This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2012)

Lego City

Other names	Legoland Lego Town Lego World City
Sub‑themes	Fire Police Traffic Construction Transport Train Coast Guard Farm
Availability	1978–Present
Total sets	246[1]
Official website

Lego City is a theme under which Lego building sets are released. As the name suggests, City sets are based on city life, with the models depicting city and emergency services (such as police and fire), airport, train, construction and civilian services.

History[link]

The "City" theme traces its origins to Lego Town, a theme introduced with the first minifigures in 1978. Since then, town-based models have been marketed under the names "Legoland Town," "Town Junior" and "World City" before the current incarnation was started in 2005. The first set introduced under the "City" name was 10159 Airport (a reissue of the 1994 airport set Century Skyway, with some minor part differences).

Since its introduction, different subthemes under the "City" banner were used to tie together related sets, such as Police, Fire, Trains, Transportation and Construction. During the Christmas season, a City-themed Advent Calendar set is sold through Lego's Shop-at-Home service and at retailers.

Video game[link]

A video game developed by TT Games called LEGO City Stories will be released for the 3DS and the new Wii U in 2012.^[2]

See also[link]

• Lego Group
• List of Lego City sets

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lego City

• Official sites: United States , United Kingdom

This toy-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This article needs additional or more specific categories. Please help out by adding categories to it so that it can be listed with similar articles. (January 2012)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2012)

LEGO
Type	Construction set
Inventor	Ole Kirk Christiansen
Company	Lego Group
Country	Denmark
Availability	1949–present
Official website

Lego (trademarked in capitals as LEGO) is a popular line of construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colorful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears, minifigures and various other parts. Lego bricks can be assembled and connected in many ways, to construct such objects as vehicles, buildings, and even working robots. Anything constructed can then be taken apart again, and the pieces used to make other objects. Lego began manufacturing interlocking toy bricks in 1949, since which a global Lego subculture has developed, supporting movies, games, competitions, and five themed amusement parks.

Early history[link]

Lego bricks

The Lego Group began in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen (7 April 1891 – 11 March 1958), a carpenter from Billund, Denmark, who began making wooden toys in 1932.^[1] In 1934, his company came to be called "Lego", from the Danish phrase leg godt, which means "play well".

It expanded to producing plastic toys in 1947.^[1] In 1949 Lego began producing the now famous interlocking bricks, calling them "Automatic Binding Bricks". These bricks were based largely on the patent^[2] of Kiddicraft Self-Locking Bricks, which were released in the United Kingdom in 1947. Lego modified the design of the Kiddicraft brick after examining a sample given to it by the British supplier of an injection-molding machine that the company had purchased.^[3] The bricks, originally manufactured from cellulose acetate,^[3] were a development of traditional stackable wooden blocks that locked together by means of several round studs on top and a hollow rectangular bottom. The blocks snapped together, but not so tightly that they required extraordinary effort to be separated.

The Lego Group's motto is det bedste er ikke for godt which means roughly 'only the best is the best' (more literally 'the best is never too good').^[1] This motto was created by Ole Kirk to encourage his employees never to skimp on quality, a value he believed in strongly.^[1] The motto is still used within the company today. By 1951 plastic toys accounted for half of the Lego Company’s output. Despite this fact, the Danish trade magazine Legetøjs-Tidende (Toy-Times) stated at the beginning of the 1950s, after having visited the Lego factory in Billund, that ‘plastic would never be able to replace good and honest wooden toys. This outcry demonstrates fittingly how most people felt (and sometimes still feel) towards the use of plastic in toys. Lego toys, however, seem to be an exception to the dislike of plastic toys due to the high standards set by Ole Kirk.^[4]

By 1954, Christiansen's son Godtfred Kirk Christiansen had become the junior managing director of the Lego Group. It was his conversation with an overseas buyer that struck the idea of a toy system. Godtfred saw the immense potential in Lego bricks to become a system for creative play but the bricks still had some problems from a technical standpoint: their locking ability was limited and they were not very versatile. In 1958, the modern brick design was developed but it took another five years to find the right material for it, ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) polymer.^[3] The modern Lego brick was patented at 1:58 P.M. on 28 January 1958;^[5] bricks from that year are still compatible with current bricks.

Design[link]

A model of Trafalgar Square, London in Legoland Windsor

Lego pieces of all varieties comprise a universal system. Despite variation in the design and purpose of individual pieces over the years, each remains compatible in some way with existing pieces. Lego bricks from 1958 still interlock with those made in the current time, and Lego sets for young children are compatible with those made for teenagers.

Each Lego piece must be manufactured to an exacting degree of precision. When two pieces are engaged they must fit firmly, yet be easily disassembled. The machines that make Lego bricks have tolerances as small as 10 micrometres.^[6]

Dimensions of some standard Lego bricks and plates.^[7][8]

Primary concept and development work takes place at the Billund headquarters, where the company employs approximately 120 designers. The company also has smaller design offices in the UK, Spain, Germany, and Japan, which are tasked with developing products aimed specifically at these markets. The average development period for a new product is around twelve months, in three stages. The first stage is to identify market trends and developments, including contact by the designers directly with the market; some are stationed in toy shops close to holiday periods, while others interview children. The second stage is the design and development of the product based upon the results of the first stage. As of September 2008 the design teams use 3D modeling software to generate CAD drawings from initial design sketches. The designs are then prototyped using an in-house stereolithography machine. These are presented to the entire project team for comment and for testing by parents and children during the "validation" process. Designs may then be altered in accordance with the results from the focus groups. Virtual models of completed Lego products are built concurrently with the writing of the user instructions. Completed CAD models are also used in the wider organization, such as for marketing and packaging.^[9]

Manufacture[link]

A Lego City

Since 1963, Lego pieces have been manufactured from a strong, resilient plastic known as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). ^[10] As of September 2008, the engineers use the NX CAD/CAM/CAE PLM software suite to model the elements. The software allows the parts to be optimized by way of mold flow and stress analysis. Prototype molds are sometimes built before the design is committed to mass production. The ABS plastic is heated to 232 °C (450 °F) until at a dough-like consistency. It is then injected into the molds at pressures between 25 and 150 tons, and takes approximately 15 seconds to cool. The molds are permitted a tolerance of up to two micrometres, to ensure the bricks remain connected.^[9] Human inspectors check the output of the molds, to eliminate significant variations in color or thickness. According to the Lego Group, about eighteen bricks out of every million fail to meet the standard required.^[11] Lego factories recycle all but about 1 percent of their plastic waste from the manufacturing process every year. If the plastic cannot be re-used in Lego bricks, it is processed and sold on to industries that can make use of it.^[12][13]

Manufacturing of Lego bricks occurs at a number of locations around the world. Molding is done in Billund, Denmark; Nyíregyháza, Hungary; and Monterrey, Mexico. Brick decorations and packaging is done at plants in Denmark, Hungary, Mexico and Kladno in the Czech Republic. The Lego Group estimates that in the course of five decades it has produced some 400 billion Lego blocks.^[14] Annual production of Lego bricks averages approximately 36 billion per year, or about 1140 elements per second. If all the Lego bricks ever produced were to be divided equally among a world population of six billion, each person would have 62 Lego bricks.^[15] According to an article in BusinessWeek in 2006, Lego could be considered the world's No. 1 tire manufacturer; the factory produces about 306 million tiny rubber tires a year.^[16]

Today[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Lego building at NASA's KSC.

Since it began producing plastic bricks, the Lego Group has released thousands of sets with a variety of themes, including town and city, space, robots, pirates, trains, Vikings, castle, dinosaurs, undersea exploration, and wild west.

New elements are often released along with new sets. There are also Lego sets designed to appeal to young girls such as the Belville and Clikits lines which consists of small interlocking parts that are meant to encourage creativity and arts and crafts, much like regular Lego bricks. Belville and Clikit pieces can interlock with regular Lego bricks as decorative elements.

While there are sets which can be seen to have a military theme – such as Star Wars, the German and Russian soldiers in the Indiana Jones sets, the Toy Story green soldiers and Lego Castle – there are no directly military-themed sets in any line. This is following Ole Kirk Christiansen's policy of not wanting to make war seem like child's play.

The Lego range has expanded to encompass accessory motors, gears, lights, sensors, and cameras designed to be used with Lego components. Motors, battery packs, lights and switches are sold under the name Power Functions. The Technic line utilizes newer types of interlocking connections that are still compatible with the older brick type connections. The Technic line can often be motorized with Power Functions.

Bionicle is a line of toys by the Lego Group that is marketed towards those in the 7–16 year-old age range. The line was launched in January 2001 in Europe and June/July 2001 in the United States. The Bionicle idea originated from the earlier toy lines Slizers (also known as Throwbots) and Roboriders. Both of these lines had similar throwing disks and characters based on classical elements. The sets in the Bionicle line have increased in size and flexibility through the years. Bionicle was replaced with Hero Factory in 2010.

The Lego Group's Duplo product line, introduced in 1969, is a range of simple blocks which measure twice the width, height and depth of standard Lego blocks, and are aimed at younger children.

'Fabuland' ran from 1979 to 1989. The more advanced 'Lego Technic' was launched in 1977. 'Lego Primo' is a line of blocks by the Lego Group for very young children that ran between 2004 and 2006. In 1995 'Lego Baby' was launched for babies.

One of the largest Lego sets ever commercially produced is a minifig-scaled edition of the Star Wars Millennium Falcon. Designed by Jens Kronvold Fredericksen, it was released in 2007 and has 5,195 pieces. It was surpassed, though, by a 5,922 piece Taj Mahal.^[17]

In May 2011, Space Shuttle Endeavour mission STS-134 brought 13 Lego kits to the International Space Station, where astronauts will build models and see how they react in microgravity, as part of the Lego Bricks in Space program. The results will be shared with schools as part of an educational project.^[18][19]

Licensed themes[link]

Over the years, Lego has licensed themes from numerous cartoon and film franchises. These include Avatar: The Last Airbender, Batman, Ben 10, Cars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Prince of Persia, Speed Racer, Spider-Man, SpongeBob SquarePants, Star Wars, Super Heroes, Thomas the Tank Engine, and Toy Story.

Although some of the licensed themes, such as Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones, have had highly successful sales, Lego has expressed a desire to rely more upon their own characters and classic themes, and less upon licensed themes related to movie releases.^[20] Some of the sets like Prince of Persia have been discontinued.

Robotics sets[link]

Lego initiated a robotics line of toys called 'Mindstorms' in 1998, and has continued to expand and update this range ever since. The roots of the product originate from a programmable brick developed at the MIT Media Lab, and the name is taken from a paper by Seymour Papert, a computer scientist and educator who developed the educational theory of constructionism, and whose research was at times funded by the Lego Group.

The programmable Lego brick which is at the heart of these robotics sets has undergone several updates and redesigned, with the latest being called the 'NXT' brick, being sold under the brand name of Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0. The set includes sensors that detect touch, light, sound and ultrasonic waves, with several others being sold separately, including an RFID reader.

The intelligent brick can be programmed using official software available for Windows and Mac computers, and is downloaded onto the brick via Bluetooth or a USB cable. There are also several unofficial programs and compatible programming languages that have been made to work with the brick, and many books have been written to support this community.

There are several robotics competitions which use the Lego robotics sets. The earliest is Botball, a national U.S. middle- and high-school competition stemming from the MIT 6.270 Lego robotics tournament. Other Lego robotics competitions include Junior FIRST LEGO League (Jr.FLL) for students ages 6-9, and FIRST Lego League (FLL) for students ages 9-14. Jr.FLL and FLL offer real-world engineering challenges to participants. FLL uses Lego-based robots to complete tasks. Jr.FLL participants build models out of Lego elements. In its 2010 season, there were 16,070 FLL teams in over 55 countries. In its 2010 season, there were 2,147 Jr.FLL teams with 12,882 total student participants in the United States and Canada^[21] The international RoboCup Junior football competition involves extensive use of Lego Mindstorms equipment which is often pushed to its extreme limits.

Related products and services[link]

The Lego Group has used the Lego toy system to branch out into a number of other areas.

Video games[link]

Lego has branched out into the videogames market since 1997, beginning with games such as Lego Island and Lego Creator. Popular titles include the 1999 game Lego Racers and the 2001 game Lego Racers 2. More recent licensed games include Lego Star Wars, Lego Indiana Jones, Lego Batman, and many more.

Lego Harry Potter: Years 1–4 was released in June 2010, and Lego Rock Band was released in autumn^[when?] of 2009. Another game announced is Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues including Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and total remakes of the other movie's levels was released in 2009. More Lego video games are Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, based on the first and second seasons of The Clone Wars and Lego Battles: Ninjago based on the short video clips on the website. An addition to the Lego video game series is Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game, where you can play all four movies including Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. The newest video game is Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes.

Lego Digital Designer is an official piece of Lego software for Mac OS X and Windows which allows users to build with Lego bricks on their computers. Users can then publish their creations online on the Lego Design by Me website, or purchase the physical bricks to build them. Lego Digital Designer includes some Lego products which only exist online, including models for the children's television programs TUGS, Thomas and Friends and Speed Racer.

Official website[link]

First launched in 1996, the Lego website has developed over the years, and provides many extra services beyond a shop and product catalog. There are moderated message boards, founded in 2001.

My Lego Network is a social networking site that involves items, blueprints, ranks, badges which are earned for completing certain tasks, trading and trophies called masterpieces which allow users to progress to go to the next rank. The website has a built in inbox which allows users to send prewritten messages to one another. The Lego Network includes automated non-player characters within called "Networkers", who are able to do things which normal users cannot do, such as sending custom messages, and selling masterpieces and blueprints. The site also has modules which are set up on the user's page to 'grow' certain things,^{[clarification needed]} for showing picture compositions or both. The site includes instructions booklets for all Lego sets dating back to 2002.

Business consultancy[link]

Since around 2000, the Lego Group has been promoting 'Lego Serious Play', a form of business consultancy fostering creative thinking, in which team members build metaphors of their organizational identities and experiences using Lego bricks. Participants work through imaginary scenarios using visual three-dimensional Lego constructions, imaginatively exploring possibilities in a serious form of play.

Theme parks[link]

Lego Imagination Center at the Mall of America, before 2010 remodeling.

Tyrannosaurus rex model outside the Lego store at Downtown Disney in Orlando

Merlin Entertainments operates five Legoland amusement parks, the original in Billund, Denmark, the second in Windsor, England, the third in Günzburg, Germany, the fourth in Carlsbad, California, and the fifth in Winter Haven, Florida. On 13 July 2005, the control of 70% of the Legoland parks was sold for $460 million to the Blackstone Group of New York while the remaining 30% is still held by Lego Group. There are also four Legoland Discovery Centers,^[22] two in Germany (Duisburg and Berlin), one in Chicago, Illinois, and one in Manchester, UK. Two new Legoland Discovery Centers are scheduled to open in 2011: one in Dallas, Texas.^[23][24] Another will open in Kansas City in 2012.^[25]

Retail stores[link]

Lego operates 46 retail stores (34 in the United States, seven in the United Kingdom, five in Germany, four in Canada, and one in Denmark), including ones at the Downtown Disney shopping complexes at Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resorts as well as in Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. On 24 November 2010, a Lego retail store was opened in Lima, Peru,^[26] at Jockey Plaza Shopping Center.^[27] The opening of each store is celebrated with weekend long event where a Master Model Builder creates, with the help of volunteers most of who are children, a larger than life Lego statue which is then displayed at the new store for several weeks.^[28]

Three of the recently opened Lego stores incorporate a new idea for the Lego retail side called Lego education. At these three stores (which are located in Concord North Carolina, Hanover Maryland, and Berlin Germany) there are separate areas to the side of the store that are used as classrooms where specially trained facilitators teach children ranging from 4–12 years old about numerous different subjects while using Lego product. This new concept is being tested, and has only been around for about 8 months.^[29]

Children's clothes[link]

Since 1993 LEGOwear Clothes have been produced and marketed by a Danish company called Kabooki under license from Lego Group. The clothes are for boys and girls from 0–12 years old and the partnership also ties in with other Lego products such as Bionicle.

Board games[link]

Lego Games launched in 2009–2010, and is a series of Lego-themed board games designed by Cephas Howard and Reiner Knizia^[30][31] in which the players usually build the playing board out of Lego bricks and then play with Lego-style players. Some of the games are Race 3000, Wild Wool, Minotaurus, Magikus, Monster 4, Lava Dragon, Pirate Code, Ramses Pyramid, Atlantis Treasure, Robo Champ, Orient Bazaar, and Creationary. Like many board games, the games utilize dice. However, in Lego Games, the die is Lego, with Lego squares with symbols on Lego studs on the die. The games vary from simple to complex, some are similar to "traditional" board games, while others are completely different.

Films and television[link]

In the past, Lego has turned down approaches from Hollywood to make a feature-length film based on the toy. However, this stance has since softened. A number of straight-to-DVD computer animated Bionicle and Hero Factory movies have been produced. A movie called LEGO: The Adventures of Clutch Powers was released on DVD in February 2010. This was a completely computer-animated film made by Tinseltown Toons. It is a crossover movie comprising many Lego themes.^[32]

A feature film adaptation of the Lego world has been in development at Warner Bros. since 2008.^[33] In August 2009, it was announced that Dan and Kevin Hageman were writing the script for a comedy action adventure live-action/animated film.^[34] Phil Lord and Chris Miller were hired in June 2010, to write and direct the film.^[35] In November 2011, it was reported that Warner Bros. has green-lighted the film, with a schedule to release it in 2014. Australian Animal Logic will provide the animation, which is expected to comprise 80% of the film. Chris McKay, the director of Robot Chicken, has also joined Lord and Miller to co-direct the film.^[33] In March 2012, Lord and Miller revealed its working title, Lego: The Piece of Resistance, and a storyline: "It involves many worlds. Basically, the least qualified Lego characters in the universe having to keep the world from being frozen together."^[36] In April 2012, Warner Bros. scheduled the film for February 28, 2014.^[37]

A CG animated TV series titled Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu has been airing on Cartoon Network since 2011. Another CG animated series is expected to debut in 2013 on Cartoon Network.^[38]

Books and magazines[link]

Lego has an ongoing deal with publisher Dorling Kindersley (DK), who are producing a series of illustrated hardback books looking at different aspects of the construction toy. The first was The Ultimate Lego Book, published in 1999. More recently, in 2009, the same publisher produced The LEGO Book, which was sold within a slipcase along with Standing Small: A celebration of 30 years of the LEGO minifigure, a smaller book focused on the minifigure. In same year, DK also published books on Lego Star Wars (Lego Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary) and a range of Lego-based sticker books.

Although no longer being published in the United States by Scholastic, books covering events in the BIONICLE storyline are written by Greg Farshtey. They are still being published in Europe by AMEET. BIONICLE comics, also written by Farshtey, are compiled into graphic novels and were released by Papercutz.^[39] This series ended in 2009, after nine years. There is also the Lego Club and Brickmaster magazine, the latter discontinued in 2011.

In popular culture[link]

Lego's popularity is demonstrated by its wide representation and usage in many forms of cultural works, including books, films and art work. It has even been used in the classroom as a teaching tool.^[40] In the USA, Lego Education North America is a joint venture between Pitsco, Inc. and the educational division of the LEGO Group.^[41]

In 1998, Lego bricks were inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong in Rochester, New York.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

Listen to this article (info/dl)

This audio file was created from a revision of the "Lego" article dated 2006-02-12, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)

More spoken articles

• Media related to Lego at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website

A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement.^[1][2] Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.

For example, in the U.S. state of Massachusetts an article of incorporation approved by the local state legislature distinguishes a city government from a town. In the United Kingdom and parts of the Commonwealth of Nations, a city is traditionally a settlement with a royal charter.^[1] Historically, in Europe, a city was understood to be an urban settlement with a cathedral.

Cities generally have complex systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, housing, and transportation. The concentration of development greatly facilitates interaction between people and businesses, benefiting both parties in the process. A big city or metropolis usually has associated suburbs and exurbs. Such cities are usually associated with metropolitan areas and urban areas, creating numerous business commuters traveling to urban centers for employment. Once a city expands far enough to reach another city, this region can be deemed a conurbation or megalopolis.

Origins[link]

There is insufficient evidence to assert what conditions gave rise to the first cities. Some theorists, however, have speculated on what they consider suitable pre-conditions, and basic mechanisms that might have been important driving forces.

Theories[link]

Agricultural primacy[link]

The conventional view holds that cities first formed after the Neolithic revolution. The Neolithic revolution brought agriculture, which made denser human populations possible, thereby supporting city development.^[3] The advent of farming encouraged hunter-gatherers to abandon nomadic lifestyles and to settle near others who lived by agricultural production. The increased population-density encouraged by farming and the increased output of food per unit of land created conditions that seem more suitable for city-like activities. In his book, Cities and Economic Development, Paul Bairoch takes up this position in his argument that agricultural activity appears necessary before true cities can form.

According to Vere Gordon Childe, for a settlement to qualify as a city, it must have enough surplus of raw materials to support trade.^[4] Bairoch points out that, due to sparse population densities that would have persisted in pre-Neolithic, hunter-gatherer societies, the amount of land that would be required to produce enough food for subsistence and trade for a large population would make it impossible to control the flow of trade. To illustrate this point, Bairoch offers an example: "Western Europe during the pre-Neolithic, [where] the density must have been less than 0.1 person per square kilometer".^[5] Using this population density as a base for calculation, and allotting 10% of food towards surplus for trade and assuming that city dwellers do no farming, he calculates that "in order to maintain a city with a population of 1,000, and without taking the cost of transportation into account, an area of 100,000 square kilometers would have been required. When the cost of transportation is taken into account, the figure rises to 200,000 square kilometers...".^[5] Bairoch noted that this is roughly the size of Great Britain.

Urban primacy[link]

Theorist Jane Jacobs claims that city-formation preceded the birth of agriculture though offers no support for this theory. Unfortunately, Jacobs does not lend her theory to any reasonably strict definition of a city, but her account suggestively or vaguely contrasts what could be thought of as primitive city-like activity to the activity occurring in neighboring hunter-gatherer settlements. To argue this view, she suggests a fictitious scenario where a valued natural resource leads to primitive economic activity - she takes obsidian as an example. The stock of obsidian is controlled and traded with neighboring hunting groups. Hunters who do not control the stock travel great distances to barter what they have, valuing obsidian because it "makes the sharpest tools to be had".^[6] This activity brings more people to the center as jobs are created and goods are being traded. Among the goods traded are seeds of all different sorts, stored in unprecedented combinations. In various ways, some accidental, the seeds are sown, and the variation in yields are observed more readily than they would be in the wild. The seeds that yield the most grain are noticed and trading them begins to occur within the city. Owing to this local dealing, the city dwellers find that their grain yields are the best, and for the first time make deliberate and conscious selection. The choices made now become purposeful, and they are made among various strains of already cultivated crosses, and their crosses, mutants and hybrids.^[6]

Causes of establishment[link]

Theorists have suggested many possible reasons for why people would have originally decided to come together to form dense populations. In his book City Economics, Brendan O'Flaherty asserts "Cities could persist—as they have for thousands of years—only if their advantages offset the disadvantages" (O'Flaherty 2005, p. 12). O'Flaherty illustrates two similar attracting advantages known as increasing returns to scale and economies of scale, which are concepts normally associated with firms. Their applications are seen in more basic economic systems as well. Increasing returns to scale occurs when "doubling all inputs more than doubles the output [and] an activity has economies of scale if doubling output less than doubles cost" (O'Flaherty 2005, pp. 572–573). To offer an example of these concepts, O'Flaherty makes use of "one of the oldest reasons why cities were built: military protection" (O'Flaherty 2005, p. 13). In this example, the inputs are anything that would be used for protection (e.g.: a wall) and the output is the area protected and everything of value contained in it. O'Flaherty then asks that we suppose that the area to be protected is square and each hectare inside it has the same value of protection. The advantage is expressed as: (O'Flaherty 2005, p. 13)

(1) Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): O = s^2

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

The inputs depend on the length of the perimeter:

(2) Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): I = 4s

, where I stands for the quantity of inputs. This equation shows that the perimeter is proportional to the length of a side.

So there are increasing returns to scale:

(3) Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): O = I^2/16

. This equation (solving for Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): s in (1) and substituting in (2)) shows that with twice the inputs, you produce quadruple the output.

Also, economies of scale:

(4) Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): I = 4O^{1/2}

. This equation (solving for Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): I in equation (3)) shows that the same output requires less input.

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

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

Geography[link]

Map of Haarlem, the Netherlands, of around 1550. The city is completely surrounded by a city wall and defensive canal. The square shape was inspired by Jerusalem.

City planning has seen many different schemes for how a city should look. The most commonly seen pattern is the grid, used for thousands of years in China, independently invented by Alexander the Great's city-planner Dinocrates of Rhodes and favoured by the Romans, while almost a rule in parts of pre-Columbian America. Derry begun in 1613, was the first planned city in Ireland, with the walls being completed five years later. The central diamond within a walled city with four gates was thought to be a good design for defence. The grid pattern was widely copied in the colonies of British North America.

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

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

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

History[link]

The Round city of Baghdad, the capital of Iraq

Extent and major sites of the Indus Valley Civilization of ancient India

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

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

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

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

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

Ancient times[link]

A model of native American pyramids in the Zócalo in the center of Mexico City

The ancient Ur of Sumer, in present day Tell el-Mukayyar in Iraq is one of the world's earliest сities.

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

The Indus Valley Civilization and ancient China are two other areas with major indigenous urban traditions. Among the early Old World cities, Mohenjo-daro of the Indus Valley Civilization in present-day Pakistan, existing from about 2600 BC, was one of the largest, with a population of 50,000 or more.^[8] At a somewhat later time, a distinctive^{[citation needed]} urban tradition developed in the Khmer region of Cambodia, where Angkor grew into one of the largest cities (in area) of the world.

In the ancient Americas, early urban traditions developed in the Andes and Mesoamerica. In the Andes, the first^{[citation needed]} urban centers developed in the Norte Chico civilization (also Caral or Caral-Supe civilization), Chavin and Moche cultures, followed by major cities in the Huari, Chimu and Inca cultures. The Norte Chico civilization included as many as 30 major population centers in what is now the 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.^[9]

Scale model of ancient Rome, 3rd century AD

Mesoamerica saw the rise of early urbanism in several cultural regions, including the Preclassic Maya, the Zapotec of Oaxaca, and Teotihuacan in central Mexico.^{[citation needed]} Later cultures such as the Aztec drew on these earlier urban traditions.

This roster of early urban traditions is notable for its diversity. Excavations at early urban sites show that some cities were sparsely populated political capitals, others were trade centers, and still other cities had a primarily religious focus. Some cities had large dense populations, whereas others carried out urban activities in the realms of politics or religion without having large associated populations. Theories that attempt to explain ancient urbanism by a single factor, such as economic benefit, fail to capture the range of variation documented by archaeologists.^[10]

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

Daily life of people from the Song period at the capital, Bianjing, today's Kaifeng.

Keith Hopkins estimates that ancient Rome had a population of about a million people by the end of the 1st century BC,^[11] after growing continually during the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st centuries BC.^[12] Alexandria's population was also close to Rome's population at around the same time, the historian Rostovtzeff estimates a total population close to a million based on a census dated from 32 AD that counted 180,000 adult male citizens in Alexandria.^[13] Similar administrative, commercial, industrial and ceremonial centres emerged in other areas, most notably medieval Baghdad, which according to George Modelski, later became the first city to exceed a population of one million by the 8th century instead of Rome.^[14]

While David Kessler and Peter Temin consider ancient Rome to be the largest city before 19th century London,^[15] George Modelski considers medieval Baghdad, with an estimated population of 1.2 million at its peak, to be the largest city before 19th century London.^[14] Others estimate that Baghdad's population may have been as large as 2 million in the 9th century.^[16]

Agriculture was practiced in sub-Saharan Africa since the third millennium BC. Because of this, cities were able to develop as centers of non-agricultural activity. Exactly when this first happened is still a topic of archeological and historical investigation. Western scholarship has tended to focus on cities in Europe and Mesopotamia, but emerging archeological evidence indicates that urbanization occurred south of the Sahara well before the influence of Arab urban culture. The oldest sites documented thus far are from around 500 AD including Awdaghust, Kumbi-Saleh the ancient capital of Ghana, and Maranda a center located on a trade rout between Egypt and Gao.^[17]

Cities of Late Antiquity underwent transformations as the urban power base shrank and was transferred to the local bishop (see Late Roman Empire). Cities essentially disappeared, earliest in Roman Britain and Germania and latest in the Eastern Roman Empire and Visigothic Spain.^{[citation needed]}

Middle Ages[link]

This woodcut shows Nuremberg as a prototype of a flourishing and independent city in the 15th century

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

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

Early modern[link]

Danzig in the 17th century

While the city-states, or poleis, of the Mediterranean and Baltic Sea languished from the 16th century, Europe's larger capitals benefited from the growth of commerce following the emergence of an Atlantic trade. By the early 19th century, London had become the largest city in the world with a population of over a million, while Paris rivaled the well-developed regionally traditional capital cities of Baghdad, Beijing, Istanbul and Kyoto. During the Spanish colonization of the Americas the old Roman city concept was extensively used. Cities were founded in the middle of the newly conquered territories, and were bound to several laws about administration, finances and urbanism.

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

Industrial age[link]

Glasgow slum in 1871

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

External effects[link]

This section may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (September 2007)

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

Waste and sewage are two major problems for cities, as is air pollution coming from various forms of combustion,^[19] including fireplaces, wood or coal-burning stoves, other heating systems,^[20] and internal combustion engines. The impact of cities on places elsewhere, be it hinterlands or places far away, is considered in the notion of city footprinting (ecological footprint). Other negative external effects include health consequences such as communicable diseases, crime, and high traffic and commuting times. Cities cause more interaction with more people than rural areas, thus a higher probability to contracting contagious diseases. However, many inventions such as inoculations, vaccines, and water filtration systems have also lowered health concerns. Crime is also a concern in the cities. Studies have shown that crime rates in cities are higher and the chance of punishment after getting caught is lower. In cases such as burglary, the higher concentration of people in cities create more items of higher value worth the risk of crime. The high concentration of people also makes using auto mobiles inconvenient and pedestrian traffic is more prominent in metropolitan areas than a rural or suburban one.

Cities also generate positive external effects. The close physical proximity facilitates knowledge spillovers, helping people and firms exchange information and generate new ideas.^[21] A thicker labor market allows for better skill matching between firms and individuals. Another positive external effect of cities comes from the diverse social opportunities created when people of different backgrounds are brought together. Larger cities typically offer a wider variety of social interests and activities, letting people of all backgrounds find something they can be involved in.

Cities may, however, also have a positive influence on the environment. UN Habitat stated in its reports that city living can be the best solution for dealing with the rising population numbers (and thus still be a good approach on dealing with overpopulation) ^[22] This is because cities concentrate human activity into one place, making the environmental damage on other places smaller.,^[23] letting the cities have a positive influence; however, can only be achieved if urban planning is improved^[24] and if the city services are properly maintained.

Distinction between cities and towns[link]

The difference between towns and cities is differently understood in different parts of the world. Indeed, some languages other than English use a single word for both concepts. Iberian languages typically use a three-way designation (Catalan: “poble”, “vila”, “ciutat”; Galician: “aldea”, “vila”, “cidade”; Portuguese: “aldeia”, “vila”, “cidade”; Spanish: “pueblo”, “villa”, “ciudad”—respectively “village”, “town”, “city”); Italian: “villaggio”, "paese" “città”—respectively “village”, "village/town", “city/town”; , but other Romance languages don’t (French: “village”, “ville”).^{[citation needed]}

Even within the English-speaking world there is no one standard definition of a city: the term may be used either for a town possessing city status; for an urban locality exceeding an arbitrary population size; for a town dominating other towns with particular regional economic or administrative significance. In British English, city is reserved for very large settlements and smaller historic settlements with a Cathedral (e.g. Lichfield), while smaller settlements without a Cathedral are called towns, and smaller still are villages and hamlets.^{[citation needed]} In the US city is used for much smaller settlements.

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

Australia[link]

Canberra - the new capital of Australia that was planned by Marion Mahony Griffin and Walter Burley Griffin

Australia's most populous urban areas are Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

The official term "city" is given to any Australian statistical division with a minimum of 10,000-25,000 people (varying by state); which is defined either as a contiguous urban area or a local government area (LGA).^[26]

For instance, within the wider urban area known as Perth, Australia's fourth most populous urban area, the City of Perth is a relatively small LGA geographically speaking, which also includes the Perth CBD. Informally, in Australian English the word city is used by Australians to describe the most prominent Central Activities District in their proximity. Some local areas containing such activities districts have ambiguous titles that actually use the word city either as or in their title, for instance for a long time the central locality of Brisbane and Canberra are officially simply "City".^[27] Due to Australia's high urbanisation, this often refers to the state's capital city. For example, residents of Mandurah saying "going to the city" is more likely to mean the Perth CBD but almost never in the context of the City of Perth. Conversely, residents of Townsville would likely be referring to the Townsville CBD than City of Townsville or Brisbane.

Local government in Australia can apply for City Status. Prior to the Federation of Australia, local councils from the Australian colonies applied directly to the Monarchy of the United Kingdom and were proclaimed a city, a title of some prestige, was assessed on factors such as area, population and rateable revenue. Since the turn of the century, local government acts in each state specify the criteria and thresholds and applications are made to the Governors of the Australian states. Population thresholds currently exist under Local government acts in most states including New South Wales (1919 - 25,000);^[28] South Australia (22,000);^[29] Western Australia (30,000)^[30] and Tasmania (10,000)^[31]. In Victoria under the Local Government Act 1989 where until recently city status was based on rateable revenue, there is no current minimum threshold, however applications must be assessed to be "predominantly urban in character" rather than on population. Today successful application may result in additional state or federal attention for additional funds for infrastructure. However for various reasons, some councils neither seek or receive city status: for instance, Shire of Melton – in Melbourne's west – with a population of over 80,000 (2012) decided after several years of community consultation to defer applying for city status until it reaches 150,000.^[32]

Some former satellite cities have merged into larger cities (for instance, Ipswich, Queensland and Dandenong, Victoria), informally they are sometimes still called cities, although according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics they are officially only part of a larger metropolitan area or conurbation and as such are sometimes called Activity Centres by planners.

Argentina[link]

This section requires expansion.

Buenos Aires, Argentina - the Avenida 9 de Julio is the largest boulevard in the world

Azerbaijan[link]

Azerbaijan recognizes 69 urban settlements as cities. The largest, with just over two million inhabitants, is the capital Baku. See: List of cities in Azerbaijan

Belarus[link]

Minsk, the most populous city in Belarus

In the Belarusian language two words mean "city" or "town" - "горад" (horad) and "места" (miesta), where "horad" translated as "fortifying miesta", or "stronghold". The term "miesta" translated as "town without fortifying"^[33] and meaning modern town. In the contemporary Belarusian language term "horad" is used more often, in spite of lexical inexactitude of this term. The smallest population of a city of Belaruse officially not named "horad" or "miesta" it is used a name "urban-type settlement" ("паселішча гарадскога тыпу", "paselyscha haradskoha typu") and also (informal or with historical sense) "мястэчка" ("miastechka").

Bangladesh[link]

This section requires expansion.

Belgium[link]

This section requires expansion.

Brazil[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Brasília the capital of Brazil was planned in the 1950s by the architect Oscar Niemeyer

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

Bulgaria[link]

Plovdiv, Bulgaria

In Bulgaria the word "град" (grad) means city or town, although the word "градче" (gradche) can be used for small cities or towns. The Council of Ministers has the right to give or withdraw the status of the territorial unit and the president sets the name. In 2005 it was introduced that in order for a village to become a city it has to have developed social and technical infrastructure and have a population of more than 3500 people (in the resort cities - more than 1000).

There are settlements with a city status for historical and cultural reasons (Melnik with a population of 358), or for political reasons (Pravets, Kableshkovo, etc.).

Canada[link]

In Canada, the granting of city status is handled by the individual provinces and territories. Therefore, city status definitions and criteria vary widely across the country. In British Columbia and Saskatchewan, towns can become cities after they reach a population of 5,000 people,^[34][35] but the threshold is 10,000 in Alberta,^[36] New Brunswick,^[37] and Ontario. In Manitoba, an urban municipality may not be named as a city unless its population meets or exceeds 7,500 people.^[38]

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

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

China (People's Republic of China)[link]

Beijing - the capital of china. the entrance to the Forbidden city from the largest square in the world

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

There is a formal definition of city in China provided by the Chinese government, commonly seen in maps and textbooks.^{[citation needed]} A minimum 100,000 non-agricultural population in an urbanized area, usually the administrative centre of a county(县, "xian"), is required to establish it in an administrative sense as a city(市, "shi"). By its non-agricultural population is a city classified: 100,000-200,000 a small city, 200,000-500,000 a medium city, 500,000-1,000,000 a large city and >1,000,000 an extra-large city(特大城市).^{[citation needed]} Also, there is an administrative definition based on the city boundary too and a city has its legal city limits.^{[citation needed]} In 1998, there were 668 cities in China. China has the largest urban population in the world although half of its population still lives in rural areas.^{[citation needed]}

Chile[link]

Santiago de Chile, the largest city in Chile

Chile's Department of National Statistics defines a city (ciudad in Spanish) as an urban entity with more than 5,000 inhabitants.^[39] A town (pueblo), is an urban entity with 2,001 to 5,000 persons, however, if the area has some economic activity, the designation may include populations as small as 1,001. The department also defines Major Cities as provincial or regional capitals with populations of 100,001 to 500,000; Great Urban Areas which comprise several entities without any appreciable limit between them and populations which total between 500,001 and 1,000,000. A Metropolis is the largest urban area in the country where there are more than one million inhabitants. The "urban entity" is defined as a concentration of habitations with more than 2,000 persons living in them, or more than 1,000 persons if more than half of those persons are in some way gainfully employed. Tourist and recreation areas with more than 250 living units may be considered as urban areas.^[39]

Denmark[link]

Denmark abolished the legal distinction between borough (købstad in Danish) and town (by) with the administrative reform in 1970. Before that time boroughs were chartered towns exempt from the county jurisdiction.

Egypt[link]

In Egypt the word "مدينة" (madina) means city or town and there is no distinction between the two.

Cairo, Capital of Egypt

France[link]

The French word for city is the same for that for a town, ville. In France, there is no distinction between a town and a city. There is only a difference between a city or town (ville), a village (village) which is smaller (around 50 to 2000 inhabitants), and a hamlet (hameau) which does not have more than around 50 inhabitants.^[40] French people usually make a difference between a city that has more than around 10000 inhabitants (city) and one that has less than around 10000 (town). The number of inhabitants that a city or a village is considered as having may vary among individuals. But petite ville (literally "small town", or town) usually refers to smaller villes and grande ville for the bigger ones.^{[citation needed]} The term métropole (metropolis) or grande ville (big town or city) can be used for the biggest cities.^{[citation needed]}

Germany[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Berlin, the largest city in Germany

The German word for both "town" and "city" is Stadt, while a city with more than 100,000 inhabitants is called a Großstadt (big city). On the other hand, most towns are communities belonging to a Landkreis (county or rural district), but there are some cities, usually with at least 50,000 inhabitants, that are counties by themselves (kreisfreie Städte). In 2006, there were 82 cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants in Germany. Germany's largest cities are Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and Frankfurt am Main while the largest urban area is in the Rhine-Ruhr region with over 12 million inhabitants. Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf, Berlin, Stuttgart and Cologne are characterized as world cities or global cities.

Greece[link]

This section requires expansion.

Acropolis of Athens. .

Iceland[link]

India[link]

This section requires expansion.

Rajarhat in Kolkata is a newly established township, consisting of gated high rise apartment complexes.

DLF IT Park, New Town (Kolkata).

Indonesia[link]

Jakarta, Indonesia

This section requires expansion.

Iraq[link]

This section requires expansion.

Ireland[link]

The primary subdivisions for local government in the Republic of Ireland are 29 counties and 5 cities, the latter being Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford. Although Kilkenny is administratively a borough, it is entitled to use the title city for ceremonial and tourist purposes, having been described as such in a royal charter in 1601.

Israel[link]

This section requires expansion.

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Jerusalem - the capital of Israel and the largest city in israel

Old Jaffa hill - near Tel Aviv, Israel. city of 4000 years

The term "city" is not a legal term. The Israeli Interior Minister has authority to classify the municipalities and local authorities for local councils. Usually communities larger than 20,000 residents are recognized as municipalities. Under special circumstances, the Minister of the Interior can declare a city municipality with only 5,000 city residents. The smallest municipality in Israel is Or Akiva with less than 15,000 inhabitants. In contrast, Ramat Hasharon remained a local council, though over 35,000 people lived there. The law specifies additional criteria: the level of urban development, stability of the coalition of the local Council, services available to residents, reasonable and proper financial management. The declaration of a settlement as a city is made by the interior minister after a special investigative committee has examined these criteria. Each municipality has a mayor and council, elected in local elections supervised by the Ministry of Interior. The number of council members is determined by the number of city residents: Up to 5,000 residents - 9 members. 5,000 to 25,000 residents - up to 15 members. 25,000 to 100,000 residents - up to 21 members. 100,000 residents and more - 21 to 31 members. Setting the city (as distinct from the legal term here means a geographical term) as presented in the Israeli pavilion in Venice Architecture Biennale in 2000: "A city is a hotbed of people that allows them to simultaneously maintain other relationships with a diverse level of intimacy while maintaining complete anonymity." ("Anonymous intimacy")

Italy[link]

This section requires expansion.

Rome, Italy

In Italy a city is called a città, a noun derived from the Latin civitas, but towns are also called città. The status of "city" is granted by the President of the Republic with Presidential Decree Law^{[citation needed]}. The largest and most important cities in the country, such as Rome, Milan, Naples and Turin, are called aree metropolitane (metropolitan areas) because they include several minor cities and towns in their areas. In the coat of arms, a golden crown tower stands for a city^{[citation needed]}.

Kazakhstan[link]

This section requires expansion.

Kazakhstan, Bayterek tower in Astana

Japan[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

This section requires expansion.

In Japan a city is called a shi (市) where as a town is called a machi or chō (町) and a village is called a mura or son (村). The term for town can be used like the English term when referring to the centre of a large city. The capital city, Tokyo, has a special designation and is also known as ku (区) which is similar to municipal arrondissement in France. The definitions of shi or a city are as follows:

• 1. Population is more than 50,000.
• 2. 60% or more of buildings are in the city centre.
• 3. 60% or more of the households work for non Primary sector of the economy.
• 4. Has a system to function as a city. The definition of town differs by each prefecture minimum requirement of 4,000 to 15,000.

Malaysia[link]

Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

In Malaysia, there are populated areas which are granted city status by law (bandar raya). However, there are also highly urbanised and populated areas which does not have city status, but are sometimes colloquially also referred to as cities. City status is granted to a place within a local government area. Other populated areas which does not have city status are legally categorised as a municipality or town.

Mexico[link]

Mexico City the largest metropolis in the Americas and one of the largest of the world.

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

In 2004, a joint effort between CONAPO (National Council of Population), INEGI and the Secretariat of Social Development (SEDESOL) agreed to define metropolitan areas as either:^[41]

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

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

Netherlands[link]

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

Nigeria[link]

This section requires expansion.

the city gate of Abuja the new capital

New Zealand[link]

Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand

In New Zealand, a local authority may be proclaimed a city only if it meets certain criteria. Specifically, "a city [...] must have a minimum population of 50,000, be predominantly urban in character, be a distinct entity and a major centre of activity within the region."^[42] Some early settlements, such as Nelson and Christchurch, were proclaimed cities by royal charter. Later, laws established criteria for a town to meet before it could officially be proclaimed a city, and these criteria have changed over time. As of 1 November 2010 (2010 -11-01)^[update], 13 of New Zealand's 67 territorial authorities will be officially styled cities.

In informal usage, a city is simply a large, important urban centre, regardless of the composition of its local government (which may be a combination of one or more cities or districts). For example, Gisborne, which purports to be the first city to see the sun, has a population of only 44,500 (2006), many of whom live outside the Gisborne urban area; it is, therefore, administered by a district council, not a city council. Some city councils, such as Christchurch and Dunedin, also administer large areas of rural hinterland; the communities in these areas, such as the towns of Akaroa and Middlemarch, are not often thought of as part of their cities, except for certain legal and administrative purposes. Meanwhile, the cities of Wellington and Auckland are generally regarded as single cities, despite Wellington's and, until recently, Auckland's being divided into several local government areas.

Statistics New Zealand has introduced the concept of main urban areas, which have a minimum population of 30,000. The 16 main urban areas identified in 2001 and 2006 correspond closely to the urban settlements traditionally regarded as cities.

Norway[link]

In Norway a city is called by and is derived from the Norse word býr meaning "a place with many buildings". Both cities and towns can be referred to as by; however, in recent years, storby (lit. large city) has been used for larger settlements. The status of "town" is granted by the local authorities if a request for city status has been made and the area has a population of at least 5000. An area with a population of at least 50,000 is counted as a "city". Since 1997, cities no longer have special administrative functions.^[43]

Oslo, the largest city in Norway

Pakistan[link]

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

Philippines[link]

Congress is the lone legislative entity that can incorporate cities. Provincial and municipal councils can pass resolutions indicating a desire to have a certain area (usually an already-existing municipality or a cluster of barangays) declared a city after the requirements for becoming a city are met. As per Republic Act No. 9009, these requirements include the following:^[44]

• locally generated income of at least PHP 100 million (based on constant prices in the year 2000) for the last two consecutive years, as certified by the Department of Finance, AND
• a population of 150,000 or more, as certified by the National Statistics Office (NSO); OR a contiguous territory of 100 square kilometers, as certified by the Land Management Bureau, with contiguity not being a requisite for areas that are on two or more islands.

Makati City, in Metro Manila, the financial capital of the Philippines

Poland[link]

Warsaw is the largest city in Poland

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

• a county (gmina or powiat) with a city charter;
• a city within a county, created by granting a city charter to a smaller town within a county.^[45]

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

Poland's largest cities are: Warsaw, Kraków, Łódź, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk, Szczecin, Bydgoszcz, Lublin and Katowice.

Portugal[link]

Lisbon, Portugal

As in Spanish, in Portuguese there is a traditional distinction between cities — cidades — and towns — vilas. The difference is defined by law,^[46] and a city must have:

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

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

The Portuguese urban settlements heraldry reflects the difference between cities, towns and villages,^[47] with the coat of arms of a city bearing a crown with 5 towers, the coat of arms of a town bearing a crown with 4 towers, while the coat of arms of a village bears a crown with 3 towers. This difference between cities, towns and villages is still in use in other Portuguese speaking countries, but not in Brazil.

There is also the notion of grande área metropolitana (great metropolitan area). There are two main metropolitan areas: Lisbon (the capital), in the centre of the country and Porto in the North. Lisbon Metropolitan Area has a population that exceeds 3 million. Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto has over 2 million inhabitants, although it is part of the Portuguese Northwestern Agglomeration that has, also, about 3 million inhabitants.

Romania[link]

Cities and towns in Romania can have the status either of municipiu or oraş. Smaller villages that do not apply to the city status are called comuna/comune (f., sing./pl.) and sat/sate (m., sing./pl.). By 2001 law,^[48] published on July 24, 2001 (M.O. number 408), there are 172 cities in Romania, and the minimum requirements for a settlement to be acknowledge as a iii-3rd rank city status are:^[49]

• Population: over 5,000 citizens
• Non-agricultural related activities: 75% people
• Network of drinking water coverage for homes: 70% of street covering
• Network of liquid waste recycle from homes: 55% of street covering
• Waste water recycling facility
• Water access-points for fire related incidents: 60% of the street covering
• Paved streets or more: 50%
• Hospital seats: 7 every 1000th citizen
• Medical health care: 1.8 doctors per 1000th citizen
• Hotel rooms: 50 seats
• Public and permanent waste disposal
• Primary school for children and a complementary school or at least one high school.
• Cultural facilities: One free-access library, one show room, one public gym
• One public garden : 10 sqm / citizen

In respect to the density of the cities, if it is more than 25 km to the next city, there are further benefits the mayor can access, fundings included.

A municipality is the next status after city-status by the same law, and Romania has 82 municipalities, plus the Municipality of Bucharest.

Russia[link]

This section requires expansion.

There are many large cities in Russia such as Moscow (the capital), Saint-Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Omsk and Grozny.

Error creating thumbnail: Invalid thumbnail parameters or image file with more than 12.5 million pixels

360° Panorama of the Red Square in Moscow

Moscow City skyline

Yekaterinburg skyline

South Africa[link]

This section requires expansion.

South Africa has three capitals.^{[citation needed]}

South Korea[link]

South Korea has a system of dividing into metropolitan cities, provinces, a special city (Seoul) and one specially self-governing province (Jeju-do). In South Korea, cities should have a population of more than 150,000, and if a city has more than 500,000, it would be divided into 2 districts and then sub-communities follow as a name of dong with similar system of normal cities. Additionally, if a city's population is over 1,000,000, then it would be promoted to metropolitan city.^[50]
Seoul is the world's second largest metropolitan area.^[51]

South Sudan[link]

This section requires expansion.

South Sudan plans to build a new capital that will be called Ramciel.

Sweden[link]

Malmö is the third largest city in Sweden and is connected to Denmark's capital city Copenhagen with the Oresund Fixed Link.

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

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

Taiwan (Republic of China)[link]

This section requires expansion.

Turkey[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Istanbul is the largest city of Turkey and connects Europe with Asia

There have been three separate definitions of a city in Turkey. The older definition, which defined a city as a settlement with more than 20,000 inhabitants is out of use and in the a city is now usually defined as the administrative center of a province (Turkish: il) There are 81 provincial centers in Turkey. Some of the district centers (Turkish: ilçe) are more populous and developed than the provincial centers.

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

Ukraine[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

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

United Kingdom[link]

London is the capital and largest city in the UK, as well as being a global hub of political and economic activity

In the United Kingdom, a city is a town which has been known as a city since time immemorial, or which has received city status by letters patent. In England and Wales, prior to 1907 the criterion was simply the establishment of an Anglican Cathedral. For example the small town of Ripon was granted city status in 1836 to coincide with the creation of the Diocese of Ripon, but also in recognition of its long-standing role as a supplier of spurs to royalty.

Newest cities created in the United Kingdom were in:

• 2012 (Diamond Jubilee): Chelmsford, Perth and St Asaph
• 2002 (Queen's Jubilee): Lisburn, Newport, Newry, Preston and Stirling.
• 2000 (Millennium): Brighton and Hove, Inverness and Wolverhampton.

In the United Kingdom, when people talk about cities, they generally include the suburbs in that. Some cathedral cities, such as St David's in Wales and Wells in England, are quite small, and are not routinely thought of as cities due to their small size. Other places such as Reading, Northampton, Luton, Bournemouth and Milton Keynes all harbour populations of over 200,000 inhabitants but are not cities.

Since local government reorganisation in 1974 the title of city has been awarded to a number of local government districts which are not themselves towns. Each of these cities includes a number of towns, villages or rural areas including the urban area from which the city takes its name. Examples include the cities of Bradford, Leeds, Newport, Preston, Wakefield and Winchester.

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

A Review of Scotland's Cities led to the Fair City of Perth, Scotland, initially losing city status, until it won the right to be called a City again in the 2012 Diamond Jubilee competition. By both legal and traditional definition, a town may be of any size, but must contain a market place. A village must contain a church, otherwise it is called a hamlet.^[52]

The UK's five largest cities are generally considered to be London, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow, but this is based on the population of the conurbation as a whole.^[53][54] In terms of formal city boundaries, the largest include Bristol, Leicester, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Sheffield.

United States[link]

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

Philadelphia is the fifth most populous city in the United States

Washington, D.C., the National Mall

New York City is the most populous city in the United States and an influential global city

Los Angeles is the second most populous city in the United States

Chicago is the third most populous city in the United States

In the United States of America, the classification of population centers is a matter of state law; consequently, the definition of a city varies widely from state to state. In some states, a city may be run by an elected mayor and city council, while a town is governed by the people, a select board (or board of trustees), or open town meeting. There are some very large municipalities which label themselves as towns (such as Hempstead, New York, with a population of 755,785 in 2004 or Cary, North Carolina with a population of 112,414 in 2006 ) and some very small cities (such as Woodland Mills, Tennessee, with a population of 296 in 2000), and the line between town and city, if it exists at all, varies from state to state. The lack of a clear-cut definition of a city in the United States can lead to some counter-intuitive labeling; for example, before it was dissolved in 2002^[55] Maza, North Dakota, with only 5 inhabitants, was a city as by North Dakota law any incorporated location is deemed a city regardless of size. California has both towns and cities but the terms "town" and "city" are considered synonymous. The nation's top five largest cities are New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.^[56]

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

Some states make a distinction between villages and other forms of municipalities. In some cases, villages combine with larger other communities to form larger towns; a well-known example of an urban village is New York City's famed Greenwich Village, which started as a quiet country settlement but was absorbed by the growing city.

In Illinois, cities must have a minimum population of 2,500 but in Nebraska, cities must have a minimum of only 800 residents. In Oregon, Kansas, Kentucky, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa, all incorporated municipalities are cities. In Ohio, a municipality automatically becomes a city if it has 5,000 residents counted in a federal census but it reverts to a village if its population drops below 5,000.^[57] In Nebraska, 5,000 residents is the minimum for a city of the first class while 800 is the minimum for a city of the second class. The Constitution of Idaho makes no distinction between incorporated towns or cities.^[58]

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

In Virginia, all incorporated municipalities designated as cities are independent of the adjacent or surrounding county while a town is an incorporated municipality which remains a part of an adjacent or surrounding county. The largest incorporated municipalities by population are all cities, although some smaller cities have a smaller population than some towns. For example, the smallest city of Norton has a population of 3,904 and the largest town of Blacksburg has a population of 39,573. The other U.S. independent cities are Baltimore, Maryland; St. Louis, Missouri; and Carson City, Nevada.^[59]

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

Venezuela[link]

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

Global cities[link]

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

The notion of global cities is rooted in the concentration of power and capabilities within all cities. The city is seen as a container where skills and resources are concentrated: the better able a city is to concentrate its skills and resources, the more successful and powerful the city. This makes the city itself more powerful in the sense that it can influence what is happening around the world. Following this view of cities, it is possible to rank the world's cities hierarchically.^[60]

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

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

Error creating thumbnail: Invalid thumbnail parameters or image file with more than 12.5 million pixels

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

Inner city[link]

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

The United States, in particular, has a culture of anti-urbanism that dates back to colonial times. The American City Beautiful architecture movement of the late 19th century was a reaction to perceived urban decay and sought to provide stately civic buildings and boulevards to inspire civic pride in the motley residents of the urban core. Modern anti-urban attitudes are to be found in the United States in the form of a planning profession that continues to develop land on a low-density suburban basis, where access to amenities, work and shopping is provided almost exclusively by car rather than by foot or transit.

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

21st century[link]

Panoramic view of Tirana, Albania from Mount Dajt in 2004.

There is a debate about whether technology and instantaneous communications are making cities obsolete, or reinforcing the importance of big cities as centres of the knowledge economy.^[61][62][63] Knowledge-based development of cities, globalization of innovation networks, and broadband services are driving forces of a new city planning paradigm towards intelligent cities. Intelligent / smart cities use technology and communication to create more efficient agglomerations in terms of competitiveness, innovation, environment, energy, utilities, governance, and delivery of services to the citizen. Some companies are building brand new masterplanned cities from scratch on greenfield sites.

• Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, India
• Nano City, India
• Putrajaya, Malaysia
• King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia
• Sejong City, South Korea
• Songdo International Business District, South Korea
• Dubai Waterfront, United Arab Emirates
• Dubai World Central, United Arab Emirates
• Masdar City, United Arab Emirates

See also[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Bairoch, Paul (1988). Cities and Economic Development: From the Dawn of History to the Present. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-03465-8 
• Chandler, T. Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1987.
• Geddes, Patrick, City Development (1904)
• Jacobs, Jane (1969). The Economy of Cities. New York: Random House Inc 
• Kemp, Roger L. Managing America's Cities: A Handbook for Local Government Productivity, McFarland and Company, Inc., Publisher, Jefferson, North Carolina, USA, 2007. (ISBN 978-0-7864-3151-9).
• Kemp, Roger L. How American Governments Work: A Handbook of City, County, Regional, State, and Federal Operations, McFarland and Company, Inc., Publisher, Jefferson, North Carolina, USA. (ISBN 978-0-7864-3152-6).
• Monti, Daniel J., Jr., The American City: A Social and Cultural History. Oxford, England and Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers, 1999. 391 pp. ISBN 978-1-55786-918-0.
• Mumford, Lewis, The City in History (1961)
• O'Flaherty, Brendan (2005). City Economics. Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01918-0 
• Pacione, Michael (2001). The City: Critical Concepts in The Social Sciences. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-25270-9 
• Reader, John (2005) Cities. Vintage, New York.
• Robson, W.A., and Regan, D.E., ed., Great Cities of the World, (3d ed., 2 vol., 1972)
• Rybczynski, W., City Life: Urban Expectations in a New World, (1995)
• Smith, Michael E. (2002) The Earliest Cities. In Urban Life: Readings in Urban Anthropology, edited by George Gmelch and Walter Zenner, pp. 3–19. 4th ed. Waveland Press, Prospect Heights, IL.
• Thernstrom, S., and Sennett, R., ed., Nineteenth-Century Cities (1969)
• Toynbee, Arnold J. (ed), Cities of Destiny, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967. Pan historical/geographical essays, many images. Starts with "Athens", ends with "The Coming World City-Ecumenopolis".
• Weber, Max, The City, 1921. (tr. 1958)

Further reading[link]

• Berger, Alan S., The City: Urban Communities and Their Problems, Dubuque, Iowa : William C. Brown, 1978.
• Glaeser, Edward, Triumph of the City, Penguin, 2011

• Metropolis
• Megacities
• Global cities

External links[link]

Find more about City on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Definitions and translations from Wiktionary
	Images and media from Commons
	Learning resources from Wikiversity
	News stories from Wikinews
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Textbooks from Wikibooks

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