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{{short description|Large permanent human settlement}}
[[File:New York City (New York, USA), Empire State Building -- 2012 -- 6448.jpg|thumb|right|300px|View from [[Empire State Building]] towards Midtown Manhattan, [[New York City]], USA]]
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<!-- The images in the collage have been deliberately selected for geographic, visual, and aspectual balance. Please discuss potential changes on talk before implementing. -->{{multiple image|total_width=350px|perrow=1/2/3/2/1
| image1                          = Palace of Westminster from the dome on Methodist Central Hall (cropped).jpg
| alt1                            = London skyline with Palace of Westminster in midground
| image2                          = Tokyo Shibuya Scramble Crossing 2018-10-09.jpg
| alt2                            = People cross busy Shibuya intersection lined with electronic billboards at dusk
| image3                          = Camille Pissarro - Boulevard Montmartre, Spring - Google Art Project.jpg
| alt3                            = Impressionist painting of wide tree-lined Boulevard Montmartre with horse-drawn carts in the 1890s
| image4                          = 1 rocinha night 2014 panorama (vertical cropped).jpg
| alt4                            = Informal settlements built into the hillside in Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at dusk
| image5                          = Fast-Paced Streets of New York City.jpg
| alt5                            = Skyscrapers line a busy sidewalk along 6th Avenue in New York City
| image6                          = 20191205 Targ przypraw w Starym Delhi 0703 6755 (cropped).jpg
| alt6                            = Vendors and signs along a busy dirt street in Old Delhi
| image7                          = Hong Kong Harbour Night 2019-06-11.jpg
| alt7                            = Hong Kong skyline
| image8                          = Metro de São Paulo, Luz Station, Brazil (square cropped).jpg
| alt8                            = An underground train in the São Paulo Metro
| footer                          = ''Left to right, from top:'' [[Westminster Palace]] in [[London]], [[Shibuya Crossing]] in [[Tokyo]], [[Le Boulevard de Montmartre, Matinée de Printemps|painting]] of [[Boulevard Montmartre]] in [[Paris]] by [[Camille Pissarro]], the [[Rocinha]] [[favela]] in [[Rio de Janeiro]], [[6th Avenue (Manhattan)|6th Avenue]] in [[Manhattan]], spice market in [[Old Delhi]], [[Hong Kong]], the [[São Paulo Metro]]
}}
A '''city''' is a large [[human settlement]].<ref name="Goodall">Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.</ref><ref name="Kuper and Kuper">Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge.</ref>{{efn|The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small indeed. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no fixed definition of the lower boundary for their size; common definitions include "250,000" and "one million". This article is about large settlements, however defined.}} It can be defined as a permanent and [[Urban density|densely]] settled place with administratively defined boundaries whose members work primarily on non-agricultural tasks.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the City|last=Caves|first=R. W.|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|pages=99}}</ref> Cities generally have extensive systems for [[housing]], [[transportation]], [[sanitation]], [[Public utilities|utilities]], [[land use]], [[Manufacturing|production of goods]], and [[communication]]. Their density facilitates interaction between people, [[government organisations]] and [[businesses]], sometimes benefiting different parties in the process, such as improving efficiency of goods and service distribution.


Historically, city-dwellers have been a small proportion of humanity overall, but following two centuries of unprecedented and rapid [[urbanization]], more than half of the [[world population]] now lives in cities, which has had profound consequences for global sustainability.<ref>{{Cite journal|url= https://ourworldindata.org/urbanization|title= Urbanization|journal= Our World in Data|date= 13 June 2018|language= en|access-date= 2021-02-14|last1= Ritchie|first1= Hannah|last2= Roser|first2= Max}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=James|first1=Paul|url=https://www.academia.edu/9294719|title=Urban Sustainability in Theory and Practice: Circles of Sustainability|last2=with Magee|first2=Liam|last3=Scerri|first3=Andy|last4=Steger|first4=Manfred B.|publisher=Routledge|year=2015|location=London|isbn=9781315765747|author-link=Paul James (academic)}}</ref> Present-day cities usually form the core of larger [[metropolitan area]]s and [[urban area]]s—creating numerous [[commuter]]s traveling towards [[city centre]]s for employment, entertainment, and education. However, in a world of intensifying [[globalisation]], all cities are to varying degrees also connected globally beyond these regions. This increased influence means that cities also have significant influences on global issues, such as [[sustainable development]], [[Climate change and cities|global warming]] and [[global health]]. Because of these major influences on global issues, the international community has prioritized investment in [[Sustainable city|sustainable cities]] through [[Sustainable Development Goal 11]]. Due to the efficiency of transportation and the smaller [[land consumption]], [[Urban density|dense]] cities hold the potential to have a smaller [[ecological footprint]] per inhabitant than more sparsely populated areas.<ref>{{Cite web|date=18 September 2019|title=Cities: a 'cause of and solution to' climate change|url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/09/1046662|access-date=2021-03-20|website=UN News|language=en}}</ref> Therefore, [[Compact city|compact cities]] are often referred to as a crucial element of fighting climate change.<ref>{{Cite web|date=30 June 2011|title=Sustainable cities must be compact and high-density|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2011/jun/30/sustainable-cities-urban-planning|access-date=2021-03-20|website=The Guardian News|language=en}}</ref> However, this concentration can also have significant negative consequences, such as forming [[urban heat island]]s, [[Pollution#Urban pollution|concentrating pollution]], and stressing water supplies and other resources.
A '''city''' is a place where many people live close together.


Other important traits of cities besides population include the capital status and relative continued occupation of the city. For example, country capitals such as [[Beijing]], [[London]], [[Mexico City]], [[Moscow]], [[Nairobi]], [[New Delhi]], [[Paris]], [[Rome]], [[Athens]], [[Seoul]], [[Singapore]], [[Tokyo]], and [[Washington, D.C.]] reflect the identity and apex of their respective nations.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ch2|url=https://www-personal.umich.edu/~sdcamp/capitals/Ch2.html|access-date=2021-05-10|website=www-personal.umich.edu}}</ref> Some historic capitals, such as [[Kyoto]] and [[Xi'an]], maintain their reflection of cultural identity even without modern capital status. Religious holy sites offer another example of capital status within a religion, [[Jerusalem]], [[Mecca]], [[Varanasi]], [[Ayodhya]], [[Haridwar]] and [[Allahabad]] each hold significance.
A city has many buildings and streets. It has houses, [[hotel]]s, [[condominium]]s, and [[apartments]] for many people to live in, shops where they may buy things, places for people to work, and a government to run the city and keep law and order in the city. People live in cities because it is easy for them to find and do everything they want there. A city usually has a "city center" where government and business occur and suburbs where people live outside the [[center]].  


== Meaning ==
==Definition==
[[File:Sheth Motisha Tonk 01.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35| [[Palitana]] represents the city's symbolic function in the extreme, devoted as it is to [[Palitana temples|Jain temples]].<ref>Moholy-Nagy (1968), p. 45.</ref>]]
[[File:Attica 06-13 Athens 17 View from Acropolis Hill.jpg|thumb|250x250px|View of Athens (Attica, Greece) from Acropolis hill]]
A city can be distinguished from other human settlements by its relatively great size, but also by its functions and its [[city status|special symbolic status]], which may be conferred by a central authority. The term can also refer either to the physical streets and buildings of the city or to the collection of people who dwell there, and can be used in a general sense to mean [[Urban area|urban]] rather than [[rural territory]].<ref name="OED" /><ref name="Lynch2008p678">Kevin A. Lynch, "What Is the Form of a City, and How is It Made?"; in Marzluff et al. (2008), p. 678. "The city may be looked on as a story, a pattern of relations between human groups, a production and distribution space, a field of physical force, a set of linked decisions, or an arena of conflict. Values are embedded in these metaphors: historic continuity, stable equilibrium, productive efficiency, capable decision and management, maximum interaction, or the progress of political struggle. Certain actors become the decisive elements of transformation in each view: political leaders, families and ethnic groups, major investors, the technicians of transport, the decision elite, the revolutionary classes."</ref>
No rule is used worldwide to decide why some places are called "city," and other places are called "town."


National [[census]]es use a variety of definitions - invoking factors such as [[population]], [[population density]], number of [[dwelling]]s, economic function, and [[infrastructure]] - to classify populations as urban. Typical working definitions for small-city populations start at around 100,000 people.<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://data.oecd.org/popregion/urban-population-by-city-size.htm|title= Population by region - Urban population by city size - OECD Data|website= theOECD|language= en|access-date= 2019-06-03}}</ref> Common population definitions for an urban area (city or town) range between 1,500 and 50,000 people, with most [[U.S.]] states using a minimum between 1,500 and 5,000 inhabitants.<ref>"[https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2015/notes/notes06.pdf Table 6]" in [[United Nations Demographic Yearbook]] ([https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2015.htm 2015]), the 1988 version of which is quoted in Carter (1995), pp. 10–12.</ref><ref name="HugoEtAl2003" />  Some jurisdictions set no such minima.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.nclm.org/resource-center/Pages/How-Municipalities-Work.aspx|title= How NC Municipalities Work – North Carolina League of Municipalities|website= www.nclm.org|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100516211303/http://www.nclm.org/resource-center/Pages/How-Municipalities-Work.aspx|archive-date= 2010-05-16|url-status= dead}}</ref> In the [[United Kingdom]], [[city status in the United Kingdom|city status is awarded by the Crown]] and then remains permanently. (Historically, the qualifying factor was the presence of a [[cathedral]], resulting in some very small cities such as [[Wells, Somerset|Wells]], with a population 12,000 {{as of | 2018 | lc = on}} and [[St Davids]], with a population of 1,841 {{as of | 2011 | lc = on}}.) According to the "functional definition", a city is not distinguished by size alone, but also by the role it plays within a larger political context. Cities serve as administrative, commercial, religious, and cultural hubs for their larger surrounding areas.<ref name="Smith2002" /><ref name="Marshall14">Marshall (1989), pp. 14–15.</ref> An example of a settlement with "city" in their names which may not meet any of the traditional criteria to be named such include [[Broad Top City, Pennsylvania]] (population 452).
Some things that make a city are :
* A long [[history]]. Although many cities today have only been around for tens or hundreds of years, there are a few which have been so for thousands of years. For example, [[Athens]], [[Greece]] was founded in 1000 [[BC]] and [[Rome]], [[Italy]] has existed since 700 BC.
* A large [[population]]. Cities can have millions of people living in and around them. Among them are [[Tokyo]], [[Japan]], and the [[Tokyo Metropolis]] around it, which includes [[Yokohama]] and [[Chiba]].
* In Japan, the population of a city ( 市 ) is at least over 50,000 persons.<ref>{{Cite web|title=総務省｜地方自治制度｜地方公共団体の区分|url=https://www.soumu.go.jp/main_sosiki/jichi_gyousei/bunken/chihou-koukyoudantai_kubun.html|access-date=2020-08-20|website=総務省|language=ja}}</ref> and among cities, there are various grades according to laws, which the central government of Japan governs.
* A center where [[business]] and [[government]] takes place. The first case is often described as the [[financial capital]], such as [[Frankfurt]] in [[Germany]]. The second case is true for different levels of government, whether they are local or part of a larger [[region]] (for example, [[Atlanta]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], or the capital of the United States [[Washington, D.C.]]) Cities that contain the government of the region it is in are called capitals. Almost every country has its own capital.
* Special powers called [[town privileges]] which have been given by the government of the [[country]] or its [[ruler]]. [[Europe]] during the [[Middle Ages]] was a great example of having town privileges.
* Having a [[cathedral]] or a [[university]]. This rule is found in the United Kingdom. The smallest "cathedral cities" are [[St. David's]] and [[St. Asaph's]] which are both in [[Wales]], [[Ripon]] and [[Wells]] which are in [[England]].


The presence of a [[Intelligentsia|literate elite]] is sometimes included{{by whom|date=October 2019}} in the definition.<ref>Kaplan et al. (2004), pp. 23–24.</ref> A typical city has professional [[Public administration|administrators]], regulations, and some form of [[taxation]] (food and other necessities or means to trade for them) to support the [[Civil service|government workers]]. (This arrangement contrasts with the more typically [[egalitarianism|horizontal]] relationships in a [[tribe]] or [[village]] accomplishing common goals through informal agreements between neighbors, or through [[leadership]] of a chief.) The governments may be based on heredity, religion, military power, work systems such as canal-building, food-distribution, land-ownership, agriculture, commerce, manufacturing, finance, or a combination of these. Societies that live in cities are often called [[civilization]]s.
In American English, people often call all places where many people live cities.<ref>In the USA, on forms (papers asking for information), the word "City" is generally used for the place where a person lives, even if the person who wants to write in the form might live in a city, a [[town]], or a [[village]] or [[Hamlet (place)|hamlet]] (a tiny village).</ref> (See below: Size of cities )


The ''degree of urbanization'' is a modern metric to help define what comprises a city: "a population of at least 50,000 inhabitants in contiguous dense grid cells (>1,500 inhabitants per square kilometer)".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blogs.worldbank.org/sustainablecities/how-do-we-define-cities-towns-and-rural-areas|title=How do we define cities, towns, and rural areas?|date=March 10, 2020|author=Lewis Dijkstra, Ellen Hamilton, Somik Lall, and Sameh Wahba}}</ref> This metric was "devised over years by the [[European Commission]], [[OECD]], [[World Bank]] and others, and endorsed in March [2021] by the [[United Nations]]... largely for the purpose of international statistical comparison".<ref>{{cite news|title=What makes a city a city? It's a little complicated|first=Oliver|last=Moore|date=Oct 2, 2021|newspaper=[[The Globe and Mail]]|page=A11}}</ref>
==Size of cities==
[[File:004SFEC LONDON-200705.JPG|thumb|250px|The River Thames is part of London's transport system. This picture shows the "City of London."]]
[[File:Skyscrapers of Shinjuku 2009 January.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Tokyo]], is the world's most populous metropolitan area.]]
The sizes of cities can be very different. This depends on the type of city. Cities built hundreds of years ago and which have not changed much are much smaller than modern cities. There are two main reasons. One reason is that old cities often have a city wall, and most of the city is inside it. Another important reason is that the streets in old cities are often narrow. If the city got too big, it was hard for a cart carrying food to get to the marketplace. People in cities need food, and the food always has to come from outside the city.
 
Cities that were on a river like [[London]] could grow much bigger than cities that were on a mountain like [[Sienna]] in [[Italy]], because the river made a [[transport]] route for carrying food and other [[goods]], as well as for transporting people. London has been changing continually for hundreds of years, while Sienna, a significant city in the 1300s, has changed very little in 700 years.
 
Modern cities with modern transport systems can grow very large, because the streets are wide enough for cars, buses, and trucks, and there are often railway lines.
 
In the US, the word city is often used for towns that are not very big. When the first European people went to America, they named " city " to new places. They hoped the places would be great cities in the future. For example, Salt Lake City was the name given to a village of 148 people. When they started building the town, they made street plans and called it Great Salt Lake City (for the nearby Great Salt Lake).
 
Now, 150 years later, it really is a big city.
 
In modern times many cities have grown bigger and bigger. The whole area is often called a '' "[[metropolis]]" '' and can sometimes include several small ancient towns and villages. The ''metropolis'' of London includes London, Westminster, and many old villages such as Notting Hill, Southwark, Richmond, Greenwich, etc. The part that is officially known as the " City of London " only takes up one square mile. The rest is known as "Greater London. " Many other cities have grown in the same way.
 
These giant cities can be exciting places to live, and many people can find good jobs there, but modern cities also have many problems. Many people cannot find jobs in the cities and have to get [[money]] by [[beggar|begging]] or by [[crime]]. [[Automobiles]], factories, and [[garbage|waste]] create a lot of [[pollution]] that makes people sick.
 
== Urban history ==
[[File:Carcassonne-vignes.jpg|thumb|250px|Carcassonne is an ancient city in [[France]].]]
 
[[Urban]] history is history of [[civilization]]. The first cities were made in ancient times, as soon as people began to create civilization . The oldest city on Earth is probably [[Catal Huyuk]], which existed from 7500[[BCE]] to 6500bce, although mainstream [[historian]]s consider Catal Huyuk to be a '''proto-city'''.Famous ancient cities which fell to [[ruins]] included [[Babylon]], [[Troy]], [[Mycenae]] and [[Mohenjo-daro]].
 
[[Benares]] in northern [[India]] is one among the ancient cities which has a history of more than 3000 years. Other cities that have existed since ancient times are [[Athens]] in [[Greece]], [[Rome]] and [[Volterra]] in [[Italy]], [[Alexandria]] in [[Egypt]] and [[York]] in England.
 
In [[Europe]], in the [[Middle Ages]], being a city was a special [[wikt:privilege|privilege]], granted by [[nobility]]. Cities that fall into this category, usually had (or still have) city walls. The people who lived in the city were privileged over those who did not. Medieval cities that still have walls include [[Carcassonne]] in [[France]], [[Tehran ]]<nowiki/>in [[Iran]], [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]] in [[Spain]] and [[Canterbury]] in [[England]].
 
== Features ==
=== Infrastructure ===
[[File:040227 tevere16CloacaMaxima.jpg|thumb|A sewer built in [[Ancient Rome]].]]
People in a city live close together, so they cannot grow all their own food or gather their own water or [[Energy (society)|energy]]. People also create waste and need a place to put it. Modern cities have [[infrastructure]] to solve these problems. Pipes carry running water, and power lines carry [[electricity]]. [[Sewer]]s take away the dirty water and human waste. Most cities collect [[garbage]] to take it to a landfill, burn it, or recycle it.
 
[[Transport]] is any way of getting from one place to another. Cities have [[roads]] which are used by [[automobiles]] (including [[trucks]]), [[buses]], [[motorcycle]]s, [[bicycles]], and [[pedestrian]]s (people walking). Some cities have [[trains]] and larger cities have [[airport]]s. Many people in cities travel to work each day, which is called [[commuting]].
 
=== Buildings and design ===
[[Houses]] and [[apartments]] are common places to live in cities. Great numbers of people in [[developing countries]] (and developed countries, in the past) live in [[slum]]s. A slum is poorly built housing, without clean water, where people live very close together. Buildings are usually taller in the city center, and some cities have [[skyscrapers]].
 
City streets can be shaped like a [[Grid plan|grid]], or as a "wheel and spokes": a set of rings and lines coming out from the center. Streets in some older cities like London are arranged at random, without a pattern. The design of cities is a subject called [[urban planning]]. One area of the city might have only [[shop]]s, and another area might have only [[Factory|factories]]. Cities have [[park]]s, and other public areas like [[Town square|city squares]].
 
==United States politics==
[[File:Dallas Downtown (Texas).jpg|thumb|Downtown [[Dallas|Dallas, Texas]], is a Democratic stronghold. ]]
 
Cities in the US are usually very-left leaning. The best examples of these would be [[New York City|New York]], New York, and [[Washington, D.C.]] For example, in Louisiana, the only Democratic delegate in US Congress who is a Democrat was elected from a district comprising in New Orleans. Below is a list of states and the major city/cities that provide much of the liberal support in them :
 
# Atlanta, Georgia: 5 of the 16 delegates representing Georgia in the US Congress are Democrats. All hail from districts in Atlanta.
# New Orleans, Louisiana: the only Democratic delegate from Louisiana in the US Congress was elected from a New Orleans district.
# Kansas City, Kansas: the only Democratic congressman from Kansas was elected from a district in Kansas City.
# Las Vegas, Nevada: all of the Democrats in the US House who represent Nevada are from Las Vegas.
# Salt Lake City, Utah: the only Democrat representing Utah in the US Congress was elected from a Salt Lake City district.
# Chicago, Illinois: if it weren't for Chicago, the state of Illinois would be as conservative as Indiana.
# Louisville, Kentucky: the only Democrat representing Kentucky in the US Congress was elected from a Louisville district.
 
<!-- ''If you know any others, add to this list!'' -->
 
==World's largest cities==
{{main|List of largest cities}}
[[File: Rocinha Favela.jpg|thumb|250px|In [[Rio de Janeiro]], a city famous for its beauty, large slums lie between the richest districts. Many of the world's large cities have areas of [[poverty]] like this.]]
[[File: KL at night.jpg|thumb|250px|The capital of the Malaysian province of Kuala. The capital is Kuala Lumpur.]]
 
These cities have more than 10 million people and can be called megacities:<ref name=UNpopulation>{{Cite web |url=https://population.un.org/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2018-Highlights.pdf |year=2019 |work=United Nations |location=New York |title=World Urbanization Prospects 2018 |access-date=14 April 2020 |archive-date=11 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200211222646/https://population.un.org/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2018-Highlights.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Tokyo]], [[Japan]] - 37 million
* [[Delhi]], [[India]] - 29 million
* [[Shanghai]], [[China]] - 26 million
* [[São Paulo]], [[Brazil]] - 22 million
* [[Mexico City]], [[Mexico]] - 22 million
* [[Cairo]], [[Egypt]] - 20 million
* [[Mumbai]], India - 20 million
* [[Beijing]], China - 20 million
* [[Dhaka]], [[Bangladesh]] - 20 million
* [[Osaka]], Japan - 19 million
* [[New York City|New York]], [[United States]] - 19 million
* [[Karachi]], [[Pakistan]] - 15 million
* [[Buenos Aires]], [[Argentina]] - 15 million
* [[Chongqing]], China - 15 million
* [[Istanbul]], [[Turkey]] - 15 million
* [[Kolkata]], India - 15 million
* [[Manila]], [[Philippines]] - 13 million
* [[Lagos]], [[Nigeria]] - 13 million
* [[Rio de Janeiro]], Brazil - 13 million
* [[Tianjin]], China - 13 million
* [[Kinshasa]], [[Democratic Republic of the Congo|DR Congo]] - 13 million
* [[Guangzhou]], China - 13 million
* [[Los Angeles]], United States - 12 million
* [[Moscow]], [[Russia]] - 12 million
* [[Shenzhen]], China - 12 million
* [[Lahore]], Pakistan - 12 million
* [[Bangalore]], India - 11 million
* [[Paris]], [[France]] - 11 million
* [[Bogotá]], [[Colombia]] - 11 million
* [[Jakarta]], [[Indonesia]] - 11 million
* [[Chennai]], India - 10 million
* [[Lima]], [[Peru]] - 10 million
* [[Bangkok]], [[Thailand]] - 10 million
 
==Gallery of cities==
<gallery>
File:Los Angeles downtown.jpg|[[Los Angeles]], USA
File:Antalya falezler.jpg|[[Antalya]], in Turkey
File:Bangkok skytrain sunset.jpg|[[Bangkok]], Thailand
File:Down Town Sydney.jpg|[[Sydney]] CBD
File:NYC wideangle south from Top of the Rock.jpg|[[New York City]]
File:Chicago aerial view.jpg|[[Chicago]], USA
File:Warsaw skyline Świętokrzyski Bridge.jpg|[[Warsaw]], in Poland
</gallery>
 
==References==
{{reflist}}
 
[[Category:Cities| ]]

Latest revision as of 06:56, 15 October 2022

A city is a place where many people live close together.

View from Empire State Building towards Midtown Manhattan, New York City, USA

A city has many buildings and streets. It has houses, hotels, condominiums, and apartments for many people to live in, shops where they may buy things, places for people to work, and a government to run the city and keep law and order in the city. People live in cities because it is easy for them to find and do everything they want there. A city usually has a "city center" where government and business occur and suburbs where people live outside the center.

DefinitionEdit

 
View of Athens (Attica, Greece) from Acropolis hill

No rule is used worldwide to decide why some places are called "city," and other places are called "town."

Some things that make a city are :

  • A long history. Although many cities today have only been around for tens or hundreds of years, there are a few which have been so for thousands of years. For example, Athens, Greece was founded in 1000 BC and Rome, Italy has existed since 700 BC.
  • A large population. Cities can have millions of people living in and around them. Among them are Tokyo, Japan, and the Tokyo Metropolis around it, which includes Yokohama and Chiba.
  • In Japan, the population of a city ( 市 ) is at least over 50,000 persons.[1] and among cities, there are various grades according to laws, which the central government of Japan governs.
  • A center where business and government takes place. The first case is often described as the financial capital, such as Frankfurt in Germany. The second case is true for different levels of government, whether they are local or part of a larger region (for example, Atlanta, Georgia, or the capital of the United States Washington, D.C.) Cities that contain the government of the region it is in are called capitals. Almost every country has its own capital.
  • Special powers called town privileges which have been given by the government of the country or its ruler. Europe during the Middle Ages was a great example of having town privileges.
  • Having a cathedral or a university. This rule is found in the United Kingdom. The smallest "cathedral cities" are St. David's and St. Asaph's which are both in Wales, Ripon and Wells which are in England.

In American English, people often call all places where many people live cities.[2] (See below: Size of cities )

Size of citiesEdit

 
The River Thames is part of London's transport system. This picture shows the "City of London."
 
Tokyo, is the world's most populous metropolitan area.

The sizes of cities can be very different. This depends on the type of city. Cities built hundreds of years ago and which have not changed much are much smaller than modern cities. There are two main reasons. One reason is that old cities often have a city wall, and most of the city is inside it. Another important reason is that the streets in old cities are often narrow. If the city got too big, it was hard for a cart carrying food to get to the marketplace. People in cities need food, and the food always has to come from outside the city.

Cities that were on a river like London could grow much bigger than cities that were on a mountain like Sienna in Italy, because the river made a transport route for carrying food and other goods, as well as for transporting people. London has been changing continually for hundreds of years, while Sienna, a significant city in the 1300s, has changed very little in 700 years.

Modern cities with modern transport systems can grow very large, because the streets are wide enough for cars, buses, and trucks, and there are often railway lines.

In the US, the word city is often used for towns that are not very big. When the first European people went to America, they named " city " to new places. They hoped the places would be great cities in the future. For example, Salt Lake City was the name given to a village of 148 people. When they started building the town, they made street plans and called it Great Salt Lake City (for the nearby Great Salt Lake).

Now, 150 years later, it really is a big city.

In modern times many cities have grown bigger and bigger. The whole area is often called a "metropolis" and can sometimes include several small ancient towns and villages. The metropolis of London includes London, Westminster, and many old villages such as Notting Hill, Southwark, Richmond, Greenwich, etc. The part that is officially known as the " City of London " only takes up one square mile. The rest is known as "Greater London. " Many other cities have grown in the same way.

These giant cities can be exciting places to live, and many people can find good jobs there, but modern cities also have many problems. Many people cannot find jobs in the cities and have to get money by begging or by crime. Automobiles, factories, and waste create a lot of pollution that makes people sick.

Urban historyEdit

 
Carcassonne is an ancient city in France.

Urban history is history of civilization. The first cities were made in ancient times, as soon as people began to create civilization . The oldest city on Earth is probably Catal Huyuk, which existed from 7500BCE to 6500bce, although mainstream historians consider Catal Huyuk to be a proto-city.Famous ancient cities which fell to ruins included Babylon, Troy, Mycenae and Mohenjo-daro.

Benares in northern India is one among the ancient cities which has a history of more than 3000 years. Other cities that have existed since ancient times are Athens in Greece, Rome and Volterra in Italy, Alexandria in Egypt and York in England.

In Europe, in the Middle Ages, being a city was a special privilege, granted by nobility. Cities that fall into this category, usually had (or still have) city walls. The people who lived in the city were privileged over those who did not. Medieval cities that still have walls include Carcassonne in France, Tehran in Iran, Toledo in Spain and Canterbury in England.

FeaturesEdit

InfrastructureEdit

 
A sewer built in Ancient Rome.

People in a city live close together, so they cannot grow all their own food or gather their own water or energy. People also create waste and need a place to put it. Modern cities have infrastructure to solve these problems. Pipes carry running water, and power lines carry electricity. Sewers take away the dirty water and human waste. Most cities collect garbage to take it to a landfill, burn it, or recycle it.

Transport is any way of getting from one place to another. Cities have roads which are used by automobiles (including trucks), buses, motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians (people walking). Some cities have trains and larger cities have airports. Many people in cities travel to work each day, which is called commuting.

Buildings and designEdit

Houses and apartments are common places to live in cities. Great numbers of people in developing countries (and developed countries, in the past) live in slums. A slum is poorly built housing, without clean water, where people live very close together. Buildings are usually taller in the city center, and some cities have skyscrapers.

City streets can be shaped like a grid, or as a "wheel and spokes": a set of rings and lines coming out from the center. Streets in some older cities like London are arranged at random, without a pattern. The design of cities is a subject called urban planning. One area of the city might have only shops, and another area might have only factories. Cities have parks, and other public areas like city squares.

United States politicsEdit

 
Downtown Dallas, Texas, is a Democratic stronghold.

Cities in the US are usually very-left leaning. The best examples of these would be New York, New York, and Washington, D.C. For example, in Louisiana, the only Democratic delegate in US Congress who is a Democrat was elected from a district comprising in New Orleans. Below is a list of states and the major city/cities that provide much of the liberal support in them :

  1. Atlanta, Georgia: 5 of the 16 delegates representing Georgia in the US Congress are Democrats. All hail from districts in Atlanta.
  2. New Orleans, Louisiana: the only Democratic delegate from Louisiana in the US Congress was elected from a New Orleans district.
  3. Kansas City, Kansas: the only Democratic congressman from Kansas was elected from a district in Kansas City.
  4. Las Vegas, Nevada: all of the Democrats in the US House who represent Nevada are from Las Vegas.
  5. Salt Lake City, Utah: the only Democrat representing Utah in the US Congress was elected from a Salt Lake City district.
  6. Chicago, Illinois: if it weren't for Chicago, the state of Illinois would be as conservative as Indiana.
  7. Louisville, Kentucky: the only Democrat representing Kentucky in the US Congress was elected from a Louisville district.


World's largest citiesEdit

Main article: List of largest cities
 
In Rio de Janeiro, a city famous for its beauty, large slums lie between the richest districts. Many of the world's large cities have areas of poverty like this.
 
The capital of the Malaysian province of Kuala. The capital is Kuala Lumpur.

These cities have more than 10 million people and can be called megacities:[3]

Gallery of citiesEdit

ReferencesEdit

  1. ↑ "総務省｜地方自治制度｜地方公共団体の区分". 総務省 (in 日本語). Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  2. ↑ In the USA, on forms (papers asking for information), the word "City" is generally used for the place where a person lives, even if the person who wants to write in the form might live in a city, a town, or a village or hamlet (a tiny village).
  3. ↑ "World Urbanization Prospects 2018" (PDF). United Nations. New York. 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 February 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
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