What makes a 'City' a city..?

[charactersnotpermitted 3]

In the UK, to be a city you need the following:

- Over 100,000 population

- A charter from the Queen declaring you are officialy a city

- Cathedral

Though in todays modern world, the last point of having a cathedral, is just brushed aside and considered irrelevant.

So thats technically a city in the UK, however, i reckon the general description of a city worldwide is:

- Over 100 000 population

- Some kind of downtown with tall buildings

- Lots of shopping facilities and malls

- At least a few high schools

- Some form of mass transit, going to and from the city

- Some form of mass transit within the city (bus, subway etc)

[ILL Tonkso 1,239]

The above is pretty accurate for the UK, though replace subway with suburban rail, only 4 cities have subway in the UK

[_Atticus 10]

Originally posted by: cozzle19

- Some kind of downtown with tall buildings

- Lots of shopping facilities and mallsquote>

I agree with your other criteria, but I don't think you need tall buildings or shopping facilities to be a city. Many places in Europe lack downtown areas with lots of tall buildings, but they are still considered cities.

I think you have an American, or more specifically, non- European, point of view in this matter, as most "cities" in the US and Canada fit your criteria exactly.

-Pingangster

[Simaddict1000 1]

i think that a city is a place where the culture is completely different from the rest of the country. In my opinion a city is a nation within a nation, with its own ideas and its own thoughts. Population and size doesn't matter.

[sim-fan192 4]

Originally posted by: yellowguy88 Still cannot believe the size of it over 30million, wow coming from a country with 4.5million people you can imagine how cool it was to be there! quote>

 

  For some reason that struck me as funny. I live near Houston, TX. The city has I think 4 million people in it ( I'm not sure if thats accurate or not).  Thats a good sized city here in America but nowhere close to the big leages but thats still near your country's population. New York is our largest city with 8 million. Thats nearly 2 of your countries put together. By the way, I thought Tokeyo had +40 million not 30.

[thepokemaniac 18]

To me, a city SHOULD have the following:

At least 50k people

At least 2 buildings with 10+ floors

Suburbs and slums

At least one major interchange

[yellowguy88 1]

Originally posted by: torontotransit

Back on topic, a city must have:

-A public library

-Most people work within city limits

-Buildings taller than 10 stories, yes

-In the downtown, the streets are on a grid making it easier to walk anywhere

-Some public transit

-High-ish density

-NO big box stores

-NOT master planned

-Must have some small shops and local bars

-Wide sidewalksquote>

I don't think that apply's, considering Dublin average building heaight to be about 6or7 stories,

also the grid pattarn in dublin is very old and so has alot of small streets that infact make it

harder to walk places just like alot of european cities. I guess it depends on where you have grown up, european, american and asian cites are all very different in layout and make it ever harder to define a city on a global scale.

As my mother lives in Manhatten i spent lot of time there and always think of New York

as the 'perfect city'. Im sure alot people would agree on that one but Dublin does have its charm.

oh and wasn't Manhatten 'Master planned'..

sim-fan192: lol I know its crazy.. were so tiny.. but everyone's heard of us! Toyko is around 35million.. getting that from wikipedia

[ilikehotdogsalot 311]

Manhattan was 'fixed' many times over

[yellowguy88 1]

Originally posted by: ilikehotdogsalot

Manhattan was 'fixed' many times over quote>

.. my bad..

[Merlin of Flyote 8]

What about the city of St. David's in Wales.

It has a Cathedral and a population of perhaps 250 people. A couple of streets and the main car park is a field.

[AeonProjects 20]

In australia, the classification of a city is based on population and density solely.

eg.

a urban city is classified by a population density more than 30 persons per sq km, population of 20,000.

urban capital citys are classified as part of an urban centre of more than 1-million or population density more than 600/sq km.

in exception for canberra which is the political capital.

regional citys are classified completly different, but they are still called a city, but under different classifications. A regional city is a populated area/center of trade which is of predominant country nature. or something along those lines.

[Merlin of Flyote 8]

Originally posted by: AeonProjects

In australia, the classification of a city is based on population and density solely.

eg.

a urban city is classified by a population density more than 30 persons per sq km, population of 20,000.

urban capital citys are classified as part of an urban centre of more than 1-million or population density more than 600/sq km.

in exception for canberra which is the political capital.

regional citys are classified completly different, but they are still called a city, but under different classifications. A regional city is a populated area/center of trade which is of predominant country nature. or something along those lines.quote>

In the UK, 20,000 is barely a small town. As for your "regional cities" we would call them a Market Town.

[FlyHigh 181]

As you've all demonstrated the definition of a City depends on your background.

As a european living in Lisboa, Portugal a City needs to:

- have at least 100.000 inhabitants;

- efficient public transportation system;

- at least one city park / green zone;

- basic public services (primary / secundary schools , university, fire / police department and a hospital)

- at least one avenue by definition (there are the case of roads that are named avenues while not fulfiling the definition: two way trasportation way, divided by a median, usualy with trees or bushes);

- more then ten buildings at least 5 stories high.

Anyway this is my personal definition for a city.

[Senator Tim 0]

I think it has to do with the form of government a municipality has.

[yellowguy88 1]

Originally posted by: Merlin of Flyote

What about the city of St. David's in Wales.

It has a Cathedral and a population of perhaps 250 people. A couple of streets and the main car park is a field.quote>

lol.. wow .. why is it called a city?

[Merlin of Flyote 8]

Originally posted by: yellowguy88

Originally posted by: Merlin of Flyote

What about the city of St. David's in Wales.

It has a Cathedral and a population of perhaps 250 people. A couple of streets and the main car park is a field.quote>

lol.. wow .. why is it called a city?

quote>

Because it has a Cathedral (with an extreamly beautiful ceiling)

It is the smallest city in Wales, therefore also Britain.(Wells is the smallest in England approx 20,000 people)

Is it the smallest city in the world?

Cities which don't have catherdrals are all, new politically appointed cities. The majority of catherdrals are about a thousand or so years old. Albeit added to every now and again.

[punkrockgoth1988 1]

If it's big enough to be put on a not very detailed map of the Country it is located in, then I consider it a city.

[TEG24601 32]

In my home state of Washington (USA), the state does not incorporate Towns, only Cities. Any community that is called a town was formed either while the area was a part of the Oregon Territory, Washington Territory, or during the early years as a state. All incorporations after about 1910 have all been as cities.  Including my home town of Langley, population ~1,000.

TEG

[Doofenshmirtz 0]

Well i daresay there's a wiki page for the official definition, and i also daresay it's more of a legal and government definition than an aesthetic or infrastructural definition, for instance the 'City of Somewhere' could just be an administrative district, and could even be a small town. Defining exactly by population would be a little iffy due to the obvious problem that the population could be scattered over a broad but connected area or suburbs or tightly concentrated in high rise areas... so a population of 500,000 in a city such as Sydney would be spread over vast reaching suburbs whereas in a city more concentrated like Dubai... etc etc The point being that the only real definition of any universal understanding and agreement would be the common sense one depending on it's character and aesthetic or infrastructural qualities such as the abovementioned mass transit, skyscrapers and other elements considered part of a city.

[zane900 1]

a considerable, large, or noteworthy metropolitan area.

[Jatsc 1]

You Have

city

city-county

city-state / city-province

depening on where you reside

All cities don't have high rises like many have said and some only have 1-4 high rises LA is huge but the majority of it does not have any high rises same with Jacksonville, Miami, Baltimore, DC, Richmond, Jackson Missippsi , etc once you leave downtown they look like suburbs so large buildings do not represent a city.

A lot of this changes over time for example Washington in DC it is supposed to be a 40 block square in the middle of DC whereas the rest of DC is not supposed to be in the city of Washington but it spread to all of DC and some along the way some cities were never revoked. DC would be an example of a city-county its about the size of an average county

Rhode Island is actually smaller than most cities and therefore could be qualified as a city

Jacksonville FL the city merged with the county a few years ago which gets you the third largest city in the US by area or the first if you exclude Juneau and Sitka, Alaska which are the largest only because of the glaciers that are apart of the cities.

In Virginia a city is separate from counties and must be able to handle everything a county can, meaning fire dept. police dept. trash pickup, transportation dept. road services etc.

I don't consider New York one city at all, because of the fact when you receive mail the mail does not say New York, NY it says Brooklyn , NY Corona, NY etc. if its all one entity why is it not in the same county and why does it all not have the same ending on mail.

[Cioppo 0]

In Europe a city is tipically when you have about 100.000 abitants and a cathedral....

[Merlin of Flyote 8]

Originally posted by: Cioppo

In Europe a city is tipically when you have about 100.000 abitants and a cathedral....quote>

I know English is not your first language, the word is inhabitants. Hope this helps.

[technicallydead 1]

In the Philippines, one place is considered a city if:

. the income of that place (town or municipality) gets an income of a 100 million pesos (1dollar=1$) for two consecutive years,

.a population of no less that 150 000,

.a contiguous land area of 100 square kilometers and that the total and area does not comprise of more than two island

If these are met, the congress will draft a legislation of the town to be converted unto a city. After the bill passes to the lower and upper house, it becomes an Act then will be signed by the president. If the act is not signed in 30 days it is still a law. But in order for the conversion be fully authenticated. The residents of the that place should ratify it in a way of voting or plebiscite l

[AxaphalEsteus 0]

A city has to have atleast 100 people. Less than that and we call it a town, more, (like, y'know, 800 peple) we call it a "metropolis", more than that and THATS HUGE! I heard som city up in yankee land has a zillion people or somthin lke that

[Merlin of Flyote 8]

Originally posted by: AxaphalEsteus

A city has to have atleast 100 people. Less than that and we call it a town, more, (like, y'know, 800 peple) we call it a "metropolis", more than that and THATS HUGE! I heard som city up in yankee land has a zillion people or somthin lke thatquote>

This post makes no sense

Do you mean 100 people or 100,000 people. If it's a 100 people it would be a village.

World's smallest city is probably St. David's in Wales (pop between 200-2000 ish).(It has a catherdral)

.World's largest city is Mexico City (pop 20,000,000 ish).

Even the Earth dosn't have a population of a zillion (ie. indefinitely large number).

[ILL Tonkso 1,239]

Worlds largest city is Tokyo not Mexico city, 30,000,000 plus. London and New York both have around 20,000,000.

[sim-fan192 4]

No no, New York has 8 million not 20, however it might have 20 mil by now if it wasn't stuck on those puny islands.

[Merlin of Flyote 8]

Originally posted by: ILL Tonkso

Worlds largest city is Tokyo not Mexico city, 30,000,000 plus. London and New York both have around 20,000,000.quote>

This has been said before, depends where you include, London's residential population is approx 8,000000 and Tokyo's is 11,600000, Mexico City's is 20,000000

[Martin892 4]

I think british, australian and american cities except some of them are cheating because their cities just consist of a large suburban sprawl. In Holland they tried to avoid this by creating "growth cores" around large cities with some highrise apartment buildings and high building density. So Holland has several medium sized cities (+/- 50 000-100 000) instead of some big clusters consisting of hundreds of suburban towns around a relatively small downtown area. Economically it's the same, everybody living in Purmerend or Hoofddorp works in Amsterdam or has roots/connections there.