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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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| 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]]
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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.


== Etymology ==
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.
The word ''city'' and the related ''[[civilization]]'' come from the [[Latin]] root ''[[wikt:civitas|civitas]]'', originally meaning 'citizenship' or 'community member' and eventually coming to correspond with ''[[wikt:urbs|urbs]]'', meaning 'city' in a more physical sense.<ref name="OED">"city, n.", ''Oxford English Dictionary'', June 2014.</ref> The Roman ''civitas'' was closely linked with the Greek ''[[polis]]''—another common root appearing in English words such as ''[[metropolis]]''.<ref>Yi Jianping, "'Civilization' and 'State': An Etymological Perspective"; ''Social Sciences in China'' 33(2), 2012; {{doi|10.1080/02529203.2012.677292}}.
</ref>


In [[toponymic]] terminology, names of individual cities and towns are called ''astionyms'' (from [[Ancient Greek]] ἄστυ 'city or town' and ὄνομα 'name').{{sfn|Room|1996|p=13}}
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.


==Geography==
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).
[[File:Kartie Sakhali old grave yard - panoramio - Masoud Akbari.jpg|thumb|Hillside housing and [[graveyard]] in [[Kabul]]]][[Urban geography]] deals both with cities in their larger context and with their internal structure.<ref>Carter (1995), pp. 5–7. "[...] the two main themes of study introduced at the outset: the town as a distributed feature and the town as a feature with internal structure, or in other words, the town in area and the town as area."</ref> Cities are estimated to cover about 3% of the land surface of the Earth.<ref>Bataille, L., "From passive to energy generating assets",  [https://issuu.com/energyinbuildingsindustry/docs/eibi_october_2021 ''Energy in Buildings & Industry'', October 2021], p. 34, accessed 12 February 2022</ref>


=== Site ===
Now, 150 years later, it really is a big city.
[[File:Allegheny Monongahela Ohio.jpg|thumb|[[Downtown Pittsburgh]] sits at the [[confluence]] of the [[Monongahela River|Monongahela]] and [[Allegheny River|Allegheny]] rivers, which become the [[Ohio River|Ohio]].]]Town siting has varied through history according to natural, technological, economic, and military contexts. Access to water has long been a major factor in city placement and growth, and despite exceptions enabled by the advent of [[rail transport]] in the nineteenth century, through the present most of the world's urban population lives near the coast or on a river.<ref>Marshall (1989), pp. 11–14.</ref>


Urban areas as a rule cannot [[Subsistence agriculture|produce their own food]] and therefore must develop some [[city region|relationship]] with a [[hinterland]] which sustains them.<ref name="Kaplan2004p155">Kaplan et al. (2004), pp. 155–156.</ref> Only in special cases such as [[mining town]]s which play a vital role in long-distance trade, are cities disconnected from the countryside which feeds them.<ref name="Marshall1989p15">Marshall (1989), p. 15. "The mutual interdependence of town and country has one consequence so obvious that it is easily overlooked: at the global scale, cities are generally confined to areas capable of supporting a permanent agricultural population. Moreover, within any area possessing a broadly uniform level of agricultural productivity, there is a rough but definite association between the density of the rural population and the average spacing of cities above any chosen minimum size."</ref> Thus, centrality within a productive region influences siting, as economic forces would in theory favor the creation of market places in optimal mutually reachable locations.<ref name="Latham2009p18" />
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.


=== Center ===
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.
{{Main|City centre}}


[[File:Helsinginkeskustailmakuva 04.JPG|thumb|[[Kluuvi]], a city centre of [[Helsinki]], [[Finland]]|left]]
== Urban history ==
The vast majority of cities have a central area containing buildings with special economic, political, and religious significance. Archaeologists refer to this area by the Greek term [[temenos]] or if fortified as a [[citadel]].<ref>Kaplan et al. (2004), pp. 34–35. "In the center of the city, an elite compound or temenos was situated. Study of the very earliest cities show this compound to be largely composed of a temple and supporting structures. The temple rose some 40 feet above the ground and would have presented a formidable profile to those far away. The temple contained the priestly class, scribes, and record keepers, as well as granaries, schools, crafts—almost all non-agricultural aspects of society.</ref> These spaces historically reflect and amplify the city's centrality and importance to its wider [[city region|sphere of influence]].<ref name="Latham2009p18">Latham et al. (2009), p. 18. "From the simplest forms of exchange, when peasant farmers literally brought their produce from the fields into the densest point of interaction—giving us market towns—the significance of central places to surrounding territories began to be asserted. As cities grew in complexity, the major civic institutions, from seats of government to religious buildings, would also come to dominate these points of convergence. Large central squares or open spaces reflected the importance of collective gatherings in city life, such as Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the Zócalo in Mexico City, the Piazza Navonae in Rome and Trafalgar Square in London.</ref> Today cities have a [[city center]] or [[downtown]], sometimes coincident with a [[central business district]].
[[File:Carcassonne-vignes.jpg|thumb|250px|Carcassonne is an ancient city in [[France]].]]


=== Public space ===
[[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]].
Cities typically have [[public space]]s where anyone can go. These include [[privately owned public space|privately owned spaces open to the public]] as well as forms of public land such as [[Public domain (land)|public domain]] and the [[common land|commons]]. [[Western philosophy]] since the time of the Greek [[agora]] has considered physical public space as the substrate of the symbolic [[public sphere]].<ref>Latham et al. (2009), pp. 177–179.</ref><ref>Don Mitchell, "[https://www.academia.edu/download/33133088/the-end-of-public-space-mitchell.pdf The End of Public Space? People's Park, Definitions of the Public, and Democracy]";{{dead link|date=October 2017|fix-attempted=yes}} ''Annals of the Association of American Geographers'' 85(1), March 1995.</ref> [[Public art]] adorns (or disfigures) public spaces. [[Park]]s and other [[Incorporation of nature within a city|natural sites within cities]] provide residents with relief from the hardness and regularity of typical [[built environment]]s.


=== Internal structure ===
[[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.
[[File:L'Enfant plan.svg|thumb|The [[L'Enfant Plan]] for [[Washington, D.C.]], inspired by the design of [[Versailles]], combines a utilitarian grid pattern with diagonal avenues and a symbolic focus on [[monument]]al architecture.<ref>Moholy-Nagy (1986), pp. 146–148.</ref>]]
[[Urban structure]] generally follows one or more basic patterns: geomorphic, radial, concentric, rectilinear, and curvilinear. Physical environment generally constrains the form in which a city is built. If located on a mountainside, urban structure may rely on terraces and winding roads. It may be adapted to its means of subsistence (e.g. agriculture or fishing). And it may be set up for optimal defense given the surrounding landscape.<ref>Moholy-Nagy (1968), 21–33.</ref> Beyond these "geomorphic" features, cities can develop internal patterns, due to natural growth or to [[urban planning|city planning]].


In a radial structure, main roads converge on a central point. This form could evolve from successive growth over a long time, with concentric traces of [[town wall]]s and [[citadel]]s marking older city boundaries. In more recent history, such forms were supplemented by [[ring road]]s moving traffic around the outskirts of a town. Dutch cities such as [[Amsterdam]] and [[Haarlem]] are structured as a central square surrounded by concentric canals marking every expansion. In cities such as [[Moscow]], this pattern is still clearly visible.
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]].


A system of rectilinear city streets and land plots, known as the [[grid plan]], has been used for millennia in Asia, Europe, and the Americas.  The [[Indus Valley Civilisation]] built [[Mohenjo-Daro]], [[Harappa]] and other cities on a grid pattern, using ancient principles described by [[Kautilya]], and aligned with the [[compass points]].<ref>Mohan Pant and Shjui Fumo, "[https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jaabe/4/1/4_1_51/_pdf The Grid and Modular Measures in The Town Planning of Mohenjodaro and Kathmandu Valley: A Study on Modular Measures in Block and Plot Divisions in the Planning of Mohenjodaro and Sirkap (Pakistan), and Thimi (Kathmandu Valley)]"; ''Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering'' 59, May 2005.</ref><ref name="Smith2002">Smith, "[http://www.public.asu.edu/~mesmith9/1-CompleteSet/MES-02-EarlyCities.pdf Earliest Cities]", in Gmelch & Zenner (2002).</ref><ref>Michel Danino, "[http://www.iisc.ernet.in/prasthu/pages/PP_data/paper2.pdf New Insights into Harappan Town-Planning, Proportions and Units, with Special Reference to Dholavira] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525012828/http://www.iisc.ernet.in/prasthu/pages/PP_data/paper2.pdf |date=25 May 2017 }}", "Man and Environment 33(1), 2008.</ref><ref>Jane McIntosh, ''The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives''; ABC-CLIO, 2008; {{ISBN|978-1-57607-907-2}}  pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1AJO2A-CbccC&pg=PA231 231], [https://books.google.com/books?id=1AJO2A-CbccC&pg=PA346 346].</ref> The ancient Greek city of [[Priene]] exemplifies a grid plan with specialized districts used across the [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic Mediterranean]].
== 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.


=== Urban areas ===
[[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]].
[[File:Tel Aviv, Israel by Planet Labs.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|This aerial view of the [[Gush Dan]] metropolitan area in Israel shows the geometrically planned<ref>Volker M.  Welter, "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/30245874 The 1925 Master Plan for Tel-Aviv by Patrick Geddes]"; ''Israel Studies'' 14(3), Fall 2009.</ref> city of [[Tel Aviv]] proper (upper left) as well as [[Givatayim]] to the east and some of [[Bat Yam]] to the south. Tel Aviv's population is 433,000; the total population of its metropolitan area is 3,785,000.<ref>[[Israel Central Bureau of Statistics]], "[http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton67/st02_25.pdf Locations, Population and Density per Sq.&nbsp;km., by metropolitan area and selected localities, 2015] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161002132439/http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton67/st02_25.pdf |date=2016-10-02}}."</ref>|left]]Urban-type settlement extends far beyond the traditional boundaries of the [[city proper]]<ref>Carter (1995), p. 15. "In the underbound city the administratively defined area is smaller than the physical extent of settlement. In the overbound city the administrative area is greater than the physical extent. The 'truebound' city is one where the administrative bound is nearly coincidental with the physical extent."</ref> in a form of development sometimes described critically as [[urban sprawl]].<ref>{{Cite book | year=2013 |author1=Paul James |author2=Meg Holden |author3=Mary Lewin |author4=Lyndsay Neilson |author5=Christine Oakley |author6=Art Truter |author7=David Wilmoth | chapter= Managing Metropolises by Negotiating Mega-Urban Growth | title= Institutional and Social Innovation for Sustainable Urban Development |editor1=Harald Mieg |editor2=Klaus Töpfer | chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/7207756 | publisher= Routledge}}</ref> Decentralization and dispersal of city functions (commercial, industrial, residential, cultural, political) has transformed the very meaning of the term and has challenged geographers seeking to classify territories according to an urban-rural binary.<ref name="HugoEtAl2003" />


[[Metropolitan areas]] include [[suburbs]] and [[exurbs]] organized around the needs of [[commuting|commuters]], and sometimes [[edge city|edge cities]] characterized by a degree of economic and political independence. (In the US these are grouped into [[metropolitan statistical areas]] for purposes of [[demography]] and [[marketing]].) Some cities are now part of a continuous urban landscape called [[urban agglomeration]], [[conurbation]], or [[megalopolis]] (exemplified by the [[northeast megalopolis|BosWash]] corridor of the [[Northeastern United States]].)<ref>Chaunglin Fang & Danlin Yu, "[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204617300439 Urban agglomeration: An evolving concept of an emerging phenomenon]"; ''Landscape and Urban Planning'' 162, 2017.</ref>
=== Buildings and design ===
{{clear}}
[[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]].


==History==
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]].
{{Main|History of the city}}


{{Further|Urban history|Historical urban community sizes|List of largest cities throughout history}}
==United States politics==
[[File:Oldest arch 4.JPG|thumb|right|An [[arch]] from the ancient [[Sumer]]ian city [[Ur]], which flourished in the [[third millennium BC]], can be seen at present-day Tell el-Mukayyar in [[Iraq]]]]
[[File:Dallas Downtown (Texas).jpg|thumb|Downtown [[Dallas|Dallas, Texas]], is a Democratic stronghold. ]]
[[File:Mohenjo-daro.jpg|thumb|right|[[Mohenjo-daro]], a city of the [[Indus Valley Civilization]] in [[Pakistan]], which was rebuilt six or more times, using bricks of standard size, and adhering to the same grid layout—also in the third millennium BC.]]
[[File:Teotihuacán 2012-09-28 00-07-11.jpg|thumb|This aerial view of what was once downtown [[Teotihuacan]] shows the [[Pyramid of the Sun]], [[Pyramid of the Moon]], and the processional avenue serving as the spine of the city's street system.]]


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 :


The cities of [[Jericho]], [[Aleppo]], [[Faiyum]], [[Yerevan]], [[Athens]], [[Damascus]] and [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]] are among those laying claim to [[List of oldest continuously inhabited cities|the longest continual inhabitation]].  
# 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.


Cities, characterized by [[population density]], [[symbol]]ic function, and [[urban planning]], have existed for thousands of years.<ref>Nick Compton, "What is the oldest city in the world?", ''The Guardian'', 16 February 2015.</ref> In the conventional view, civilization and the city both followed from the [[Neolithic Revolution|development of agriculture]], which enabled production of surplus food, and thus a social [[division of labour]] (with concomitant [[social stratification]]) and [[trade]].<ref>{{Harv |Bairoch|1988| pp=3–4}}</ref><ref>{{Harv |Pacione|2001| p=16}}</ref> Early cities often featured [[granary|granaries]], sometimes within a temple.<ref>Kaplan et al. (2004), p. 26. "Early cities also reflected these preconditions in that they served as places where agricultural surpluses were stored and distributed. Cities functioned economically as centers of extraction and redistribution from countryside to granaries to the urban population. One of the main functions of this central authority was to extract, store, and redistribute the grain. It is no accident that granaries—storage areas for grain—were often found within the temples of early cities."</ref> A minority viewpoint considers that cities may have arisen without agriculture, due to alternative means of subsistence (fishing),<ref>Jennifer R. Pournelle, "[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257139948_From_KLM_to_Corona_A_Bird%27s_Eye_View_of_Cultural_Ecology_and_Early_Mesopotamian_Urbanization KLM to CORONA: A Bird's Eye View of Cultural Ecology and Early Mesopotamian Urbanization"; in ''Settlement and Society: Essays Dedicated to Robert McCormick Adams''] ed. Elizabeth C. Stone; Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA, and Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2007.</ref> to use as communal seasonal shelters,<ref name="Perlman16">[[Fredy Perlman]], ''[[Against His-Story, Against Leviathan]]'', Detroit: Black & Red, 1983; p. 16.</ref> to their value as bases for defensive and offensive military organization,<ref name="Mumfurd1961war" /><ref name="Ashworth1991p12">Ashworth (1991), pp. 12–13.</ref>  or to their inherent economic function.<ref name="Jacobs 1969 23">{{Harv |Jacobs|1969| p=23}}</ref><ref>[[Peter J. Taylor|P.J. Taylor]], "Extraordinary Cities I: Early 'City-ness' and the Invention of Agriculture"; ''International Journal of Urban and Regional Research'' 36(3), 2012; {{doi|10.1111/j.1468-2427.2011.01101.x}}; see also GaWC Research Bulletins [http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/rb/rb359.html 359] and [http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/rb/rb360.html 360].</ref><ref>Michael E. Smith, Jason Ur, & Gary M. Feinman, "[https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/13364827/Smith%20etal%202014%20IJURR.pdf?sequence=1 Jane Jacobs' 'Cities First' Model and Archaeological Reality]", ''International Journal of Urban and Regional Research'' 38, 2014; {{doi|10.1111/1468-2427.12138}}.</ref> Cities played a crucial role in the establishment of political power over an area, and ancient leaders such as [[Alexander the Great]] founded and created them with zeal.<ref>McQuillan (1937/1987), §1.03. "The ancients fostered the spread of urban culture; their efforts were constant to bring their people within the complete influence of municipal life. The desire to create cities was the most striking characteristic of the people of antiquity, and ancient rulers and statesmen vied with one another in satisfying that desire."</ref>
<!-- ''If you know any others, add to this list!'' -->


=== Ancient times ===
==World's largest cities==
{{Further|Cities of the Ancient Near East|Polis|City-state|Late Antiquity#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.]]


[[Tell es-Sultan|Jericho]] and [[Çatalhöyük]], dated to the [[eighth millennium BC]], are among the [[proto-cities|earliest proto-cities]] known to archaeologists.<ref name="Perlman16" /><ref>Southall (1998), p. 23.</ref> While the [[Mesopotamia|Mesopotamian]] city of [[Uruk]] (ancient Iraq), from the mid 4th millennia BCE, is considered by some, the first true City, with its name attributed, the [[Uruk period]], to the era.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art |date=Oct 2003 |title=Uruk: The First City |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/uruk/hd_uruk.htm |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=www.metmuseum.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Uruk (article) |url=https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/big-history-project/agriculture-civilization/first-cities-states/a/uruk |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=Khan Academy |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=What Science Has Learned about the Rise of Urban Mesopotamia |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/uruk-period-mesopotamia-rise-of-sumer-171676 |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=ThoughtCo |language=en}}</ref>
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


In the [[fourth millennium BC|fourth]] and [[third millennium BC]], complex civilizations flourished in the river valleys of [[Mesopotamia]], [[India]], [[China]], and [[Egypt]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ring|first1=Trudy|title=Middle East and Africa: International Dictionary of Historic Places|date=2014|page=204}}</ref><ref>Jhimli Mukherjee Pandeyl, "Varanasi is as old as Indus valley civilization, finds IIT-KGP study", ''Times of India'' 25 February 2016.</ref> Excavations in these areas have found the [[ruins]] of cities geared variously towards trade, politics, or religion. Some had large, [[Urban density|dense populations]], but others carried out urban activities in the realms of politics or religion without having large associated populations.
==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>


Among the early Old World cities, [[Mohenjo-daro]] of the Indus Valley Civilization in present-day [[Pakistan]], existing from about 2600 BC, was one of the largest, with a population of 50,000 or more and a [[Sanitation of the Indus Valley Civilisation|sophisticated sanitation system]].<ref>Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark (1998) ''Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization''. [[Oxford University Press]], Karachi and New York.</ref> [[Ancient Chinese urban planning|China's planned cities]] were constructed according to sacred principles to act as celestial [[Macrocosm and microcosm|microcosms]].<ref>Southall (1998), pp. 38–43.</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}


The [[List of ancient Egyptian towns and cities|Ancient Egyptian cities]] known physically by archaeologists are not extensive.<ref name="Smith2002" /> They include (known by their Arab names) [[El Lahun]], a workers' town associated with the pyramid of [[Senusret II]], and the religious city [[Amarna]] built by [[Akhenaten]] and abandoned. These sites appear planned in a highly regimented and [[social stratification|stratified]] fashion, with a minimalistic grid of rooms for the workers and increasingly more elaborate housing available for higher classes.<ref>Moholy-Nagy (1968), pp. 158–161.</ref>
[[Category:Cities| ]]
 
In Mesopotamia, the civilization of [[Sumer]], followed by [[Assyria]] and [[Babylon]], gave rise to numerous cities, governed by kings and fostering multiple languages written in [[cuneiform]].<ref>[[Robert McCormick Adams Jr.]], ''[https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/heartland_of_cities.pdf Heartland of Cities: Surveys of Ancient Settlement and Land Use on the Central Floodplain of the Euphrates]''; University of Chicago Press, 1981; {{ISBN|0-226-00544-5}}; p. 2. "Southern Mesopotamia was a land of cities. It became one precociously, before the end of the fourth millennium B.C. Urban traditions remained strong and virtually continuous through the vicissitudes of conquest, internal upheaval accompanied by widespread economic breakdown, and massive linguistic and population replacement. The symbolic and material content of civilization obviously changed, but its cultural ambience remained tied to cities."</ref> The [[Phoenicia]]n trading empire, flourishing around the turn of the [[first millennium BC]], encompassed [[List of Phoenician cities|numerous cities]] extending from [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]], [[Cydon]], and [[Byblos]] to [[Carthage]] and [[Cádiz]].
 
In the following centuries, independent [[city-state]]s of [[Ancient Greece|Greece]], especially [[Classical Athens|Athens]], developed the ''[[polis]]'', an association of male landowning [[citizenship|citizens]] who collectively constituted the city.<ref name="tws2Y21">{{Cite book | last = Pocock | first = J.G.A. | title = The Citizenship Debates | publisher = The University of Minnesota | series = Chapter 2 – The Ideal of Citizenship since Classical Times (originally published in ''Queen's Quarterly'' 99, no. 1) | year = 1998 | location = Minneapolis, MN | page = 31 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=i6U7CTuCJLYC&pg=PA31 | isbn = 978-0-8166-2880-3}}</ref> The [[agora]], meaning "gathering place" or "assembly", was the center of athletic, artistic, spiritual and political life of the polis.<ref name="InternationalDictionary">{{cite book |title = International Dictionary of Historic Places: Southern Europe | last=Ring, Salkin, Boda | first=Trudy, Robert, Sharon | publisher = Routledge|date = January 1, 1996 | page = 66 | isbn=978-1-884964-02-2}}</ref> [[Rome]] was the first city that surpassed one million inhabitants. Under the authority of [[Roman Empire|its empire]], Rome transformed and [[List of cities founded by the Romans|founded]] many cities (''[[Colonia (Roman)|coloniae]]''), and with them brought its principles of urban architecture, design, and society.<ref>Kaplan et al. (2004), pp. 41–42. "Rome created an elaborate urban system. Roman colonies were organized as a means of securing Roman territory. The first thing that Romans did when they conquered new territories was to establish cities."</ref>
 
In the ancient Americas, early urban traditions developed in the [[Andes]] and [[Mesoamerica]]. In the Andes, the first urban centers developed in the [[Norte Chico civilization]], [[Chavín culture|Chavin]] and [[Moche (culture)|Moche]] cultures, followed by major cities in the [[Huari culture|Huari]], [[Chimu]] and [[Inca]] cultures. The Norte Chico civilization included as many as 30 major population centers in what is now the [[Norte Chico (Peruvian region)|Norte Chico region]] of north-central coastal [[Peru]]. It is the oldest known civilization in the Americas, flourishing between the 30th century BC and the 18th century BC.<ref name="Shady1997">{{cite book |last= Shady Solís |first=Ruth Martha |author-link=Ruth Shady |title= La ciudad sagrada de Caral-Supe en los albores de la civilización en el Perú | url=http://sisbib.unmsm.edu.pe/Bibvirtual/Libros/Arqueologia/ciudad_sagrada/caratula.htm |access-date=2007-03-03 |year=1997 |publisher=UNMSM, Fondo Editorial |location=Lima|language=es}}</ref> Mesoamerica saw the rise of early urbanism in several cultural regions, beginning with the [[Olmec]] and spreading to the [[Maya city|Preclassic Maya]], the [[Zapotec civilization|Zapotec]] of Oaxaca, and [[Teotihuacan]] in central Mexico. Later cultures such as the [[Aztec]], [[Andean civilization]], [[Maya peoples|Mayan]], [[Mississippian culture|Mississippians]], and [[Pueblo]] peoples drew on these earlier urban traditions. Many of their ancient cities continue to be inhabited, including major metropolitan cities such as [[Mexico City]], in the same location as [[Tenochtitlan]]; while ancient continuously inhabited Pueblos are near modern urban areas in [[New Mexico]], such as [[Acoma Pueblo]] near the [[Albuquerque metropolitan area]] and [[Taos Pueblo]] near [[Taos, New Mexico|Taos]]; while others like [[Lima]] are located nearby ancient [[Peru]]vian sites such as [[Pachacamac]].
 
[[Jenné-Jeno]], located in present-day Mali and dating to the third century BC,  lacked monumental architecture and a distinctive elite social class—but nevertheless had specialized production and relations with a hinterland.<ref>McIntosh, Roderic J., McIntosh, Susan Keech. "Early Urban Configurations on the Middle Niger: Clustered Cities and Landscapes of Power," Chapter 5.</ref> Pre-Arabic trade contacts probably existed between Jenné-Jeno and North Africa.<ref name="Magnavita">{{cite journal|last=Magnavita|first=Sonja|title=Initial Encounters: Seeking traces of ancient trade connections between West Africa and the wider world|url=http://afriques.revues.org/1145?lang=en|journal=Afriques|issue=4|year=2013|access-date=December 13, 2013|doi=10.4000/afriques.1145|doi-access=free}}</ref> Other early urban centers in sub-Saharan Africa, dated to around 500 AD, include Awdaghust, Kumbi-Saleh the ancient capital of Ghana, and Maranda a center located on a trade route between Egypt and Gao.<ref>''[http://markuswiener.com/book_reviews.html?products_id=93&products_name=History%20of%20African%20Cities%20South%20of%20the%20Sahara History of African Cities South of the Sahara] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080124191535/http://markuswiener.com/book_reviews.html?products_id=93&products_name=History%20of%20African%20Cities%20South%20of%20the%20Sahara |date=2008-01-24 }}'' By Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch. 2005. {{ISBN|1-55876-303-1}}</ref>
 
===Middle Ages===
[[File:Vyborg SevernyVal3-5 006 8242.jpg|thumb|[[Vyborg]] in [[Leningrad Oblast]], [[Russia]] has existed since the 13th century]]
[[File:Holy Roman Empire 1648 Imperial cities.png|thumb|Imperial Free Cities in the Holy Roman Empire 1648]]
[[File:Haarlem-City-Map-1550.jpg|thumb|This map of [[Haarlem]], the Netherlands, created around 1550, shows the city completely surrounded by a [[defensive wall|city wall]] and [[moat|defensive canal]], with its square shape inspired by [[Jerusalem]].]]
 
In the [[Fall of the Roman Empire|remnants of the Roman Empire]], [[Late Antiquity#Cities|cities of late antiquity]] gained independence but soon lost population and importance. The locus of power in the West shifted to [[Constantinople]] and to the [[Early Muslim conquests|ascendant Islamic civilization]] with its major cities [[Baghdad]], [[Cairo]], and [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]].<ref>Kaplan et al. (2004), p. 43. "Capitals like Córdoba and Cairo had populations of about 500,000; Baghdad probably had a population of more than 1 million. This urban heritage would continue despite the conquests of the Seljuk Turks and the later Crusades. China, the longest standing civilization, was in the midst of a golden age as the Tang dynasty gave way—after a short period of fragmentation—to the Song dynasty. This dynasty ruled two of the most impressive cities on the planet, Xian and Hangzhou. / In contrast, poor Western Europe had not recovered from the sacking of Rome and the collapse of the western half of the Roman Empire. For more than five centuries a steady process of deurbanization—whereby the population living in cities and the number of cities declined precipitously—had converted a prosperous landscape into a scary wilderness, overrun with bandits, warlords, and rude settlements."</ref> From the 9th through the end of the 12th century, [[Constantinople]], capital of the [[Eastern Roman Empire]], was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe, with a population approaching 1 million.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cameron|first=Averil|title=The Byzantines|page=47|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=59c6PSa5JCAC|publisher=John Wiley and Sons|year=2009|isbn=978-1-4051-9833-2|access-date=24 January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Laiou|first=Angeliki E.|title=The Economic History of Byzantium (Volume 1)|pages=130–131|year=2002|location=Washington, DC|publisher=Dumbarton Oaks|editor=Angeliki E. Laiou|chapter=Writing the Economic History of Byzantium|chapter-url=http://www.doaks.org/publications/doaks_online_publications/EHB.html|access-date=6 June 2012|archive-date=18 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218231151/http://www.doaks.org/publications/doaks_online_publications/EHB.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[Ottoman Empire]] gradually gained [[List of cities conquered by the Ottoman Empire|control over many cities]] in the Mediterranean area, including [[Fall of Constantinople|Constantinople in 1453]].
 
In the [[Holy Roman Empire]], beginning in the 12th. century, [[free imperial city|free imperial cities]] such as [[Nuremberg]], [[Strasbourg]], [[Frankfurt]], [[Basel]], [[Zurich]], [[Nijmegen]] became a privileged elite among towns having won self-governance from their local lay or secular lord or having been granted self-governanace by the emperor and being placed under his immediate protection. By 1480, these cities, as far as still part of the empire,  became part of the [[Imperial Estates]] governing the empire with the emperor through the [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Diet]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/free-and-imperial-cities|title=Free and Imperial Cities – Dictionary definition of Free and Imperial Cities |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref>
 
By the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, some cities become powerful states, taking surrounding areas under their control or establishing extensive maritime empires. In Italy [[medieval commune]]s developed into [[Italian city-states|city-states]] including the [[Republic of Venice]] and the [[Republic of Genoa]]. In Northern Europe, cities including [[Lübeck]] and [[Bruges]] formed the [[Hanseatic League]] for collective defense and commerce. Their power was later [[Dutch–Hanseatic War|challenged]] and eclipsed by the [[Burgundian Netherlands|Dutch]] commercial [[History of urban centers in the Low Countries|cities]] of [[Ghent]], [[Ypres]], and [[Amsterdam]].<ref>Kaplan et al. (2004), pp. 47–50.</ref>  Similar phenomena existed elsewhere, as in the case of [[Sakai, Osaka|Sakai]], which enjoyed a considerable autonomy in late medieval Japan.
 
In the first millennium AD, the [[Khmer Empire|Khmer]] capital of [[Angkor]] in [[Cambodia]] grew into the most extensive [[Pre-industrial society|preindustrial settlement]] in the world by area,<ref name="Evans PNAS">Evans ''et al.'', [http://www.pnas.org/content/104/36/14277 A comprehensive archaeological map of the world's largest preindustrial settlement complex at Angkor, Cambodia], Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the US, August 23, 2007.</ref><ref name="BBC News 2007">"[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6945574.stm Map reveals ancient urban sprawl]", ''BBC News'', 14 August 2007.</ref> covering over 1,000 [[sq km]] and possibly supporting up to one million people.<ref name="Evans PNAS" /><ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/metropolis-angkor-the-worlds-first-megacity-461623.html Metropolis: Angkor, the world's first mega-city] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110919133524/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/metropolis-angkor-the-worlds-first-megacity-461623.html |date=19 September 2011 }}, The Independent, August 15, 2007</ref>
 
===Early modern===
 
In the West, nation-states became the dominant unit of political organization following the [[Peace of Westphalia]] in the seventeenth century.<ref>Curtis (2016), pp. 5–6. "In the modern international system, cities were subjugated and internalized by the state, and, with industrialization, became the great growth engines of national economies."</ref><ref name="Blomley2013" /> Western Europe's larger capitals (London and Paris) benefited from the growth of commerce following the emergence of an [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] trade. However, most towns remained small.
 
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 regarding administration, finances and urbanism.
 
===Industrial age===
[[File:Tampere 1837.jpg|thumb|The industrial-based city of [[Tampere]] on the shores of the [[Tammerkoski]] rapids in 1837.]]
The [[industrial revolution|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. [[File:Old Gyumri 03.PNG|thumb|left|[[Diorama]] of old [[Gyumri]], [[Armenia]] with the [[Holy Saviour's Church, Gyumri|Holy Saviour's Church]] (1859–1873)]] [[File:Szent Bertalan utca a Kossuth Lajos utca felé nézve. Fortepan 721.jpg|thumb|Small city [[Gyöngyös]] in Hungary in 1938.]] England led the way as [[London]] became the capital of a [[British empire|world empire]] and cities across the country grew in locations strategic for [[manufacturing]].<ref>Kaplan et al. (2004), pp. 53–54. "England was clearly at the center of these changes. London became the first truly global city by placing itself within the new global economy. English colonialism in North America, the Caribbean, South Asia, and later Africa and China helped to further fatten the wallets of many of its merchants. These colonies would later provide many of the raw materials for industrial production. England's hinterland was no longer confined to a portion of the world; it effectively became a global hinterland."</ref> In the United States from 1860 to 1910, the [[History of rail transport|introduction of railroads]] reduced transportation costs, and large manufacturing centers began to emerge, fueling migration from rural to city areas.
 
Industrialized cities became deadly places to live, due to health problems resulting from [[overcrowding]], [[occupational hazard]]s of industry, contaminated water and air, [[History of water supply and sanitation#Modern age|poor sanitation]], and communicable diseases such as [[typhoid]] and [[cholera]]. [[Factories]] and [[slum]]s emerged as regular features of the urban landscape.<ref>Kaplan et al. (2004), pp. 54–55.</ref>
 
===Post-industrial age===
In the second half of the twentieth century, [[deindustrialization]] (or "[[economic restructuring]]") in the West led to [[poverty]], [[homelessness]], and [[urban decay]] in formerly prosperous cities. America's "Steel Belt" became a "[[Rust Belt]]" and cities such as [[Decline of Detroit|Detroit]], Michigan, and [[Gary, Indiana]] began to [[Shrinking cities|shrink]], contrary to the global trend of massive urban expansion.<ref>Steven High, ''[https://archive.org/details/industrialsunset0000high/page/5 Industrial Sunset: The Making of North America's Rust Belt, 1969–1984]''; University of Toronto Press, 2003; {{ISBN|0-8020-8528-8}}. "It is now clear that the deindustrialization thesis is part myth and part fact. Robert Z. Lawrence, for example, uses aggregate economic data to show that manufacturing employment in the United States did not decline but actually increased from 16.8 million in 1960, to 20.1 million in 1973, and 20.3 million in 1980. However, manufacturing employment was in relative decline. Barry Bluestone noted that manufacturing represented a decreasing proportion of the U.S. labour force, from 26.2 per cent in 1973 to 22.1 per cent in 1980. Studies in Canada have likewise shown that manufacturing employment was only in relative decline during these years. Yet mills and factories did close, and towns and cities lost their industries. John Cumbler submitted that 'depressions do not manifest themselves only at moments of national economic collapse' such as in the 1930s, but 'also recur in scattered sites across the nation in regions, in industries, and in communities.'"</ref> Such cities have shifted with varying success into the [[service economy]] and [[public-private partnerships]], with concomitant [[gentrification]], uneven [[urban renewal|revitalization efforts]], and selective cultural development.<ref name="Kaplan2004p164">Kaplan (2004), pp. 160–165. "Entrepreneurial leadership became manifest through growth coalitions made up of builders, realtors, developers, the media, government actors such as mayors, and dominant corporations. For example, in St. Louis, Anheuser-Busch, Monsanto, and Ralston Purina played prominent roles. The leadership involved cooperation between public and private interests. The results were efforts at downtown revitalization; inner-city gentrification; the transformation of the CBD to advanced service employment; entertainment, museums, and cultural venues; the construction of sports stadiums and sport complexes; and waterfront development."</ref> Under the [[Great Leap Forward]] and subsequent [[Five-year plans of China|five-year plans]] continuing today, the [[People's Republic of China]] has undergone concomitant [[urbanization in China|urbanization]] and [[Chinese industrialization|industrialization]] and to become the world's leading [[manufacturing|manufacturer]].<ref>James Xiaohe Zhang, "Rapid urbanization in China and its impact on the world economy"; 16th Annual Conference on Global Economic Analysis, "New Challenges for Global Trade in a Rapidly Changing World", Shanhai Institute of Foreign Trade, June 12–14, 2013.</ref><ref>Ian Johnson, "[https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/world/asia/chinas-great-uprooting-moving-250-million-into-cities.html China's Great Uprooting: Moving 250 Million Into Cities]"; ''New York Times'', 15 June 2013.</ref>
 
Amidst these economic changes, [[high technology]] and instantaneous [[telecommunication]] enable select cities to become centers of the [[knowledge economy]].<ref>Castells, M. (ed) (2004). ''The network society: a cross-cultural perspective''. London: Edward Elgar. (ebook)</ref><ref>Flew, T. (2008). ''New media: an introduction'', 3rd edn, South Melbourne: Oxford University Press</ref><ref>Harford, T. (2008) ''The Logic of Life''. London: Little, Brown.</ref> A new [[smart city]] paradigm, supported by institutions such as the [[RAND Corporation]] and [[IBM]], is bringing computerized [[Surveillance issues in smart cities|surveillance]], data analysis, and [[E-governance|governance]] to bear on cities and city-dwellers.<ref>Taylor Shelton, Matthew Zook, & Alan Wiig, "[https://academic.oup.com/cjres/article/doi/10.1093/cjres/rsu026/304403/The-actually-existing-smart-city The 'actually existing smart city']", ''Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy, and Society'' 8, 2015; {{doi|10.1093/cjres/rsu026}}.</ref> Some companies are building brand new [[land use planning|masterplanned]] cities from scratch on [[greenfield land|greenfield]] sites.
 
== Urbanization ==
{{Main|Urbanization}}
 
[[Urbanization]] is the process of migration from rural into urban areas, driven by various political, economic, and cultural factors. Until the 18th century, an equilibrium existed between the rural agricultural population and towns featuring [[Market (place)|markets]] and small-scale manufacturing.<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/26447633/The_Urbanization_and_Political_Development_of_the_World_System_A_comparative_quantitative_analysis The Urbanization and Political Development of the World System:A comparative quantitative analysis. ''History & Mathematics'' 2 (2006): 115–153].</ref><ref name="FreyZimmer2001">William H. Frey & Zachary Zimmer, "Defining the City"; in Paddison (2001).</ref> With the [[British Agricultural Revolution|agricultural]] and [[industrial revolution|industrial]] revolutions urban population began its unprecedented growth, both through migration and through [[Demographic transition|demographic expansion]]. In [[England]] the proportion of the population living in cities jumped from 17% in 1801 to 72% in 1891.<ref name="urbanization">Christopher Watson, "[http://www.icup.org.uk/reports/ICUP601.pdf Trends in urbanization] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305100017/http://icup.org.uk/reports/icup601.pdf |date=2016-03-05 }}", ''[http://www.icup.org.uk/icupindex.asp?CID=1 Proceedings of the First International Conference on Urban Pests] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010005338/http://www.icup.org.uk/icupindex.asp?CID=1 |date=2017-10-10 }}'', ed. K.B. Wildey and William H. Robinson, 1993.</ref> In 1900, 15% of the world population lived in cities.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Annez|first1=Patricia Clarke|last2=Buckley|first2=Robert M.|chapter=Urbanization and Growth: Setting the Context |chapter-url=http://www2.lawrence.edu/fast/finklerm/chapter1urban.pdf|title=Urbanization and Growth|editor1-last=Spence|editor1-first=Michael|editor2-last=Annez|editor2-first=Patricia Clarke|editor3-last=Buckley|editor3-first=Robert M.|isbn=978-0-8213-7573-0|year=2009}}</ref> The cultural appeal of cities also plays a role in attracting residents.<ref name="MoholyNagy1968p136" />
 
Urbanization rapidly spread across the Europe and the Americas and since the 1950s has taken hold in Asia and Africa as well. The Population Division of the [[United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs]], reported in 2014 that for the first time more than half of the world population lives in cities.<ref name="SenguptaUN2014">Somini Sengupta, "[https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/11/world/more-than-half-the-global-population-growth-is-urban-united-nations-report-finds.html U.N. Finds Most People Now Live in Cities]"; ''New York Times'', 10 July 2014. Referring to: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division; ''[https://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/ World Urbanization Prospects: 2014 Revision] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180706115325/https://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/ |date=2018-07-06 }}''; New York: United Nations, 2014.</ref>{{efn|Intellectuals such as [[H.G. Wells]], [[Patrick Geddes]] and [[Kingsley Davis]] foretold the coming of a mostly urban world throughout the twentieth century.<ref name=BrennerSchmid2013>Neil Brenner & Christian Schmid, "[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-2427.12115/pdf The 'Urban Age' in Question]"; ''International Journal of Urban and Regional Research'' 38(3), 2013; {{doi|10.1111/1468-2427.12115}}.</ref><ref>McQuillin (1937/1987), §1.55.</ref> The United Nations has long anticipated a half-urban world, earlier predicting the year 2000 as the turning point<ref>"[https://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/Archive/Files/studies/United%20Nations%20(1980)%20-%20Patterns%20of%20Urban%20and%20Rural%20Population%20Growth.pdf Patterns of Urban and Rural Population Growth] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113035655/https://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/Archive/Files/studies/United%20Nations%20(1980)%20-%20Patterns%20of%20Urban%20and%20Rural%20Population%20Growth.pdf |date=2018-11-13 }}", Department of International Economic and Social Affairs, Population Studies No. 68; New York, United Nations, 1980; p. 15. "If the projections prove to be accurate, the next century will begin just after the world population achieves an urban majority; in 2000, the world is projected to be 51.3 per cent urban."</ref><ref>Edouart Glissant (Editor-in-Chief), UNESCO "Courier" ("[http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0006/000634/063438eo.pdf The Urban Explosion]"), March 1985.</ref> and in 2007 writing that it would occur in 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wup2007/2007WUP_Highlights_web.pdf|title=World Urbanization Prospects: The 2007 Revision|access-date=29 June 2017|archive-date=13 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813042845/http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wup2007/2007WUP_Highlights_web.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Other researchers had also estimated that the halfway point was reached in 2007.<ref>Mike Hanlon, "[http://newatlas.com/go/7334/ World Population Becomes More Urban Than Rural]"; ''New Atlas'', 28 May 2007.</ref> Although the trend is undeniable, the precision of this statistic is dubious, due to reliance on national censuses and to the ambiguities of defining an area as urban.<ref name=BrennerSchmid2013 /><ref name=HugoEtAl2003>Graeme Hugo, Anthony Champion, & Alfredo Lattes, "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3115228 Toward a New Conceptualization of Settlements for Demography]", ''Population and Development Review'' 29(2), June 2003.</ref>}} [[File:Historical global urban - rural population trends.png|thumb|left|Graph showing urbanization from 1950 projected to 2050.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/|title=United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2014). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision, CD-ROM Edition|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180706115325/https://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/|archive-date=2018-07-06|url-status=dead}}</ref>]] Latin America is the most urban continent, with four fifths of its population living in cities, including one fifth of the population said to live in [[shantytown]]s ([[favela]]s, [[campamento (Chile)|poblaciones callampas]], etc.).<ref>Paulo A. Paranagua, "[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/sep/11/latin-america-urbanisation-city-growth Latin America struggles to cope with record urban growth]" (), ''The Guardian'', 11 September 2012. Referring to [[UN-Habitat]], ''[http://www.citiesalliance.org/sites/citiesalliance.org/files/SOLAC-ProjectOutput.pdf The State of Latin American and Caribbean Cities 2012: Towards a new urban transition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113035703/http://www.citiesalliance.org/sites/citiesalliance.org/files/SOLAC-ProjectOutput.pdf |date=2018-11-13 }}''; Nairobi: United Nations Human Settlements Programme, 2012.</ref> [[Batam]], [[Indonesia]], [[Mogadishu]], [[Somalia]], [[Xiamen]], [[China]] and [[Niamey]], [[Niger]], are considered among the world's fastest-growing cities, with annual growth rates of 5–8%.<ref>Helen Massy-Beresford, "[https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/nov/18/where-is-the-worlds-fastest-growing-city-batam-niamey-xiamen Where is the fastest growing city in the world?]"; ''The Guardian'', 18 November 2015.</ref> In general, the [[developed country|more developed countries]] of the "[[Global North]]" remain more urbanized than the [[less developed countries]] of the "[[Global South]]"—but the difference continues to shrink because urbanization is happening faster in the latter group. Asia is home to by far the greatest absolute number of city-dwellers: over two billion and counting.<ref name="FreyZimmer2001" /> The UN predicts an additional 2.5 billion citydwellers (and 300 million fewer countrydwellers) worldwide by 2050, with 90% of urban population expansion occurring in Asia and Africa.<ref name="SenguptaUN2014" /><ref>Mark Anderson & Achilleas Galatsidas, "[https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/jul/10/urban-population-growth-africa-asia-united-nations Urban population boom poses massive challenges for Africa and Asia]" ''The Guardian'' (Development data: Datablog), 10 July 2014.</ref>
[[File:2006megacities.svg|thumb|right|240px|Map showing urban areas with at least one million inhabitants in 2006.]]
[[Megacities]], cities with population in the multi-millions, have proliferated into the dozens, arising especially in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.<ref>Kaplan et al. (2004), p. 15. "Global cities need to be distinguished from megacities, defined here as cities with more than 8 million people. […] Only New York and London qualified as megacities 50 years ago. By 1990, just over 10 years ago, 20 megacities existed, 15 of which were in less economically developed regions of the world. In 2000, the number of megacities had increased to 26, again all except 6 are located in the less developed world regions."</ref><ref>Frauke Kraas & Günter Mertins, "Megacities and Global Change"; in Kraas et al. (2014), p. 2. "While seven megacities (with more than five million inhabitants) existed in 1950 and 24 in 1990, by 2010 there were 55 and by 2025 there will be—according to estimations—87 megacities (UN 2012; Fig. 1). "</ref> Economic globalization fuels the growth of these cities, as new torrents of foreign [[Financial capital|capital]] arrange for rapid industrialization, as well as [[offshoring|relocation of major businesses]] from Europe and North America, attracting [[immigrant]]s from near and far.<ref>Frauke Kraas & Günter Mertins, "Megacities and Global Change"; in Kraas et al. (2014), pp. 2–3. "Above all, globalisation processes were and are the motors that drive these enormous changes and are also the driving forces, together with transformation and liberalisation policies, behind the economic developments of the last c. 25 years (in China, especially the so-called socialism with Chinese characteristics that started under Deng Xiaoping in 1978/1979, in India essentially during the course of the economic reform policies of the so-called New Economic Policy as of 1991; Cartier 2001; Nissel 1999). Especially in megacities, these reforms led to enormous influx of foreign direct investments, to intensive industrialization processes through international relocation of production locations and depending upon the location, partially to considerable expansion of the services sector with increasing demand for office space as well as to a reorientation of national support policies—with a not to be mistaken influence of transnationally acting conglomerates but also considerable transfer payments from overseas communities. In turn, these processes are flanked and intensified through, at times, massive migration movements of national and international migrants into the megacities (Baur et al. 2006).</ref> A deep gulf divides rich and poor in these cities, with usually contain a super-wealthy elite living in [[gated community|gated communities]] and large masses of people living in substandard housing with inadequate infrastructure and otherwise poor conditions.<ref>Shipra Narang Suri & Günther Taube, "Governance in Megacities: Experiences, Challenges and Implications for International Cooperation"; in Kraas et al. (2014), p. 196.</ref>
 
Cities around the world have expanded physically as they grow in population, with increases in their surface extent, with the creation of high-rise buildings for residential and commercial use, and with development underground.<ref>Stephen Graham & Lucy Hewitt, "[https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stephen_Graham11/publication/258175637_Getting_off_the_ground_On_the_politics_of_urban_verticality/links/57cebebb08ae83b3746222d1.pdf Getting off the ground: On the politics of urban verticality]; ''Progress in Human Geography'' 37(1), 2012; {{doi|10.1177/0309132512443147}}.</ref><ref>Eduardo F.J. de Mulder, Jacques Besner, & Brian Marker, "Underground Cities"; in Kraas et al. (2014), pp. 26–29.</ref>
 
Urbanization can create rapid demand for [[water resources management]], as formerly good sources of freshwater become overused and polluted, and the volume of [[sewage]] begins to exceed manageable levels.<ref name="Bakker2003" />

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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