A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while many British "small towns" would qualify as cities in the United States.
Origin and use
The word
town shares an origin with the
German word ''Zaun'', the
Dutch word ''tuin'', and the
Old Norse ''tun''. The German word ''Zaun'' comes closest to the original meaning of the word: a fence of any material.
In English and Dutch, the meaning of the word took on the sense of the space which these fences enclosed. In English, it was a small city that could not afford or was not allowed to build walls or other larger fortifications, and built a palisade or stockade instead (many early English settlements in North America used stockades.) In the Netherlands, this space was a garden, more specifically those of the wealthy, which had a high fence or a wall around them (like the garden of palace 't Loo in Apeldoorn, which was the example for the privy garden of William and Mary at Hampton Court). In Old Norse ''tun'' means a (grassy) place between farmhouses.
In Old English and Early and Middle Scots, the word ''ton'', ''toun'', etc. could refer to kinds of settlements as diverse as agricultural estates and holdings, partly picking up the Norse sense (as in the Scots word ''fermtoun'') at one end of the scale, to fortified municipality at the other. If there was any distinction between ''toun'' (fortified municipality) and ''burgh'' (unfortified municipality) as claimed by some, it did not last in practice as ''burghs'' and ''touns'' developed. For example "Edina Burgh" or "Edinburgh" (called a city today) was built around a fort and eventually came to have a defensive wall.
In some cases, "town" is an alternate name for "city" or "village" (especially a larger village). Sometimes, the word "town" is short for "township". In general, today towns can be differentiated from townships, villages, or hamlets on the basis of their economic character, in that most of a town's population will tend to derive their living from manufacturing industry, commerce, and public service rather than primary industry such as agriculture or related activities.
A place's population size is not a reliable determinant of urban character. In many areas of the world, as in India at least until recent times, a large village might contain several times as many people as a small town. In the United Kingdom, there are historical cities that are far smaller than the larger towns.
The modern phenomenon of extensive suburban growth, satellite urban development, and migration of city-dwellers to villages have further complicated the definition of towns, creating communities urban in their economic and cultural characteristics but lacking other characteristics of urban localities.
Some forms of non-rural settlement, such as temporary mining locations, may be clearly non-rural, but have at best a questionable claim to be called a town.
Towns often exist as distinct governmental units, with legally defined borders and some or all of the appurtenances of local government (e.g., a police force). In the United States these are referred to as "incorporated towns". In other cases the town lacks its own governance and is said to be "unincorporated". Note that the existence of an unincorporated town may be legally set forth through other means, as through zoning districts. In the case of some planned communities, the town exists legally in the form of covenants on the properties within the town. The United States Census identifies many census-designated places (CDPs) by the names of unincorporated towns which lie within them; however, those CDPs typically include rural and suburban areas and even surrounding villages and other towns.
The distinction between a town and a city similarly depends on the approach adopted: a city may strictly be an administrative entity which has been granted that designation by law, but in informal usage, the term is also used to denote an urban locality of a particular size or importance: whereas a medieval city may have possessed as few as 10,000 inhabitants, today some consider an urban place of fewer than 100,000 as a town, even though there are many officially designated cities that are very, very much smaller than that.
Age of towns scheme
Australian geographer
Thomas Griffith Taylor proposed a classification of towns based on their age and pattern of
land use. He identified five types of town:
''Infantile towns'', with no clear zoning
''Juvenile towns'', which have developed an area of shops
''Adolescent towns'', where factories have started to appear
''Early mature towns'', with a separate area of high-class housing
''Mature towns'', with defined industrial, commercial and various types of residential area
By country
Australia
In
Australia, towns are commonly understood to be centers of population not formally declared to be cities and usually with a population in excess of about 250 people. Centers too small to be called towns are generally understood to be a
township.
In addition, local governments are officially styled as towns in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. In Victoria (other states?), localities may be described as a town if they contain a town as described above.
Austria
In
Austria designations are similar to those in Germany with a
trichotomy in ''Gemeinde'', ''Markt(gemeinde)'' and ''Stadt''.
Bulgaria
In Bulgaria the Council of Ministers defines what constitutes a settlement, while the President of Bulgaria grants each settlement its title. In 2005 the requirement that villages that wish to classify themselves as town must have a social and technical infrastructure, as well as a population of no less than 3500 persons. For resort settlements the requirements are lower with the population needing to be no less than 1000 persons but infrastructure requirements remain.
Canada
The legal definition of a town in
Canada varies by province or territory, as each has jurisdiction over defining and legislating towns, cities and other types of municipal organization within its own boundaries.
The province of Quebec is unique in that it makes no distinction under law between towns and cities. There is no intermediate level in French between ''village'' and ''ville'' (''municipality'' is an administrative term usually applied to a legal, not geographical entity), so both are combined under the single legal status of ''ville''. While an informal preference may exist among English speakers as to whether any individual ''ville'' is commonly referred to as a city or as a town, no distinction and no objective legal criteria exist to make such a distinction under law.
Chile
In
Chile towns are defined by the National Statistics Institute (INE) as an urban entity with a population from 2001 to 5000 or an area with a population from 1001 to 2000 and an established economic activity.
Denmark
In
Denmark no distinction is made between "city", "town" and "village"; all three translate as "by".
For small villages and hamlets the word "landsby" is used (appropriately. "country town" or "rural town"). For statistical purposes only such urban areas having at least 200 inhabitants are counted as "by".
Historically some towns held various privileges, the most important of which was the right to hold market. They were administered separately from the rural areas in both fiscal, military and legal matters. Such towns are known as "købstad" (roughly the same meaning as "borough" albeit deriving from a different etymology) and they retain the exclusive right to the title even after the last vestiges of their privileges vanished through the reform of the local administration carried through in 1970.
France
From an administrative standpoint, the smallest level of local authorities are all called "communes". However, some laws do treat these authorities differently based on the population and specific rules apply to the three main cities Paris, Lyon and Marseille. For historical reasons, six communes in the Meuse département still exist as independent entities despite having no inhabitant at all.
For statistical purposes, the national statistical institute (INSEE) operates a distinction between urban areas with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants and bigger communes, the latter being called "villes". Smaller settlements are usually called "villages". In any case, the French language does not commonly make a difference between towns and cities.
Germany
Germans do not, in general, differentiate between 'city' and 'town'. The German word for both is ''Stadt'' as it is in many other languages that do not make any difference between the Anglo-Saxon concepts. However, the International Statistics Conference of 1887 defined different sizes of ''Stadt'', based on their population size, as follows: ''Landstadt'' ("country town"; under 5,000), ''Kleinstadt'' ("small town"; 5,000 to under 20,000), ''Mittelstadt'' ("middle town"; between 20,000 and 100,000) and ''Großstadt'' ("large town"; over 100,000). The term ''Großstadt'' may be translated as "city". In addition, Germans may speak of ''Millionenstadt'', a city with over 1,000,000 inhabitants, or even a ''Megastadt''.
In Germany also the historical importance (many settlements became a ''Stadt'' by being awarded a ''Stadtrecht'' in medieval times), the centrality and the population density of an urban place might be taken as characteristics of a 'city'. The word for a 'village', as a smaller settlement, is ''Dorf''.
In southern German states the word ''Markt'' or ''Marktflecken'' designates a town-like residential community between village and city.
The current local government organization is subject to state law of a state and the related denomination of a specific settlement may differ from its common designation (e.g. ''Samtgemeinde'' - a Lower Saxony legal term for a group of villages (''Dorf'', pl. ''Dörfer'') with common local government). Designations in different states are as diverse as for example in Australian States and Territories and differ from state to state.
Greece and Cyprus
Greeks do not have different words to express 'town' and 'city'. The word they use to say both is ''πόλη'' (fem) (póli). Though sometimes (rarely in everyday speech) they use the word ''κωμόπολη'' (komópoli) (fem) to refer to a town. For Greeks a town (komópoli) is a human settlement with a population of 2.000 - 9.999. If a settlement has a lower population it is considered a
village (''χωριό'', chorjó). For the cities, Greeks, use the word 'póli' whereas for bigger cities with a population above 1 million they usually use another name, ''μητρόπολη'' (mitrópoli), in English
Metropolis.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong started developing new towns in the 1950s, to accommodate booming populations. The very first new towns included Tsuen Wan and Kwun Tong. In the late 1960s and the 1970s, another stage of new town developments was launched. Nine new towns have been developed so far. Land use is carefully planned and development provides plenty of room for public housing projects. Rail transport is usually available at a later stage. The first towns are Sha Tin, Tsuen Wan, Tuen Mun and Tseung Kwan O. Tuen Mun was intended to be self-reliant, but was not successful and turned into a bedroom community like the other new towns. More recent developments are Tin Shui Wai and North Lantau (Tung Chung-Tai Ho).
Hungary
In
Hungary, a village can gain the status of "város" (town), if it meets a set of diverse conditions for quality of life and development of certain public services and utilities (e.g. having a local secondary school or installing full-area sewage collection pipe network). Every year the Minister of Internal Affairs selects candidates from a committee-screened list of applicants, whom the President of Republic usually affirms by issuing a bill of town's rank to them. Since being a town carries extra fiscal support from the government, many relatively small villages try to win the status of "városi rang" nowadays.
Before the fall of communism in 1990, Hungarian villages under 10,000 residents were not allowed to become towns. Recently some settlements as small as 2,500 souls have received the rank of town (e.g. Zalakaros or Gönc) and meeting the conditions of development are often disregarded to quickly elevate larger villages into towns. As of early 2007, there are 289 towns in Hungary, encompassing some 65% of the entire population.
Towns of more than 50,000 people are able to gain the status of "megyei jog" (town with the rights of a county), which allows them to maintain own courts and a higher degree of autonomy. As of early 2007, there are only 23 such towns in Hungary.
Iceland
Ireland
The Local Government act 2001 provides that from January 1, 2002 (section 10 subsection (3)
''Within the county in which they are situated and of which they form part, there continue to be such other local government areas as are set out in Schedule 6 which - (a) in the case of the areas set out in Chapter 1 of Part 1 of that Schedule, shall be known as boroughs, and - (b) in the case of the areas set out in Chapter 2 of Part 1 and Part 2 of that Schedule, shall be known as towns, and in this Act a reference to a town shall include a reference to a borough.''
These provisions affect the replacement of the boroughs, Towns and urban districts which existed before then. Similar reforms in the nomenclature of local authorities ( but not their functions) are effected by section 11 part 17 of the act includes provision (section 185(2))
''Qualified electors of a town having a population of at least 7,500 as ascertained at the last preceding census or such other figure as the Minister may from time to time prescribe by regulations, and not having a town council, may make a proposal in accordance with paragraph (b) for the establishment of such a council''
and contains provisions enabling the establishment of new town councils and provisions enabling the dissolution of existing or new town councils in certain circumstances
The reference to ''town having a population of at least 7,500 as ascertained at the last preceding census'' hands much of the power relating to defining what is in fact a town over to the Central Statistics Office and their criteria are published as part of each census
;Planning and Development act 2000
Another reference to the Census and its role in determining what is or is not a town for some administrative purpose is in the Planning and Development act 2000 (part II chapter I which provides for Local area plans)
''A local area plan shall be made in respect of an area which —(i) is designated as a town in the most recent census of population, other than a town designated as a suburb or environs in that census, (ii) has a population in excess of 2,000, and (iii) is situated within the functional area of a planning authority which is a county council.''
;Central Statistics Office Criteria
These are set out in full at http://www.cso.ie/census/documents/census_2006_Appendices.pdf
In short they speak of "towns with legally defined boundaries" ( i.e. those established by the Local Government Act 2001) and the remaining 664 as "census towns", defined by themselves since 1971 as ''a cluster of 50 or more occupied dwellings in which within a distance of 800 meters there is a nucleus of 30 occupied houses on both sides of the road or twenty occupied houses on one side of the road'' there is also a ''200 meter criterion'' for determining whether a house is part of a census town.
India
In
India, under most state laws, no village or settlement can be classified as a town unless its population crosses 20,000 inhabitants. On the basis of population and other issues, the state government notifies a larger community (over 10,000) as a ''
notified area'', and its administration is under the locally elected ''
notified area committee''. A settlement over 20,000 population would be classified, with a charter from the state government as a ''town'', with a ''town area committee''. Some laws distinguish only towns and villages from each other, but by usage, settlement with larger populations, such as those having a ''municipal committee'' or ''municipal corporation'' would be called cities. The recent Census of India classified all settlements above 5000 population (subject to some other rules) as urban areas for the sake of census.In the Census of India 2001, the definition of urban area adopted is as follows: (a) All statutory places with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee, etc. (b) A place satisfying the following three criteria simultaneously:
i) a minimum population of 5,000;
ii) at least 75 per cent of male working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits; and
iii) a density of population of at least 400 per km
2. (1,000 per sq. mile).
Iran
In contemporary
Persian texts, no distinction is made between "city" and "town"; both translate as "Shahr" (شهر). In older Persian texts (until the first half of the 20th century), the Arabic word "Qasabeh" (قصبه) was used for a town. However, in recent 50 years, this word has become obsolete.
There is a word in Persian which is used for special sort of satellite townships and city neighborhoods. It is ''Shahrak'' (شهرک), (lit.: small city).
Another smaller type of town or neighborhood in a big city is called ''Kuy'' (کوی). ''Shahrak'' and ''Kuy'' each have their different legal definitions.
Large cities such as Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Tabriz, etc. which have millions of populations are referred to as ''Kalan-shahr''کلانشهر (metropole).
The pace in which different large villages have gained city status in Iran shows a dramatic increase in the last two decades.
Bigger cities and towns usually are centers of a township (in Persian: ''Shahrestan'' (شهرستان). Shahrestan itself is a subdivision of ''Ostan'' استان (Province).
Latvia
In
Latvia, towns and cities are indiscriminately called ''pilsēta'' in singular form. The name is a
contraction of two Latvian words: ''pils'' (castle) and ''sēta'' (fence), making it very obvious what is meant by the word - what is situated between the castle and the castle fence. However, a city can be called ''lielpilsēta'' in reference to its size. A village is called ''ciemats'' or ''ciems'' in Latvian.
Lithuania
In
Lithuania, towns are named ''
miestelis'' or ''miestas''. Cities are named ''didmiestis''.
Villages are named ''kaimas'' or ''vienkiemis''.
Netherlands
In the
Netherlands, no distinction is made between "city" and "town"; both translate as "stad".
Before 1848 there was a legal distinction between stad and non-stad parts of the country, but the word no longer has any legal significance. About 220 places got "stadsrechten" (city rights) and are still so called for historical and traditional reasons, though the word is also used for large urban areas that never got such rights. For example, The Hague, the third largest settlement of the country, never received official city rights, but is undoubtedly regarded as a city. The contrastive word for a ''village'' as a smaller settlement is ''dorp''.
New Zealand
In
New Zealand, a town is a built-up area that is not large enough to be considered a city. Historically, this definition corresponded to a population of between approximately 1,000 and 20,000. Towns have no independent legal existence, being administered simply as built-up parts of districts, or, in some cases, of cities.
New Zealand's towns vary greatly in size and importance, ranging from small rural service centres to significant regional centres such as Blenheim and Taupo. Typically, once a town reaches a population of somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 people, it will begin to be informally regarded as a city. One who regards a settlement as too small to be a town will typically call it a "township" or "village."
Poland
Similarly to Germany, in Poland there is no official distinction between a city and a town. The word for both is ''miasto'' (as distinct from a village or ''wieś''). Town status is conferred by administrative decree – some settlements remain villages even though they have a larger population than many smaller towns.
Portugal
Like other Iberian languages, in
Portuguese there is a traditional distinction between towns — ''
vilas'' — and cities — ''
cidades''. The difference is defined by law, and a town must have:
at least 3,000 inhabitants
at least half of these services:
*health unit
*pharmacy
*cultural center
*public transportation network
*post office
*commercial food and drinking establishments
*primary school
*bank office
In special cases, some
villages may be granted the status of town if they possess historical, cultural or architectonic importance.
The Portuguese urban settlements heraldry reflects the difference between towns and cities, with the coat of arms of a town bearing a crown with 4 towers, while the coat of arms of a city bears a crown with 5 towers. This difference between towns and cities is still in use in other Portuguese speaking countries, but in Brazil is no longer in use.
Russia
Unlike English, the Russian language does not distinguish the terms "city" and "town"—both are translated as "" (''gorod''). Traditionally, the term "city" is applied to large metropolitan areas and the term "town"—to smaller urban localities. Occasionally the term is applied to urban-type settlements as well, even though the status of those is not the same as that of a city/town proper.
In Russia, the criteria an inhabited locality needs to meet in order to be granted city/town (''gorod'') status vary in different federal subjects. In general, to qualify for this status, an inhabited locality should have more than 12,000 inhabitants and the occupation of no less than 85% of inhabitants must be other than agriculture. However, inhabited localities which were previously granted the city/town status but no longer meet the criteria can still retain the status for historical reasons.
Sweden
Before 1971, 132 larger
municipalities in
Sweden enjoyed special royal charters as ''
stad'' (town) instead of ''
kommun'' (which is similar to a US
county). But since 1971 all municipalities are officially defined as ''kommun'', thus making no legal difference between, for instance,
Stockholm and a small countryside municipality. However, every urban area that was a ''stad'' before 1971 is still a called ''stad'' in daily speech, and since the 1980s, 14 of these municipalities market themselves as ''stad'' again, although it has no legal or administrative significance, as they still have refer to themselves as ''kommun'' in all legal documentation.
Today, Statistics Sweden defines a ''stad'' as an urban area of at least 10,000 inhabitants. In the Swedish language the term for a city is ''storstad'' (big town), but there is no clear definition as to when a ''stad'' should be called a ''storstad''. Most Swedes would only call Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö ''storstäder'', i.e. "cities".
Ukraine
There is no difference in the
Ukrainian language between the notions of "town" and "city". Both these words are translated into Ukrainian as "" (''misto''). The smallest population of a city of Ukraine can be about 10,000. Cities/towns should be distinguished from
urban-type settlements ("", ''selyshche mis'koho typu''; informally "", ''mistechko''), which, although urban in nature, do not have a city status. As a rule, the population of an urban-type settlement is between 2,000 and 10,000.
United Kingdom
England and Wales
In England and Wales, a ''town'' traditionally was a settlement which had a charter to hold a market or fair and therefore became a "market town". Market towns were distinguished from villages in that they were the economic hub of a surrounding area, and were usually larger and had more facilities.
In modern usage the term ''town'' is used either for old market towns, or for settlements which have a town council, or for settlements which elsewhere would be classed a city, but which do not have the legal right to call themselves such. Any parish council can decide to describe itself as a town council, but this will usually only apply to the smallest "towns" (because larger towns will be larger than a single civil parish).
Not all settlements which are commonly described as towns have a "Town Council" or "Borough Council". In fact, because of many successive changes to the structure of local government, there are now few large towns which are represented by a body closely related to their historic borough council. These days, a smaller town will usually be part of a local authority which covers several towns. And where a larger town is the seat of a local authority, the authority will usually cover a much wider area than the town itself (either a large rural hinterland, or several other, smaller towns).
Additionally, there are "new towns" which were created during the 20th century, such as Basildon, Redditch and Telford. Milton Keynes was designed to be a "new city" but legally it is still a town despite its size.
Some settlements which describe themselves as towns (e.g. Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire) are smaller than some large villages (e.g. Kidlington, Oxfordshire).
The status of a ''city'' is reserved for places that have Letters Patent entitling them to the name, historically associated with the possession of a cathedral. Some large municipalities (such as Northampton and Bournemouth) are legally boroughs but not cities, whereas some cities are quite small — such as Ely or St David's for instance.
It appears that a city may become a town, though perhaps only through administrative error: Rochester (Kent) has been a city for centuries but, when in 1998 when the Medway district was created, a bureaucratic blunder meant that Rochester lost its official city status and is now technically a town.
It is often thought that towns with bishops' seats rank automatically as cities: however, Chelmsford remains a town despite being the seat of the diocese of Chelmsford. St Asaph, which is the seat of the diocese of St Asaph, is another such town. In reality, the pre-qualification of having a cathedral of the established Church of England, and the formerly established Church in Wales or Church of Ireland, ceased to apply from 1888.
The word ''town'' can also be used as a general term for urban areas, including cities and in a few cases, districts within cities. In this usage, a city is a type of town; a large one, with a certain status. For example, Greater London is sometimes referred to colloquially as "London town". (The "City of London" is the historical nucleus, informally known as the "Square Mile", and is administratively separate from the rest of Greater London, while the City of Westminster is also technically a city and is also a London borough). Camden Town and Somers Town are districts of London, as New Town is a district of Edinburgh - actually the Georgian centre.
Scotland
A ''town'' in Scotland has no specific legal meaning and (especially in areas which were or are still Gaelic-speaking) can refer to a mere collection of buildings (e.g. a ''farm-town'' or in Scots ''ferm-toun''), not all of which might be inhabited, or to an inhabited area of any size which is not otherwise described in terms such as city, burgh, etc. Many locations of greatly different size will be encountered with a name ending with ''-town'', ''-ton'', ''-toun'' etc. (or beginning with the Gaelic equivalent ''baile'' etc.).
A burgh (pronounced ''burruh'') is the Scots' term for a town or a municipality. They were highly autonomous units of local government from at least the 12th century until their abolition in 1975, when a new regional structure of local government was introduced across the country. Usually based upon a town, they had a municipal corporation and certain rights, such as a degree of self-governance and representation in the sovereign Parliament of Scotland adjourned in 1707.
The term no longer describes units of local government although various claims are made from time to time that the legislation used was not competent to change the status of the Royal Burghs described below. The status is now chiefly ceremonial but various functions have been inherited by current Councils (e.g. the application of various endowments providing for public benefit) which might only apply within the area previously served by a burgh; in consequence a burgh can still exist (if only as a defined geographical area) and might still be signed as such by the current local authority. It should be noted that the word 'burgh' is generally not used as a synonym for 'town' or 'city' in everyday speech, but is reserved mostly for government and administrative purposes.
Historically, the most important burghs were royal burghs, followed by burghs of regality and burghs of barony. Some newer settlements were only designated as police burghs from the 19th century onward, a classification which also applies to most of the older burghs.
United States
In the United States of America, the meaning of the term ''town'' varies from state to state. In some states, a town is an incorporated municipality, that is, one with a charter received from the state, similar to a city (see incorporated town). In others, a town is unincorporated. In most places, ''town'' refers to a small incorporated municipality of less than 10,000 people, although some of these municipalities may be called "cities."
The types of municipalities in U.S. states include cities, towns, boroughs, villages, and townships, although most states do not have all five types. Many states do not use the term "town" for incorporated municipalities. In some states, like New England states, New York and Wisconsin, "town" is used in the same way that civil township is used elsewhere. In other states, such as Michigan, the term "town" has no official meaning and is simply used informally to refer to a populated place, whether incorporated or not.
Alabama
In
Alabama, the legal use of the terms "town" and "city" are based on population. A municipality with a population of 2,000 or more is a city, while less than 2,000 is a town (Code of Alabama 1975, Section 11-40-6). For legislative purposes, municipalities are divided into eight classes based on population. Class 8 includes all towns, plus cities with populations of less than 6,000 (Code of Alabama 1975, Section 11-40-12).
Arizona
In
Arizona, the terms "town" and "city" are largely interchangeable. A community may incorporate under either a town or a city organization with no regard to population or other restrictions according to Arizona law (see Arizona Revised Statutes, Title 9). Cities may function under slightly differing governmental systems, such as the option to organize a district system for city governments, but largely retain the same powers as towns. Arizona law also allows for the consolidation of neighboring towns and the unification of a city and a town, but makes no provision for the joining of two adjacent cities.
California
In
California, the words "town" and "city" are synonymous by law (see Cal. Govt. Code Secs. 34500-34504). There are two types of cities in California - charter and general law. Cities organized as charter cities derive their authority from a charter that they draft and file with the state, and which, among other things, states the municipality's name as "City of (Name)" or "Town of (Name)." Government Code Sections 34500-34504 applies to cities organized as general law cities, which differ from charter cities in that they do not have charters but instead operate with the powers conferred them by the pertinent sections of the Government Code. Like charter cities, general law cities may incorporate as "City of (Name)" or "Town of (Name)." Some cities change their minds as to how they want to be called. The sign in front of the municipal offices in
Los Gatos, California, for example, reads "City of Los Gatos", but the words engraved on the building above the front entrance when the city hall was built read "Town of Los Gatos." There are also signs at the municipal corporation limit, some of which welcome visitors to the "City of Los Gatos" while older, adjacent signs welcome people to the "Town of Los Gatos." Meanwhile, the village does not exist in California as a municipal corporation. Instead, the word "town" is commonly used to indicate any unincorporated community that might otherwise be known as an unincorporated village. Additionally, some people may still use the word "town" as shorthand for "township", which is not an incorporated municipality but an administrative division of a county.
Hawaii
Oahu
The
Hawaiian Island of
Oahu has various communities that may be referred to as towns. However, the entire island is lumped as a single incorporated city, the City and County of
Honolulu. The towns on Oahu are merely unincorporated
census-designated places.
Illinois
In
Illinois, the word "town" has been used both to denote a subdivision of a county called a township, and to denote a form of municipality similar to a
village, in that it is generally governed by a president and trustees rather than a mayor. Under the current Illinois Municipal Code, an incorporated or unincorporated town may choose to incorporate as a city or as a village, but other forms of incorporation are no longer allowed.
Maryland
While generally a "town" is usually considered a smaller entity than a city, legally they are exactly the same as far as Maryland law is concerned. With the exception of the
Independent city of
Baltimore (which is a special case), in Maryland, there is no difference between a "
city" and a "town," it is simply part of the name that was chosen to designate an incorporated municipality. It's essentially the same as a corporate business entity choosing to have a name with "incorporated" or with "corporation", both terms mean the same thing.
Nevada
In
Nevada, a town has a form of government, but is not considered to be incorporated. It generally provides a limited range of services, such as
land use planning and recreation, while leaving most services to the county. Many communities have found this "semi-incorporated" status attractive; the state has only 20 incorporated
cities, and towns as large as
Paradise (186,020 in 2000 Census), home of the
Las Vegas Strip. Most county seats are also towns, not cities.
New England
In the six New England states, a town is a municipality and a more important unit than the county. In Connecticut, Rhode Island and 7 out of 14 counties in Massachusetts, in fact, counties only exist as map divisions and have no legal functions; in the other three states, counties are primarily judicial districts, with other functions primarily in New Hampshire and Vermont. In all six, towns perform functions that in most states would be county functions. The defining feature of a New England town, as opposed to a city, is that a town meeting and a board of selectmen serve as the main form of government for a town, while cities are run by a mayor and a city council. For example, Brookline, Massachusetts is a town, even though it is fairly urban, because of its form of government.
New Jersey
A Town in the context of New Jersey local government refers to one of five types and one of eleven forms of municipal government. While Town is often used as a shorthand to refer to a Township, the two are not the same.
The Town Act of 1895 allowed any municipality or area with a population exceeding 5,000 to become a Town through a petition and referendum process. Under the 1895 Act, a newly incorporated town was divided into at least three wards, with two councilmen per ward serving staggered two year terms, and one councilman at large, who also served a two year term. The councilman at large served as chairman of the town council.
The Town Act of 1988 completely revised the Town form of government and applied to all towns incorporated under the Town Act of 1895 and to those incorporated by a special charter granted by the Legislature prior to 1875. Under the 1988 Act, the mayor is also the councilman at large, serving a term of two years, unless increased to three years by a petition and referendum process. The Council under the Town Act of 1988 consists of eight members serving staggered two-year terms with two elected from each of four wards. One councilman from each ward is up for election each year. Towns with different structures predating the 1988 Act may retain those features unless changed by a petition and referendum process.
Two new provisions were added in 1991 to the statutes governing towns, First, a petition and referendum process was created whereby the voters can require that the mayor and town council be elected to four-year terms of office. The second new provision defines the election procedure in towns with wards.
The mayor in a town chairs the town council and heads the municipal government. The mayor may both vote on legislation before council and veto ordinances. A veto may be overridden by a vote of two-thirds of all the members of the council. The council may enact an ordinance to delegate all or a portion of the executive responsibilities of the town to a municipal administrator.
Fifteen New Jersey municipalities currently have a type of Town, nine of which operate under the town form of government.
New York
In New York, a town is similarly a division of the county, but with less importance than in New England. Of some importance is the fact that, in New York, a town provides a closer level of governance than its enclosing county, providing almost all municipal services to unincorporated areas, called hamlets, and selected services to incorporated areas, called villages. In New York, a town typically contains a number of such hamlets and villages. However, due to their independent nature, incorporated villages may exist in two towns or even two counties. Everyone in New York who does not live in an Indian reservation or a city lives in a town and possibly in one of the town's hamlets or villages. (Some other states have similar entities called townships.) In New York, "town" is essentially short for "township."
Pennsylvania
In
Pennsylvania, there is only one municipality which is incorporated as a "town":
Bloomsburg. Most of the rest of the state is incorporated as townships (there are also boroughs and cities), which function in much the same way as the towns of New York or New England, although they may have different forms of government.
Utah
In
Utah, the legal use of the terms "town" and "city" are based on population. A municipality with a population of 1,000 or more is a city, while less than 1,000 is a town. In addition, cities are divided into five separate classes based on population. Utah code governing the requirements for cities and town including the requirements that each separate class city can be found at the Utah Legislature
website.
Virginia
In
Virginia, a town is an incorporated municipality similar to a city (though with a smaller required minimum population). But while cities are by Virginia law independent of counties, towns are contained within counties.
Wyoming
Wyoming statute indicates towns are incorporated municipalities with populations of less than 4,000. Municipalities of 4,000 or more residents are considered "first-class cities."
According to 2006-2008 United States Census estimates, the Hempstead, New York (the westernmost town in Long Island, New York) is the largest town in the United States, with a population of almost 780,000 people, making it larger than the cities of Boston or Seattle.
See also
Commuter town
Company town
Developed environments
List of towns
Location (geography)
Megalopolis (city type)
Town charter
Town Hall
Town limits
Town privileges
Town square
Notes
References
Australian Bureau of Statistics: Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) 2005
External links
Open-Site Regional — Contains information about towns in numerous countries.
Geopolis : research group, university of Paris-Diderot, France — Access to Geopolis Database
Category:Populated places by type
ar:بلدة
an:Villa
az:Qəsəbə
zh-min-nan:Tìn
bar:Ståd
ca:Vila
ceb:Lungsod
cs:Město
cy:Tref
el:Κωμόπολη
es:Villa (población)
eu:Herri
fa:شهرک
fr:Town
hif:Town
ga:Baile
gl:Vila
ko:마을
ig:Ama
id:Kotamadya
is:Bær
it:Città
he:עיירה
ka:ქალაქი
sw:Mji
ku:Bajarok
la:Oppidum
ms:Bandar
nl:Town
ja:街
nn:By
nrm:Ville
pt:Vila
ru:Посёлок
sco:Toun
simple:Town
sv:Småstad
ta:நகரம்
te:పట్టణం
tr:Kasaba (yönetim)
vi:Đô thị dưới thành phố
war:Bungtó
zh:鎮
![Stock bridge High Street looking west is a small town and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It has an acreage of 1,323 acres (5.35 km2) and a population of little under 600 people according to the 2001 census[1] in Hampshire, England.](http://web.archive.org./web/20120519135550/http://cdn8.wn.com/pd/e2/e0/ac3d3feabd52128de50dd10c331f_medium.jpg "Stock bridge High Street looking west is a small town and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It has an acreage of 1,323 acres (5.35 km2) and a population of little under 600 people according to the 2001 census[1] in Hampshire, England.")
![Historic downtown Marietta's town square. Georgia has the smallest average county size of any state which operates county governments.[citation needed] This focuses government more locally but allows greater conflict between multiple jurisdictions, each with its own agenda](http://web.archive.org./web/20120519135550/http://cdn2.wn.com/pd/61/78/86320422cede1e84d34b6db0d671_medium.jpg "Historic downtown Marietta's town square. Georgia has the smallest average county size of any state which operates county governments.[citation needed] This focuses government more locally but allows greater conflict between multiple jurisdictions, each with its own agenda")
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