City

:For alternate meanings see city (disambiguation)

Introduction

A city usually consists of residential, industrial and business areas together with administrative functions which may relate to a wider geographical area. A large share of a city's area is generally taken up by houses, roads, and streets. Lakes and rivers may be the only undeveloped areas within the city.

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"The city is a human habitat that allows people to form relations with others at various levels of intimacy while remaining entirely anonymous." (This definition was the subject of an exhibition at the Israeli pavilion at the 2000 Venice Biennale of architecture)

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The difference between towns and cities is differently understood in different parts of the English speaking world. There is no one standard international 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. Although city can refer to an agglomeration including suburban and satellite areas, the term is not appropriate for 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.

Related Topics:
English speaking world - Agglomeration - Suburb - Conurbation - Metropolitan area

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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 royal charter — which is normally granted on the basis of size, importance or royal connection (traditional pointers have been whether the town has a cathedral or a university). Some cathedral cities, for example St. David's in Wales, are quite small, and may not be known as cities in common parlance. (See the list of cities in the United Kingdom.) A similar system existed in the medieval Low Countries where a landlord would grant settlements certain privileges (city rights) that settlements without city rights didn't have. This include the privilege to put up city walls, hold markets or set up a judicial court.

Related Topics:
United Kingdom - Time immemorial - Royal charter - Cathedral - University - St. David's - Wales - List of cities in the United Kingdom - Low Countries - Certain privileges - City rights - Court

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In Australia and New Zealand, city is used to refer both to units of local government, and as a synonym for urban area. For instance the City of South Perth is part of the urban area known as Perth, commonly described as a city. On the other hand, Gisborne in New Zealand is known as the first city to see the sun, despite being administered by a district council, not a city council.

Related Topics:
Australia - New Zealand - Perth - Gisborne

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An interesting phenomenon in American English is the generalisation of the term city to all settlements. Britons may be bemused by forms with fields headed, not Town and Postal code, but City and ZIP, even though the person needing to fill it in could be living in a city, a town without city status, or even a village or hamlet.

Related Topics:
American English - Settlement - Postal code

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In turn, many Americans often talk of "City Halls" when referring to town halls in quite small European towns and villages.

Related Topics:
Town hall - Europe

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A possible reason for this phenomenon is that, when America was colonised, settlers enthusiastically gave the name "city" to their new settlements, predicting (rightly or wrongly) they would become great cities. For example, Salt Lake City was a village of 148 people who immediately laid out street plans and founded Great Salt Lake City (originally named for the nearby Great Salt Lake). A century and a half later, it actually is city-sized.

Related Topics:
Salt Lake City - Great Salt Lake

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Strangely, even though Americans are well aware that "village" means something smaller than a town, the word has often been co-opted by enterprising developers to make their projects sound welcoming and friendly. The result are so-called villages with 20 and 30-story high-rises, like Westwood Village in Los Angeles.

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