi'an) in China, Carthage, ancient Rome, its eastern successor Constantinople (later Istanbul), and successive Chinese, Indian and Muslim capitals approaching or exceeding the half-million population level.

Keith Hopkins estimates that ancient Rome had a population of about a million people by the end of the first century BC, after growing continually during the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st centuries BC.^[9] Alexandria's population was also close to Rome's population at around the same time, the historian Rostovtzeff estimates a total population close to a million based on a census dated from 32 AD that counted 180,000 adult male citizens in Alexandria.^[10] Similar administrative, commercial, industrial and ceremonial centres emerged in other areas, most notably medieval Baghdad, which according to George Modelski, later became the first city to exceed a population of one million by the 8th century instead of Rome.^[11]

The growth of ancient and medieval empires led to ever greater capital cities and seats of provincial administration, with Pataliputra (in India), Changan (in China), ancient Rome, its eastern successor Constantinople (later Istanbul), and successive Chinese, Islamic, and Indian capitals approaching or exceeding the half-million population level. It is estimated that ancient Rome had a population of around 450,000 people by the end of the last century BC, which is considered the only European city to reach that number until the Industrial Revolution, although Constantinople came close. Alexandria's population was also close to Rome's population at around the same time. Similar large administrative, commercial, industrial and ceremonial centres emerged in other areas, most notably Baghdad, which became the first city to exceed a population of one million, followed by Beijing also exceeding one million.

While David Kessler and Peter Temin consider ancient Rome to be the largest city before 19th century London,^[12] George Modelski considers medieval Baghdad, with an estimated population of 1.2 million at its peak, to be the largest city before 19th century London.^[11] Others estimate that Baghdad's population may have been as large as 2 million in the 9th century.^[13]

Agriculture was practiced in sub-Saharan Africa since the third millennium BC. Because of this, cities were able to develop as centers of non-agricultural activity. Exactly when this first happened is still a topic of archeological and historical investigation. Western scholarship has tended to focus on cities in Europe and Mesopotamia, but emerging archeological evidence indicates that urbanization occurred south of the Sahara well before the influence of Arab urban culture. The oldest sites documented thus far are from around 500 AD including Awdaghust, Kumbi-Saleh the ancient capital of Ghana, and Maranda a center located on a trade rout between Egypt and Gao.^[14]

Middle Ages

During the European Middle Ages, a town was as much a political entity as a collection of houses. City residence brought freedom from customary rural obligations to lord and community: "Stadtluft macht frei" ("City air makes you free") was a saying in Germany. In Continental Europe cities with a legislature of their own were not unheard of, the laws for towns as a rule other than for the countryside, the lord of a town often being another than for surrounding land. In the Holy Roman Empire some cities had no other lord than the emperor. In Italy medieval communes had quite a statelike power.

In exceptional cases like Venice, Genoa or Lübeck, cities themselves became powerful states, sometimes taking surrounding areas under their control or establishing extensive maritime empires. Similar phenomena existed elsewhere, as in the case of Sakai, which enjoyed a considerable autonomy in late medieval Japan.

Early modern

While the city-states, or poleis, of the Mediterranean and Baltic Sea languished from the 16th century, Europe's larger capitals benefited from the growth of commerce following the emergence of an Atlantic trade. By the late 18th century, London had become the largest city in the world with a population of over a million, while Paris rivaled the well-developed regionally traditional capital cities of Baghdad, Beijing, Istanbul and Kyoto. During the Spanish colonization of the Americas the old Roman city concept was extensively used. Cities were founded in the middle of the newly conquered territories, and were bound to several laws about administration, finances and urbanism.

Most towns remained far smaller places, so that in 1500 only some two dozen places in the world contained more than 100,000 inhabitants: as late as 1700 there were fewer than forty, a figure which would rise thereafter to 300 in 1900. A small city of the early modern period might contain as few as 10,000 inhabitants, a town far fewer still.^{[citation needed]}

Industrial age

The growth of modern industry from the late 18th century onward led to massive urbanization and the rise of new great cities, first in Europe and then in other regions, as new opportunities brought huge numbers of migrants from rural communities into urban areas. In the United States from 1860 to 1910, the invention of railroads reduced transportation costs, and large manufacturing centers began to emerge, thus allowing migration from rural to city areas. However, cities during those periods of time were deadly places to live in, due to health problems resulting from contaminated water and air, and communicable diseases. In the Great Depression of the 1930s cities were hard hit by unemployment, especially those with a base in heavy industry. In the U.S. urbanization rate increased forty to eighty percent during 1900-1990. Today the world's population is slightly over half urban,^[15] with millions still streaming annually into the growing cities of Asia, Africa and Latin America. There has also been a shift to suburbs, perhaps to avoid crime and traffic, which are two costs of living in an urban area.

External effects

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Modern cities are known for creating their own microclimates. This is due to the large clustering of heat absorbent surfaces that heat up in sunlight and that channel rainwater into underground ducts.

Waste and sewage are two major problems for cities, as is air pollution coming from various forms of combustion,^[16] including fireplaces, wood or coal-burning stoves, other heating systems,^[17] and internal combustion engines. The impact of cities on places elsewhere, be it hinterlands or places far away, is considered in the notion of city footprinting (ecological footprint). Other negative external effects include health consequences such as communicable diseases, crime, and high traffic and commuting times. Cities cause more interaction with more people than rural areas, thus a higher probability to contracting contagious diseases. However, many inventions such as inoculations, vaccines, and water filtration systems have also lowered health concerns. Crime is also a concern in the cities. Studies have shown that crime rates in cities are higher and the chance of punishment after getting caught is lower. In cases such as burglary, the higher concentration of people in cities create more items of higher value worth the risk of crime. The high concentration of people also makes using auto mobiles inconvenient and pedestrian traffic is more prominent in metropolitan areas than a rural or suburban one.

Cities also generate positive external effects. The close physical proximity facilitates knowledge spillovers, helping people and firms exchange information and generate new ideas.^[18] A thicker labor market allows for better skill matching between firms and individuals. Another positive external effect of cities comes from the diverse social opportunities created when people of different backgrounds are brought together. Larger cities typically offer a wider variety of social interests and activities, letting people of all backgrounds find something they can be involved in.

Cities may however also have a positive influence on the environment. UN Habitat stated in its reports that city living can be the best solution for dealing with the rising population numbers (and thus still be a good approach on dealing with overpopulation).^[19] This is because cities concentrate human activity into one place, making the environmental damage on other places smaller.^[20] Letting the cities have a positive influence however, can only be achieved if urban planning is improved^[21] and if the city services are properly maintained.

Distinction between cities and towns

The difference between towns and cities is differently understood in different parts of the world. Indeed, many languages other than English often use a single word for both concepts (German Stadt, Swedish stad, Danish/Norwegian by, etc.). Iberian languages typically use a three-way designation (Catalan: “poble”, “vila”, “ciutat”; Galician: “aldea”, “vila”, “cidade”; Portuguese: “aldeia”, “vila”, “cidade”; Spanish: “pueblo”, “villa”, “ciudad”—respectively “town”, “village”, “city”), but other romance languages don’t (French: “village”, “ville”; Italian: “villaggio”, “città”—respectively “village”, “city”).

Even within the English-speaking world there is no one standard definition of a city: the term may be used either for a town possessing city status; for an urban locality exceeding an arbitrary population size; for a town dominating other towns with particular regional economic or administrative significance. In British English city is reserved for very large settlements, smaller ones are called town or village. In the US city is used for much smaller settlements.

Although city can refer to an agglomeration including suburban and satellite areas, the term is not usually applied to a conurbation (cluster) of distinct urban places, nor for a wider metropolitan area including more than one city, each acting as a focus for parts of the area. And the word "town" (also "downtown") may mean the center of the city.

Australia

Sydney is the biggest city of Australia

In Australia, city in its broadest terms refers simply to any town that is large enough. Narrower usage can refer to a local government area, or colloquially to the central business district (CBD) of a large urban area.^{[citation needed]} For instance the City of South Perth^[22] is a local government area within the wider urban area known as Perth, commonly called Australia's fourth largest city. Residents of Sydney might speak of travelling to the CBD as "going to the city". Australia's largest cities are Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

In official designations, a city or rural city is the style of some local government areas, whereas a town is a kind of bounded locality with an urban lifestyle, commercial activities and social services, providing for both the town and surrounding region.^[23] Therefore, cities contrast with shires whereas towns contrast with suburbs (in the Australian sense) and rural districts or townships (i.e. small settlements); a city may contain many towns and a town may be in more than one city. A "provincial city" is any urban area (other than the capital city) that is a combination of multiple suburbs—no matter the status of its LGA (thus, Stawell in the Northern Grampians Shire is a minor provincial city).^[23] Approximately, a city can be understood as an urban area which is divided into suburbs, and a town is an urban area which is not divided into suburbs.

Belarus

In the Belarusian language two words mean "city" or "town" - "горад" (horad) and "места" (miesta), where "horad" translated as "fortifying miesta", or "stronghold". The term "miesta" translated as "town without fortifying"^[24] and meaning modern town. In the contemporary Belarusian language term "horad" is used more often, in spite of lexical inexactitude of this term. The smallest population of a city of Belaruse officially not named "horad" or "miesta" it is used a name "urban-type settlement" ("паселішча гарадскога тыпу", "paselyscha haradskoha typu") and also (informal or with historical sense) "мястэчка" ("miastechka").

Belgium

This section requires expansion.

Main articles: City status in Belgium and History of urban centers in the Dutch Low Countries

Brazil

Brazil is divided into states (Portuguese: estados) and these into municipalities (municípios); there is no county or equivalent level. Brazilian law defines a "city" (cidade) as the urban seat of a municipality and establishes no difference between cities and towns; all it takes for an urban area to be legally called a "city" is to be the seat of a municipality, and some of them are semi-rural settlements with a very small population. Municipalities always have the same name as their corresponding cities, and the terms município and cidade are often used interchangeably, even by the government itself, although this is not technically correct. However, except for the Federal District (the area of the national capital city, Brasília), which has special status and no municipalities, all land in Brazil is in the territory of some municipality. Thus, even in the country's remotest wilderness areas, one is still technically under the jurisdiction of a "city," or at least of its government. Brazil's largest cities are São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, both located on the heavily urbanized South East coast.

Old Downtown of São Paulo City, the biggest city of Brazil.

Bulgaria

This section requires expansion.

Main article: List of cities in Bulgaria

Canada

Main articles: List of cities in Canada and Local government in Canada

In Canada the granting of city status is handled by the individual provinces and territories, so that the definitions and criteria vary widely across the country. In British Columbia and Saskatchewan towns can become cities after they reach a population of 5,000 people, but in Alberta and Ontario the requirement is 10,000.

Although it has numerous cities in the traditional sense of the term, Ontario also sometimes confers city status on primarily rural areas whose municipalities have been merged into a former county government. Nova Scotia has abolished the title of city altogether, with all local government taking place at the regional municipality level.

In Quebec, there is no legal distinction between a city and a town, as both have the legal status of ville. The province formerly differentiated between ville (town) and cité (city), but no longer does so.

China

Shanghai

A city is an administrative division in Mainland China. There are three types of cities: a municipality is a provincial-level division (e.g. Shanghai or Beijing); a prefecture-level city is governed by provinces or autonomous regions; and a county-level city is a sub-unit of a prefecture-level administrative division.

There is a formal definition of city in China provided by the Chinese government.^{[citation needed]} For an urban area that can be defined as a city, there should be at least 100,000 non-agricultural population.^{[citation needed]} City with less than 200,000 non-agricultural population refers to a small city, 200,000-500,000 non-agricultural population is a medium city, 500,000-1,000,000 non-agricultural population is a large city and >1,000,000 non-agricultural population is an extra-large city.^{[citation needed]} Also, there is an administrative definition based on the city boundary too and a city has its legal city limits.^{[citation needed]} In 1998, there were 668 cities in China. China has the largest urban population in the world although most of its population still lives in rural areas.

Chile

Chile's Department of National Statistics defines a city (ciudad in Spanish) as an urban entity with more than 5,000 inhabitants.^[25] A town (pueblo), is an urban entity with 2,001 to 5,000 persons, however, if the area has some economic activity, the designation may include populations as small as 1,001. The department also defines Major Cities as provincial or regional capitals with populations of 100,001 to 500,000; Great Urban Areas which comprise several entities without any appreciable limit between them and populations which total between 500,001 and 1,000,000. A Metropolis is the largest urban area in the country where there are more than one million inhabitants. The "urban entity" is defined as a concentration of habitations with more than 2,000 persons living in them, or more than 1,000 persons if more than half of those persons are in some way gainfully employed. Tourist and recreation areas with more than 250 living units may be considered as urban areas.^[25]

Germany

Berlin, the largest city in Germany

The German word for both "town" and "city" is Stadt, while a city with more than 100,000 inhabitants is called a Großstadt (big city). On the other hand, most towns are communities belonging to a Landkreis (county or rural district), but there are some cities, usually with at least 50,000 inhabitants, that are counties by themselves (kreisfreie Städte). Germany's largest cities are Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and Frankfurt am Main while the largest urban area is in the Rhine-Ruhr region around such cities as Dortmund, Duisburg and Essen. Berlin and Frankfurt are characterized as world cities or global cities.

Iceland

This section requires expansion.

Main article: List of cities and towns in Iceland

India

This section requires expansion.

Main article: List of cities in India

Indonesia

This section requires expansion.

Main article: List of cities in Indonesia

Italy

Rome

In Italy a city is called città, a noun derived from the Latin civitas. The status of "city" is granted by the President of the Republic with Presidential Decree Law. The largest and most important cities in the country, such as Rome, Milan, Naples and Turin, are called aree metropolitane (metropolitan areas) because they include several minor cities and towns in their areas. There is no population limit for a city. In the coat of arms, a golden crown tower stands for a city.

Japan

This section requires expansion.

Main article: List of cities in Japan

Mexico

Mexico City the largest metropolis of the country and one of the largest of the world.

The Mexican population is increasingly urban with close to 75% of the population living in cities. The five largest metropolitan areas of Mexico (Greater Mexico City, Greater Guadalajara, Greater Monterrey, Greater Puebla and Greater Tijuana) are home to 30% of the country's population.

In 2004, a joint effort between CONAPO (National Council of Population), INEGI and the Secretariat of Social Development (SEDESOL) agreed to define metropolitan areas as either:^[26]

• The group of two or more municipalities in which a city with a population of at least 50,000 is located whose urban area extends over the limit of the municipality that originally contained the core city incorporating either physically or under its area of direct influence other adjacent predominantly urban municipalities all of which have a high degree of social and economic integration or are relevant for urban politics and administration.

• A single municipality in which a city of a population of at least one million is located and fully contained, (that is, it does not transcend the limits of a single municipality).

Netherlands

In the Netherlands a city is called stad, in common with other Germanic languages. In the Dutch language there is no distinction between town and city (both are stad). Small settlements are distinguished similarly as in English, being called dorp (village) or gehucht (hamlet). In medieval times, a settlement had to achieve city-rights to be called a stad. In modern times, there's no Dutch law saying what can be called a city or not, although generally places with more than 50,000 inhabitants are called a city. Settlements between 20,000 and 50,000 are most often called kleine stad or stadje, which literally means "little city". Settlements under about 20,000 may be called dorp, "village". The four largest cities are Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht, which together form the heart of the Randstad metropolitan conurbation.

New Zealand

Auckland, New Zealand

In New Zealand, according to Statistics New Zealand (the government statistics agency), "A city [...] must have a minimum population of 50,000, be predominantly urban in character, be a distinct entity and a major centre of activity within the region."^[27] For example Gisborne, purported to be the first city to see the sun, has a population of only 44,500 (2006) and is therefore administered by a district council, not a city council. At the other extreme, Auckland, although it is usually referred to as a single city, is actually four cities: Auckland City, Waitakere City, North Shore City, and Manukau City.

Norway

Main article: List of cities in Norway

In Norway a city is called by and is derived from the Norse word býr meaning "a place with many buildings". Both cities and towns are referred to as by. The status of "city" is granted by the local authorities if a request for city status has been made and the area has a population of at least 5000. Since 1997, cities no longer have special administrative functions. If the area has not been granted the status of a city it is called tettsted or bygd. The terms differ in that a tettsted has more concentrated population than a bygd. A bygd is in many ways similar to a village, but the Norwegian term for village, landsby, is not used for places in Norway.

Pakistan

Main article: List of cities in Pakistan

There has traditionally been no formal distinction between "City" or "Town" in Pakistan, although informal distinctions and status has been as common as in any other country. Several cities in what is now Pakistan were traditionally recognized as cities; in some cases for centuries; Lahore, Multan and Peshawar are examples. After independence and the rapid increase in population that followed caused Karachi to become the nations largest city, while the rapid industrialisation in the north of the country resulted in new towns increasing greatly in population; such as Sialkot and Faisalabad, whilst Rawalpindi, traditionally a garrison town became a large city due to the decision to build a new capital nearby. In 2001, a new Act formalised the distinction, by granting the 10 largest cities and metropolitan areas the statis of city district, which for the first time gave areas the status of cities.

Poland

In Poland the word miasto serves for both town and city. Miasto is the term applied purely on the basis of the administrative decision of the central government, and specifically means either:

• a county (gmina or powiat) with a city charter;
• a city within a county, created by granting a city charter to a smaller town within a county.^[28]

These formal distinctions may differentiate larger towns from smaller ones (such as status as a separate powiat, or the conferring of the title prezydent on the mayor rather than burmistrz), but none of these is universally recognized as equivalent to the English city/town distinction.

Portugal

Lisbon skyline

As in Spanish, in Portuguese there is a traditional distinction between cities—cidades—and towns—vilas. The difference is defined by law,^[29] and a city must have:

• at least 8,000 electors (more or less 10,000 inhabitants)
• at least half of the following services:
  • hospital
  • pharmacy
  • fire department
  • theatre / cultural house
  • museum
  • library
  • hotel services
  • basic and secondary schools
  • public transport
  • gardens / urban parks

In special cases, some towns may be granted the status of city if they possess historical, cultural or architectonic importance.

The Portuguese urban settlements heraldry reflects the difference between cities, towns and villages,^[30] with the coat of arms of a city bearing a crown with 5 towers, the coat of arms of a town bearing a crown with 4 towers, while the coat of arms of a village bears a crown with 3 towers. This difference between cities, towns and villages is still in use in other Portuguese speaking countries, but in Brazil is no longer in use.

There is also the notion of “Grande Área Metropolitana”. There are two main metropolitan areas—Lisbon (the capital), in the centre of the country and Porto in the North. Lisbon Metropolitan Area has a population that exceeds 3 million. Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto has over 2 million inhabitants, although it is part of the Portuguese Northwestern Agglomeration that has, also, about 3 million inhabitants.

Romania

Cities and towns in Romania can have the status either of municipiu or oraş. Those of the former type are generally larger, although there are no rigid criteria for the granting of this status.

South Korea

Main article: List of cities in South Korea Seoul is one of the largest cities in the world, consisting of 24.5 million people, including Incheon and Gyeonggi provinces.

South Korea has a system of dividing into metropolitan cities, provinces, a special city (Seoul) and one specially self-governing province (Jeju-do). In South Korea, cities should have a population of more than 150,000, and if a city has more than 500,000, it would be divided into 2 districts and then sub-communities follow as a name of dong with similar system of normal cities. Additionally, if a city's population is over 1,000,000, then it would be promoted to metropolitan city.^[31] Seoul is the world's second largest metropolitan area.^[32]

Sweden

Main article: List of cities in Sweden by population

Sweden canceled the official legal term City (in Swedish: stad) in the year 1971. Only the word Municipality (in Swedish: kommun) prevails, (in US English approximately County), making no legal difference between Stockholm and a countryside municipality. Before that there were a number of terms like "stad"/Town, "köping"/large village etc. The definition of City/Town (stad) was merely that it was given such a title. Since the 1980s some municipalities (13 out of 290) being "stad" before 1971, again call themselves town (stad), but only in tourist advertising. This has no legal or administrative significance whatsoever, and the municipalities have to use the word "kommun" by law. In other cases the seat of the municipality is called "town".

Today's Swedish terminology makes no difference between city and town, both concepts translates to the single word "stad", but sometimes town can be rendered "småstad". Statistics Sweden defines a "stad" as an urban area (in Swedish: tätort) of at least 10,000 inhabitants.

Taiwan

This section requires expansion.

Main article: List of cities in Taiwan Downtown of Taipei, the capital and biggest city of Taiwan

Turkey

Istanbul, clearly divided over Europe and Asia Main article: Metropolitan centers in Turkey

There is no legal definition of city in Turkey. Older definition which defines the city as a settlement with more than 20 000 inhabitants is out of use and a city is usually defined as the administrative center of a province (Turkish: il) There are 81 provincial centers in Turkey. However some of the district centers (Turkish: ilçe) are more populous and more developed than the provincial centers.

But in 1984, the metropolitan center concept was introduced. (Turkish: Büyükşehir) According to definition (revised as of 2004) a metropolitan center is a city with more than 750 000 inhabitants. At present 16 of the provincial centers are metropolitan centers.

Ukraine

There is no difference in the Ukrainian language between the notions of "town" and "city". Both these words are translated into Ukrainian as "місто" ("misto"). In articles of Wikipedia only the term "city" is used for every Ukrainian locality named "місто". The smallest population of a city of Ukraine can be about 10,000. For towns which officially are not named "місто" it is used a name "urban-type settlement" ("селище міського типу", "selyshche mis'koho typu") and also (informal) "містечко" ("mistechko"), the latter Ukrainian word is related to the word "місто" and can be translated as "small town".

United Kingdom and Ireland

Main article: City status in the United Kingdom The City of London is a city within the greater city of London.

In the United Kingdom (UK), a city is a town which has been known as a city since time immemorial, or which has received city status by letters patent—which is normally granted on the basis of size, importance or royal connection (the traditional test was whether the town had a cathedral) to gain city status. For example the small town of Ripon was granted city status in 1836 to coincide with the creation of the Diocese of Ripon, but also in recognition of its long-standing role as a supplier of spurs to royalty. In the United Kingdom, when people talk about cities, they generally include the suburbs in that. Some cathedral cities, such as St David's in Wales and Wells in England, are quite small, and may not be known as cities in common parlance. Preston became England's newest city in the year 2002 to mark the Queen's jubilee, as did Newport in Wales, Stirling in Scotland, and Lisburn and Newry in Northern Ireland. However, major towns such as Reading, Northampton, Swindon, Warrington and Milton Keynes all harbour populations between 170,000 and 215,000 inhabitants but are not officially cited as cities.

The situation in London is a historical anomaly: the City of Westminster and the City of London are geographically small but historically significant parts of the Greater London conurbation that have independent city status.^{[citation needed]}

A Review of Scotland's Cities led to the Fair City of Perth, Scotland, losing city status. By both legal and traditional definition, a town may be of any size, but must contain a market place. A village must contain a church^{[citation needed]}. A small village without a church is called a hamlet.^[33]

The UK's five largest cities are generally considered to be London, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow, but this is based on the population of the conurbation as a whole.^[34][35] In terms of formal city boundaries, the largest include Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Sheffield.

In Ireland the definition of a city is similar to that in the UK, but with the exception of Dublin, Irish cities are much smaller in size and population. The six cities in the Republic of Ireland are Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford, with Kilkenny being the smallest (although Kilkenny is actually a borough it still has the right to be referred to as a city).

United States

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be and removed. (August 2009)

An aerial view of the city of Chicago.

In the United States of America, the classification of population centers is a matter of state law; consequently, the definition of a city varies widely from state to state. In some states, a city may be run by an elected mayor and city council, while a town is governed by the people, a select board (or board of trustees), or open town meeting. There are some very large towns (such as Hempstead, New York, with a population of 755,785 in 2004) and some very small cities (such as Woodland Mills, Tennessee, with a population of 296 in 2000), and the line between town and city, if it exists at all, varies from state to state. The lack of a clear-cut definition of a city in the United States can lead to some counter-intuitive labeling; for example, before it was dissolved in 2002^[36] Maza, North Dakota, with only 5 inhabitants, was a city as by North Dakota law any incorporated location is deemed a city regardless of size. California has both towns and cities but the terms "town" and "city" are considered synonymous. The nation's top 5 largest cities are New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In some U.S. states, any incorporated town is also called a city. If a distinction is being made between towns and cities, exactly what that distinction is often depends on the context. The context will differ depending on whether the issue is the legal authority it possesses, the availability of shopping and entertainment, and the scope of the group of places under consideration. Intensifiers such as "small town" and "big city" are also common, though the flip side of each is rarely used.

Some states make a distinction between villages and other forms of municipalities. In some cases, villages combine with larger other communities to form larger towns; a well-known example of an urban village is New York City's famed Greenwich Village, which started as a quiet country settlement but was absorbed by the growing city. The word has often been co-opted by enterprising developers to make their projects sound welcoming and friendly.

In Illinois, cities must have a minimum population of 2,500 but in Nebraska, cities must have a minimum of only 800 residents. In Oregon, Kansas, Kentucky, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa, all incorporated municipalities are cities. In Ohio, a municipality automatically becomes a city if it has 5,000 residents counted in a federal census but it reverts to a village if its population drops below 5,000.^[37] In Nebraska, 5,000 residents is the minimum for a city of the first class while 800 is the minimum for a city of the second class. The Constitution of Idaho makes no distinction between incorporated towns or cities.^[38]

In all the New England states, city status is conferred by the form of government, not population. Town government has a board of selectmen or Town Council for the executive branch, and a town meeting for the legislative branch, but unlike the US Government, the executive acts only as an administrative body and cannot override the will of town meeting. New England cities, on the other hand, have a mayor for the executive, and a legislature referred to as either the city council or the board of aldermen.

In Virginia, all incorporated municipalities designated as cities are independent of the adjacent or surrounding county while a town is an incorporated municipality which remains a part of an adjacent or surrounding county. The largest incorporated municipalities by population are all cities, although some smaller cities have a smaller population than some towns. For example, the smallest city of Norton has a population of 3,904 and the largest town of Blacksburg has a population of 39,573. The other U.S. independent cities are Baltimore, Maryland; St. Louis, Missouri; and Carson City, Nevada.^[39]

In Pennsylvania any municipality with more than 10 persons can incorporate as a borough. Any township or borough with a population of at least 10,000 can ask the state legislature to charter as a city. In Pennsylvania, a village is simply an unincorporated community within a township.

Venezuela

Venezuela's Department of National Statistics defines a city (ciudad in Spanish) as an urban entity with more than 5,000 inhabitants. A town (pueblo), is an urban entity with 2,001 to 5,000 persons.

Global cities

Main article: Global city

A global city, also known as a world city, is a prominent centre of trade, banking, finance, innovation, and markets. The term "global city", as opposed to megacity, was coined by Saskia Sassen in a seminal 1991 work.^{[citation needed]} Whereas "megacity" refers to any city of enormous size, a global city is one of enormous power or influence. Global cities, according to Sassen, have more in common with each other than with other cities in their host nations. Notable examples of such cities include London, New York City, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Chicago, Singapore and Shanghai.

The notion of global cities is rooted in the concentration of power and capabilities within all cities. The city is seen as a container where skills and resources are concentrated: the better able a city is to concentrate its skills and resources, the more successful and powerful the city. This makes the city itself more powerful in the sense that it can influence what is happening around the world. Following this view of cities, it is possible to rank the world's cities hierarchically.^[40]

Critics of the notion point to the different realms of power. The term global city is heavily influenced by economic factors and, thus, may not account for places that are otherwise significant. For example, cities like Rome, Beijing, Delhi, Mumbai, Istanbul, Mecca, Mashhad, Karbala, Jerusalem and Lisbon are powerful in religious and historical terms but would not be considered "global cities." Additionally, it has been questioned whether the city itself can be regarded as an actor.

In 1995, Kanter argued that successful cities can be identified by three elements: good thinkers (concepts), good makers (competence) or good traders (connections). The interplay of these three elements, Kanter argued, means that good cities are not planned but managed.

Modern global cities, like New York City, often include large central business districts that serve as hubs for economic activity.

Inner city

Tehran Main article: Inner city

In the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland, the term "inner city" is sometimes used with the connotation of being an area, perhaps a ghetto, where people are less wealthy and where there is more crime. These connotations are less common in other Western countries, as deprived areas are located in varying parts of other Western cities. In fact, with the gentrification of some formerly run-down central city areas the reverse connotation can apply. In Australia, for example, the term "outer suburban" applied to a person implies a lack of sophistication. In Paris, the inner city is the richest part of the metropolitan area, where housing is the most expensive, and where elites and high-income individuals dwell. In the developing world, economic modernization brings poor newcomers from the countryside to build haphazardly at the edge of current settlement (see favelas, shacks and shanty towns).

The United States, in particular, has a culture of anti-urbanism that dates back to colonial times. The American City Beautiful architecture movement of the late 1800s was a reaction to perceived urban decay and sought to provide stately civic buildings and boulevards to inspire civic pride in the motley residents of the urban core. Modern anti-urban attitudes are to be found in the United States in the form of a planning profession that continues to develop land on a low-density suburban basis, where access to amenities, work and shopping is provided almost exclusively by car rather than by foot or transit.

However, there is a growing movement in North America called "New Urbanism" that calls for a return to traditional city planning methods where mixed-use zoning allows people to walk from one type of land-use to another. The idea is that housing, shopping, office space, and leisure facilities are all provided within walking distance of each other, thus reducing the demand for road-space and also improving the efficiency and effectiveness of mass transit.

21st century

There is a debate about whether technology and instantaneous communications are making cities obsolete, or reinforcing the importance of big cities as centres of the knowledge economy.^[41][42][43] Knowledge-based development of cities, globalization of innovation networks, and broadband services are driving forces of a new city planning paradigm towards intelligent cities. Intelligent / smart cities use technology and communication to create more efficient agglomerations in terms of competitiveness, innovation, environment, energy, utilities, governance, and delivery of services to the citizen. Some companies are building brand new masterplanned cities from scratch on greenfield sites.

• Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, India
• Nano City, India
• King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia
• New Songdo City, South Korea
• Dubai Waterfront, UAE
• Dubai World Central, UAE
• Masdar City, UAE
• Coyote Springs, United States

See also

Developed environments Ekistics Environmental racism Homelessness Large Cities Climate Leadership Group Lists of cities

Lost city Names of European cities in different languages Principles of Intelligent Urbanism Shrinking Cities Urban geography Urban sociology

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Goodall, B. (1987) The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography. London: Penguin.
2. ^ Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) The Social Science Encyclopedia. 2nd edition. London: Routledge.
3. ^ (Bairoch 1988, p. 3-4)
4. ^ (Pacione 2001, p. 16)
5. ^ ^{a b} (Bairoch 1988, p. 13)
6. ^ ^{a b} (Jacobs 1969, p. 23)
7. ^ Childe, V. Gordon (April). "The Urban Revolution". Town Planning Review 21 (1): 3–19. doi:10.1068/d5307.
8. ^ Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark (1998) Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization. Oxford University Press, Karachi and New York.
9. ^ On The Political Economy of the Roman Empire, Keith Hopkins
10. ^ Rostovtzeff 1941: 1138-39)
11. ^ ^{a b} George Modelski, World Cities: –3000 to 2000, Washington DC: FAROS 2000, 2003. ISBN 2-00309-499-4. See also Evolutionary World Politics Homepage.
12. ^ The organization of the grain trade in the early Roman Empire, David Kessler and Peter Temin
13. ^ Trudy Ring, Robert M. Salkin, K. A. Berney, Paul E. Schellinger (1996). International dictionary of historic places, Volume 4: Middle East and Africa. Taylor and Francis. p. 116
14. ^ History of African Cities South of the Sahara By Catherine Coquery -Vidrovitch. 2005. ISBN 1558763031
15. ^ "Mayday 23: World Population Becomes More Urban Than Rural". News.ncsu.edu. http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/2007/may/104.html. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
16. ^ "Indoor Air Quality — American Lung Association of Alaska". Aklung.org. http://www.aklung.org/air-quality/indoor-air-quality/. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
17. ^ "newsminer.com; EPA to put Fairbanks on air pollution problem list". Newsminer.com. 2008-08-20. http://newsminer.com/news/2008/aug/20/epa-put-fairbanks-air-pollution-problem-list/. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
18. ^ "Knowldege Spillovers" (PDF). http://www.philadelphiafed.org/files/br/brq401gc.pdf. Retrieved 2010-05-16.
19. ^ "UN Habitat calling urban living 'a good thing". BBC News. 2007-06-27. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/6244496.stm. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
20. ^ "National Geographic Magazine; Special report 2008: Changing Climate (Village Green-article by". Michelle Nijhuis. 2008-08-26. http://www.michellenijhuis.com/. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
21. ^ "Un Habitat calling to rethink urban planning". Un-Habitat.. http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=2523&catid=5&typeid=6&subMenuId=0. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
22. ^ "City of South Perth". http://www.southperth.wa.gov.au. Retrieved 2007-06-03.
23. ^ ^{a b} Department of Sustainability and the Environment. (2004, October). Guidelines for Geographic Names Victoria: Principles, policies, procedures.
24. ^ Гісторыя Беларусі. Энцыклапедыя. Том 5
25. ^ ^{a b} "DPA y CENSAL 2000 Political Divisions Chile National Institute of Statistics" (PDF). http://www.ine.cl/canales/chile_estadistico/territorio/division_politico_administrativa/pdf/dpa2001.pdf. Retrieved 2010-05-16.
26. ^ http://www.inegi.gob.mx/est/contenidos/espanol/metodologias/otras/zonas_met.pdf
27. ^ "Geographic Definitions, 2006 Census Information About Data, 2006 Census, Statistics New Zealand". http://www.stats.govt.nz/Census/about-2006-census/2006-census-definitions-questionnaires/definitions/c.aspx. Retrieved 2010-01-26.
28. ^ "Definition of city in Poland" (in (Polish)). Stat.gov.pl. http://www.stat.gov.pl/gus/definicje_PLK_HTML.htm?id=POJ-4689.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
29. ^ "Law n.° 11/82 (Lei das designações e determinação de categoria das povoações), of June, 2nd" (PDF). http://www.povt.qren.pt/tempfiles/20080213151143moptc.pdf. Retrieved 2010-05-16.
30. ^ "Flags of the World". Crwflags.com. http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/pt-_m.html#rules. Retrieved 2010-05-16.
31. ^ Korea.net - Administrative Units
32. ^ R.L. Forstall, R.P. Greene, and J.B. Pick, "Which are the largest? Why published populations for major world urban areas vary so greatly", City Futures Conference, (University of Illinois at Chicago, July 2004)– Table 5 (p.34)
33. ^ Dictionary of British Social History; L W Cowrie: Wordsworth reference: ISBN 1-85326-378-8
34. ^ Statistics.gov.uk
35. ^ "CityProfiles". Urban Audit. http://www.urbanaudit.org/CityProfiles.aspx. Retrieved 2010-05-16.
36. ^ "U.S. Census Bureau: Boundary Changes". Census.gov. 2010-03-30. http://www.census.gov/popest/geographic/boundary_changes/. Retrieved 2010-05-16.
37. ^ Ohio Revised Code 703.01
38. ^ "Idaho Constitution". Legislature.idaho.gov. http://www.legislature.idaho.gov/idstat/IC/ArtXIISect1PrinterFriendly.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-16.
39. ^ "Chapter 4: States, Counties, and Statistically Equivalent Entities" (PDF). Geographic Areas Reference Manual. United States Census Bureau. pp. 4–9, 4–11. http://www.census.gov/geo/www/GARM/Ch4GARM.pdf. Retrieved 2008-09-16.
40. ^ John Friedmann and Goetz Wolff, "World City Formation: An Agenda for Research and Action," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 6, no. 3 (1982): 319
41. ^ Castells, M. (ed) (2004). The network society: a cross-cultural perspective. London: Edward Elgar. (ebook)
42. ^ Flew, T. (2008). New media: an introduction, 3rd edn, South Melbourne: Oxford University Press
43. ^ Harford, T. (2008) The Logic of Life. London: Little, Brown.

References

• Bairoch, Paul (1988). Cities and Economic Development: From the Dawn of History to the Present. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226034658
• Chandler, T. Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1987.
• Geddes, Patrick, City Development (1904)
• Jacobs, Jane (1969). The Economy of Cities. New York: Random House Inc
• Kemp, Roger L. Managing America's Cities: A Handbook for Local Government Productivity, McFarland and Company, Inc., Publisher, Jefferson, North Carolina, USA, 2007. (ISBN 978-0-7864-3151-9).
• Kemp, Roger L. How American Governments Work: A Handbook of City, County, Regional, State, and Federal Operations, McFarland and Company, Inc., Publisher, Jefferson, North Carolina, USA. (ISBN 978-0-7864-3152-6).
• Monti, Daniel J., Jr., The American City: A Social and Cultural History. Oxford, England and Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers, 1999. 391 pp. ISBN 978-1-55786-918-0.
• Mumford, Lewis, The City in History (1961)
• O'Flaherty, Brendan (2005). City Economics. Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01918-0
• Pacione, Michael (2001). The City: Critical Concepts in The Social Sciences. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0415252709
• Reader, John (2005) Cities. Vintage, New York.
• Robson, W.A., and Regan, D.E., ed., Great Cities of the World, (3d ed., 2 vol., 1972)
• Rybczynski, W., City Life: Urban Expectations in a New World, (1995)
• Smith, Michael E. (2002) The Earliest Cities. In Urban Life: Readings in Urban Anthropology, edited by George Gmelch and Walter Zenner, pp. 3–19. 4th ed. Waveland Press, Prospect Heights, IL.
• Thernstrom, S., and Sennett, R., ed., Nineteenth-Century Cities (1969)
• Toynbee, Arnold J. (ed), Cities of Destiny, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967. Pan historical/geographical essays, many images. Starts with "Athens", ends with "The Coming World City-Ecumenopolis".
• Weber, Max, The City, 1921. (tr. 1958)

External links

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• Human Geography at the Open Directory Project
• Urban and Regional Planning at the Open Directory Project
• Geopolis - research group that studies the world's urbanization, Université Paris Diderot, France

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