City

For other uses, seeCity (disambiguation).

From top, left to right:Westminster PalaceinLondon;Shibuya CrossinginTokyo;paintingofBoulevard MontmartreinParisbyCamille Pissarro;theRocinhafavelainRio de Janeiro;6th AvenueinManhattan;spice market inOld Delhi;Hong Kong;and theSão Paulo Metro

Acityis ahuman settlementof a notable size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agreed definition of the lower boundary for their size.In a narrower sense, a city can be defined as a permanent anddenselypopulated place with administratively defined boundaries whose members work primarily on non-agricultural tasks.Cities generally have extensive systems forhousing,transportation,sanitation,utilities,land use,production of goods,andcommunication.Their density facilitates interaction between people,government organizations,andbusinesses,sometimes benefiting different parties in the process, such as improving the efficiency of goods and service distribution.

Historically, city dwellers have been a small proportion of humanity overall, but following two centuries of unprecedented and rapidurbanization,more than half of theworld populationnow lives in cities, which has had profound consequences forglobal sustainability.Present-day cities usually form the core of largermetropolitan areasandurban areas—creating numerouscommuterstraveling towardcity centresfor employment, entertainment, and education. However, in a world of intensifyingglobalization,all cities are to varying degrees also connected globally beyond these regions. This increased influence means that cities also have significant influences onglobal issues,such assustainable development,climate change,andglobal health.Because of these major influences on global issues, the international community has prioritized investment insustainable citiesthroughSustainable Development Goal 11.Due to the efficiency of transportation and the smallerland consumption,densecities hold the potential to have a smallerecological footprintper inhabitant than more sparsely populated areas.Therefore,compact citiesare often referred to as a crucial element in fighting climate change.However, this concentration can also have some significant negative consequences, such as formingurban heat islands,concentratingpollution,and stressing water supplies and other resources.

Meaning

Palitanarepresents the city's symbolic role of devotion to theJain temples.

A city can be distinguished from other human settlements by its relatively great size, but also by its functions and itsspecial symbolic status,which may be conferred by a central authority. The term can also refer either to the physical streets and buildings of the city or to the collection of people who dwell there and can be used in a general sense to meanurbanrather thanrural territory.

Nationalcensusesuse a variety of definitions – invoking factors such aspopulation,population density,number ofdwellings,economic function, andinfrastructure– to classify populations as urban. Typical working definitions for small-city populations start at around 100,000 people.Common population definitions for an urban area (city or town) range between 1,500 and 50,000 people, with mostU.S.states using a minimum between 1,500 and 5,000 inhabitants.Some jurisdictions set no such minima.In theUnited Kingdom,city status is awarded by the Crownand then remains permanent. (Historically, the qualifying factor was the presence of acathedral,resulting in some very small cities such asWells,with a population of 12,000 as of 2018,andSt Davids,with a population of 1,841 as of 2011.) According to the "functional definition", a city is not distinguished by size alone, but also by the role it plays within a larger political context. Cities serve as administrative, commercial, religious, and cultural hubs for their larger surrounding areas.

The presence of a literate elite is often associated with cities because of the cultural diversities present in a city.A typical city has professionaladministrators,regulations, and some form oftaxation(food and other necessities or means to trade for them) to support thegovernment workers.(This arrangement contrasts with the more typicallyhorizontalrelationships in atribeorvillageaccomplishing common goals through informal agreements between neighbors, or theleadershipof a chief.) The governments may be based on heredity, religion, military power, work systems such as canal-building, food distribution, land-ownership, agriculture, commerce, manufacturing, finance, or a combination of these. Societies that live in cities are often calledcivilizations.

Thedegree of urbanizationis a modern metric to help define what comprises a city: "a population of at least 50,000 inhabitants in contiguous dense grid cells (>1,500 inhabitants per square kilometer)".This metric was "devised over years by theEuropean Commission,OECD,World Bankand others, and endorsed in March [2021] by theUnited Nations... largely for the purpose of international statistical comparison ".

Etymology

The wordcityand the relatedcivilizationcome from theLatinrootcivitas,originally meaning 'citizenship' or 'community member' and eventually coming to correspond withurbs,meaning 'city' in a more physical sense.The Romancivitaswas closely linked with the Greekpolis—another common root appearing in English words such asmetropolis.

Intoponymicterminology, names of individual cities and towns are calledastionyms(fromAncient Greekἄστυ'city or town' andὄνομα'name').

Geography

Urban geographydeals both with cities in their larger context and with their internal structure.Cities are estimated to cover about 3% of the land surface of the Earth.

Site

Downtown Pittsburghat theconfluenceof theMonongahelaandAlleghenyrivers, which flow into theOhio River

Town siting has varied through history according to natural, technological, economic, and military contexts. Access to water has long been a major factor in city placement and growth, and despite exceptions enabled by the advent ofrail transportin the nineteenth century, through the present most of the world's urban population lives near the coast or on a river.

Urban areas as a rule cannotproduce their own foodand therefore must develop somerelationshipwith ahinterlandthat sustains them.Only in special cases such asmining townswhich play a vital role in long-distance trade, are cities disconnected from the countryside which feeds them.Thus, centrality within a productive region influences siting, as economic forces would, in theory, favor the creation of marketplaces in optimal mutually reachable locations.

Center

Main article:City centre

Kluuvi,a city centre inHelsinki,Finland

The vast majority of cities have a central area containing buildings with special economic, political, and religious significance. Archaeologists refer to this area by the Greek termtemenosor if fortified as acitadel.These spaces historically reflect and amplify the city's centrality and importance to its widersphere of influence.Today cities have acity centerordowntown,sometimes coincident with acentral business district.

Public space

Trafalgar Square,a public meeting place in centralLondon

Cities typically havepublic spaceswhere anyone can go. These includeprivately owned spaces open to the publicas well as forms of public land such aspublic domainand thecommons.Western philosophysince the time of the Greekagorahas considered physical public space as the substrate of the symbolicpublic sphere.Public artadorns (or disfigures) public spaces.Parksand othernatural sites within citiesprovide residents with relief from the hardness and regularity of typicalbuilt environments.Urban green spacesare another component of public space that provides the benefit of mitigating the urban heat island effect, especially in cities that are in warmer climates. These spaces prevent carbon imbalances, extreme habitat losses, electricity and water consumption, and human health risks.

Internal structure

TheL'Enfant PlanforWashington, D.C.combines a utilitarian grid pattern with diagonal avenues and a symbolic focus on monumental architecture.

The urban structuregenerally follows one or more basic patterns: geomorphic, radial, concentric, rectilinear, and curvilinear. The physical environment generally constrains the form in which a city is built. If located on a mountainside, urban structures may rely on terraces and winding roads. It may be adapted to its means of subsistence (e.g. agriculture or fishing). And it may be set up for optimal defense given the surrounding landscape.Beyond these "geomorphic" features, cities can develop internal patterns, due to natural growth or tocity planning.

In a radial structure, main roads converge on a central point. This form could evolve from successive growth over a long time, with concentric traces oftown wallsandcitadelsmarking older city boundaries. In more recent history, such forms were supplemented byring roadsmoving traffic around the outskirts of a town. Dutch cities such asAmsterdamandHaarlemare structured as a central square surrounded by concentric canals marking every expansion. In cities such asMoscow,this pattern is still clearly visible.

A system of rectilinear city streets and land plots, known as thegrid plan,has been used for millennia in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. TheIndus Valley CivilizationbuiltMohenjo-Daro,Harappa,and other cities on a grid pattern, using ancient principles described byKautilya,and aligned with thecompass points.The ancient Greek city ofPrieneexemplifies a grid plan with specialized districts used across theHellenistic Mediterranean.

Urban areas

Aerial view of theGush Danmetropolitan area inIsrael,showing the geometrically plannedcity ofTel Aviv(upper left),Givatayimto the east, and some ofBat Yamto the south

The urban-type settlement extends far beyond the traditional boundaries of thecity properin a form of development sometimes described critically asurban sprawl.Decentralization and dispersal of city functions (commercial, industrial, residential, cultural, political) has transformed the very meaning of the term and has challenged geographers seeking to classify territories according to an urban-rural binary.

Metropolitan areasincludesuburbsandexurbsorganized around the needs ofcommuters,and sometimesedge citiescharacterized by a degree of economic and political independence. (In the US these are grouped intometropolitan statistical areasfor purposes ofdemographyandmarketing.) Some cities are now part of a continuous urban landscape calledurban agglomeration,conurbation,ormegalopolis(exemplified by theBosWashcorridor of theNortheastern United States.)

History

Main article:History of the city

Further information:Urban history,Historical urban community sizes,andList of largest cities throughout history

Anarchfrom the ancientSumeriancityUr,which flourished in thethird millennium BC,can be seen at present-day Tell el-Mukayyar inIraq.

Mohenjo-daro,a city of theIndus Valley civilizationinPakistan,which was rebuilt six or more times, using bricks of standard size, and adhering to the same grid layout—also in the third millennium BC

Aerial view of what was once downtownTeotihuacanshowing thePyramid of the Sun,Pyramid of the Moon,and the processional avenue serving as the spine of the city's street system

The emergence of cities fromproto-urban settlements,such asÇatalhöyük,is a non-linear development that demonstrates the varied experiences of earlyurbanization.

The cities ofJericho,Aleppo,Faiyum,Yerevan,Athens,Matera,Damascus,andArgosare among those laying claim tothe longest continual inhabitation.

Cities, characterized bypopulation density,symbolicfunction, andurban planning,have existed for thousands of years.In the conventional view, civilization and the city were both followed by thedevelopment of agriculture,which enabled the production of surplus food and thus a socialdivision of labor(with concomitantsocial stratification) andtrade.Early cities often featuredgranaries,sometimes within a temple.A minority viewpoint considers that cities may have arisen without agriculture, due to alternative means of subsistence (fishing),to use as communal seasonal shelters,to their value as bases for defensive and offensive military organization,or to their inherent economic function.Cities played a crucial role in the establishment of political power over an area, and ancient leaders such asAlexander the Greatfounded and created them with zeal.

Ancient times

Further information:Cities of the Ancient Near East,Polis,City-state,andLate Antiquity § Cities

A modern depiction ofAncient Rome,the first city in the world to reach one million inhabitants

JerichoandÇatalhöyük,dated to theeighth millennium BC,are among the earliestproto-citiesknown to archaeologists.However, theMesopotamiancity ofUrukfrom the mid-fourth millennium BC (ancient Iraq) is considered by most archaeologists to be the first true city, innovating many characteristics for cities to follow, with its name attributed to theUruk period.

In thefourthandthird millennium BC,complex civilizations flourished in the river valleys ofMesopotamia,India,China,andEgypt.Excavations in these areas have found theruinsof cities geared variously towards trade, politics, or religion. Some had large,dense populations,but others carried out urban activities in the realms of politics or religion without having large associated populations.

Among the early Old World cities,Mohenjo-daroof the Indus Valley civilization in present-dayPakistan,existing from about 2600 BC, was one of the largest, with a population of 50,000 or more and asophisticated sanitation system.China's planned citieswere constructed according to sacred principles to act as celestialmicrocosms.

TheAncient Egyptian citiesknown physically by archaeologists are not extensive.They include (known by their Arab names)El Lahun,a workers' town associated with the pyramid ofSenusret II,and the religious cityAmarnabuilt byAkhenatenand abandoned. These sites appear planned in a highly regimented andstratifiedfashion, with a minimalistic grid of rooms for the workers and increasingly more elaborate housing available for higher classes.

In Mesopotamia, the civilization ofSumer,followed byAssyriaandBabylon,gave rise to numerous cities, governed by kings and fostered multiple languages written incuneiform.ThePhoeniciantrading empire, flourishing around the turn of thefirst millennium BC,encompassednumerous citiesextending fromTyre,Cydon,andByblostoCarthageandCádiz.

In the following centuries, independentcity-statesofGreece,especiallyAthens,developed thepolis,an association of male landowningcitizenswho collectively constituted the city.Theagora,meaning "gathering place" or "assembly", was the center of the athletic, artistic, spiritual, and political life of the polis.Romewas the first city that surpassed one million inhabitants. Under the authority ofits empire,Rome transformed andfoundedmany cities (Colonia), and with them brought its principles of urban architecture, design, and society.

In the ancientAmericas,early urban traditions developed in theAndesandMesoamerica.In the Andes, the first urban centers developed in theNorte Chico civilization,ChavinandMochecultures, followed by major cities in theHuari,Chimu,andIncacultures. The Norte Chico civilization included as many as 30 major population centers in what is now theNorte Chico regionof north-central coastalPeru.It is the oldest known civilization in the Americas, flourishing between the 30th and 18th centuries BC.Mesoamerica saw the rise of early urbanism in several cultural regions, beginning with theOlmecand spreading to thePreclassic Maya,theZapotecof Oaxaca, andTeotihuacanin central Mexico. Later cultures such as theAztec,Andean civilizations,Mayan,Mississippians,andPueblopeoples drew on these earlier urban traditions. Many of their ancient cities continue to be inhabited, including major metropolitan cities such asMexico City,in the same location asTenochtitlan;while ancient continuously inhabited Pueblos are near modern urban areas inNew Mexico,such asAcoma Pueblonear theAlbuquerque metropolitan areaandTaos PueblonearTaos;while others likeLimaare located nearby ancientPeruviansites such asPachacamac.

From 1600 BC,Dhar Tichitt,in the south of present-dayMauritania,presented characteristics suggestive of an incipient form of urbanism.The second place to show urban characteristics inWest AfricawasDia,in present-dayMali,from 800 BC.Both Dhar Tichitt and Dia were founded by the same people: theSoninke,who would later also found theGhana Empire.

Another ancient site,Jenné-Jeno,in what is todayMali,has been dated to the third century BCE. According to Roderick and Susan McIntosh, Jenné-Jeno did not fit into traditional Western conceptions of urbanity as it lacked monumental architecture and a distinctive elite social class, but it should indeed be considered a city based on a functional redefinition of urban development. In particular, Jenné-Jeno featured settlement mounds arranged according to a horizontal, rather than vertical, power hierarchy, and served as a center of specialized production and exhibited functional interdependence with the surrounding hinterland.

More recently, scholars have concluded that thecivilizationof Djenne-Djenno was likely established by theMandeprogenitors of theBozo people.Their habitation of the site spanned the period from 3rd century BCE to 13th century CE.Archaeological evidence from Jenné-Jeno, specifically the presence of non-West African glass beads dated from the third century BCE to the fourth century CE, indicates that pre-Arabic trade contacts probably existed between Jenné-Jeno and North Africa.

Additionally, other early urban centers in West Africa, dated to around 500 CE, includeAwdaghust,Kumbi Saleh,the ancient capital of Ghana, andMaranda,a center located on a trade route between Egypt and Gao.

Middle Ages

VyborginLeningrad Oblasthas existed since the 13th century.

Old city ofUtrecht,Netherlands

TheFree imperial citiesof theHoly Roman Empirein 1648

A map ofHaarlemin the Netherlands, created around 1550, shows the city completely surrounded by acity wallanddefensive canal,with its square shape inspired by the shape ofJerusalem.

In theremnants of the Roman Empire,cities of late antiquitygained independence but soon lost population and importance. The locus of power in the West shifted toConstantinopleand to theascendant Islamic civilizationwith its major citiesBaghdad,Cairo,andCórdoba.From the 9th through the end of the 12th century,Constantinople,the capital of theEastern Roman Empire,was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe, with a population approaching 1 million.TheOttoman Empiregradually gainedcontrol over many citiesin the Mediterranean area, includingConstantinople in 1453.

In theHoly Roman Empire,beginning in the 12th century,free imperial citiessuch asNuremberg,Strasbourg,Frankfurt,Basel,Zürich,andNijmegenbecame a privileged elite among towns having won self-governance from their local lord or having been granted self-governance by the emperor and being placed under his immediate protection. By 1480, these cities, as far as still part of the empire, became part of theImperial Estatesgoverning the empire with the emperor through theImperial Diet.

By the 13th and 14th centuries, some cities become powerful states, taking surrounding areas under their control or establishing extensive maritime empires. In Italy,medieval communesdeveloped intocity-statesincluding theRepublic of Veniceand theRepublic of Genoa.In Northern Europe, cities includingLübeckandBrugesformed theHanseatic Leaguefor collective defense and commerce. Their power was laterchallengedand eclipsed by theDutchcommercialcitiesofGhent,Ypres,andAmsterdam.Similar phenomena existed elsewhere, as in the case ofSakai,which enjoyed considerable autonomy in late medieval Japan.

In the first millennium AD, theKhmercapital ofAngkorinCambodiagrew into the most extensivepreindustrial settlementin the world by area,covering over 1,000 km²and possibly supporting up to one million people.

West Africaalready had cities before theCommon Era,but the consolidation ofTrans-Saharan tradein the Middle Ages multiplied the number of cities in the region, as well as making some of them very populous, notablyGao(72,000 inhabitants in 800 AD),Oyo-Ile(50,000 inhabitants in 1400 AD, and may have reached up to 140,000 inhabitants in the 18th century),Ile-Ifẹ̀(70,000 to 105,000 inhabitants in the 14th and 15th centuries),Niani(50,000 inhabitants in 1400 AD) andTimbuktu(100,000 inhabitants in 1450 AD).

Early modern

In the West, nation-states became the dominant unit of political organization following thePeace of Westphaliain the seventeenth century.Western Europe's larger capitals (London and Paris) benefited from the growth of commerce following the emergence of anAtlantictrade. However, most towns remained small.

During the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the old Roman city concept was extensively used. Cities were founded in the middle of the newly conquered territories and were bound to several laws regarding administration, finances, and urbanism.

Industrial age

Thegrowth of the modern industryfrom the late 18th century onward led to massiveurbanizationand 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. England led the way asLondonbecame the capital of aworld empireand cities across the country grew in locations strategic formanufacturing.In the United States from 1860 to 1910, theintroduction of railroadsreduced transportation costs, and large manufacturing centers began to emerge, fueling migration from rural to city areas.

Some industrialized cities were confronted with health challenges associated withovercrowding,occupational hazardsof industry, contaminated water and air,poor sanitation,and communicable diseases such astyphoidandcholera.Factoriesandslumsemerged as regular features of the urban landscape.

Post-industrial age

In the second half of the 20th century,deindustrialization(or "economic restructuring") in the West led topoverty,homelessness,andurban decayin formerly prosperous cities. America's "Steel Belt" became a "Rust Belt"and cities such asDetroit,Michigan, andGary, Indianabegan toshrink,contrary to the global trend of massive urban expansion.Such cities have shifted with varying success into theservice economyandpublic-private partnerships,with concomitantgentrification,unevenrevitalization efforts,and selective cultural development.Under theGreat Leap Forwardand subsequentfive-year planscontinuing today,Chinahas undergone concomitanturbanizationandindustrializationand become the world's leadingmanufacturer.

Amidst these economic changes,high technologyand instantaneoustelecommunicationenable select cities to become centers of theknowledge economy.A newsmart cityparadigm, supported by institutions such as theRAND CorporationandIBM,is bringing computerizedsurveillance,data analysis, andgovernanceto bear on cities and city dwellers.Some companies are building brand-newmaster-plannedcities from scratch ongreenfieldsites.

Urbanization

Main article:Urbanization

Graph showing urbanization from 1950 projected to 2050

Map showing urban areas with at least one million inhabitants in 2006

Urbanizationis the process of migration from rural to urban areas, driven by various political, economic, and cultural factors. Until the 18th century, an equilibrium existed between the rural agricultural population and towns featuringmarketsand small-scale manufacturing.With theagriculturalandindustrialrevolutions urban population began its unprecedented growth, both through migration anddemographic expansion.InEngland,the proportion of the population living in cities jumped from 17% in 1801 to 72% in 1891.In 1900, 15% of the world's population lived in cities.The cultural appeal of cities also plays a role in attracting residents.

Urbanization rapidly spread across Europe and the Americas and since the 1950s has taken hold in Asia and Africa as well. The Population Division of theUnited Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairsreported in 2014 that for the first time, more than half of the world population lives in cities.

Latin Americais the most urban continent, with four-fifths of its population living in cities, including one-fifth of the population said to live inshantytowns(favelas,poblaciones callampas,etc.).Batam,Indonesia,Mogadishu,Somalia,Xiamen,China,andNiamey,Niger,are considered among the world's fastest-growing cities, with annual growth rates of 5–8%.In general, themore developed countriesof the "Global North"remain more urbanized than theless developed countriesof the "Global South"—but the difference continues to shrink because urbanization is happening faster in the latter group. Asia is home to by far the greatest absolute number of city-dwellers: over two billion and counting.The UN predicts an additional 2.5 billion city dwellers (and 300 million fewer country dwellers) worldwide by 2050, with 90% of urban population expansion occurring in Asia and Africa.

Megacities,cities with populations in the multi-millions, have proliferated into the dozens, arising especially in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.Economic globalization fuels the growth of these cities, as new torrents of foreigncapitalarrange for rapid industrialization, as well as therelocation of major businessesfrom Europe and North America, attractingimmigrantsfrom near and far.A deep gulf divides the rich and poor in these cities, which usually contain a super-wealthy elite living ingated communitiesand large masses of people living in substandard housing with inadequate infrastructure and otherwise poor conditions.

Cities around the world have expanded physically as they grow in population, with increases in their surface extent, with the creation of high-rise buildings for residential and commercial use, and with development underground.

Urbanization can create rapid demand forwater resources management,as formerly good sources of freshwater become overused and polluted, and the volume ofsewagebegins to exceed manageable levels.

Government

Further information:Local government

The city council ofTehranmeets in September 2015

The local governmentof cities takes different forms including prominently themunicipality(especiallyin England,in the United States,India,and otherBritish colonies;legally, themunicipal corporation;municipioinSpainandPortugal,and, along withmunicipalidad,in most former parts of theSpanishandPortugueseempires) and thecommune(in FranceandChile;orcomunein Italy).

The chief official of the city has the title ofmayor.Whatever their true degree of political authority, the mayor typically acts as thefigureheador personification of their city.

Legal conflicts and issues arise more frequently in cities than elsewhere due to the bare fact of their greater density.Modern city governments thoroughlyregulateeveryday lifein many dimensions, includingpublicand personalhealth,transport,burial,resourceuse andextraction,recreation,and the nature and use ofbuildings.Technologies, techniques, and laws governing these areas—developed in cities—have become ubiquitous in many areas. Municipal officials may be appointed from a higher level of government or elected locally.

Municipal services

TheDublin Fire BrigadeinDublin,Ireland, extinguishing a severe fire at a hardware store in 1970

Cities typically providemunicipal servicessuch aseducation,throughschool systems;policing,through police departments; andfirefighting,throughfire departments;as well as the city's basic infrastructure. These are provided more or less routinely, in a more or less equal fashion.Responsibility for administration usually falls on the city government, but some services may be operated by a higher level of government,while others may be privately run.Armies may assume responsibility for policing cities in states of domestic turmoil such as America'sKing assassination riotsof 1968.

Finance

The traditional basis for municipal finance is localproperty taxlevied onreal estatewithin the city. Local government can also collect revenue for services, or by leasing land that it owns.However, financing municipal services, as well asurban renewaland other development projects, is a perennial problem, which cities address through appeals to higher governments, arrangements with the private sector, and techniques such asprivatization(selling services into theprivate sector),corporatization(formation of quasi-private municipally-owned corporations), andfinancialization(packaging city assets into tradeable financial public contracts and other related rights). This situation has become acute in deindustrialized cities and in cases where businesses and wealthier citizens have moved outside ofcity limitsand therefore beyond the reach of taxation.Cities in search ofready cashincreasingly resort to themunicipal bond,essentially a loan withinterestand arepayment date.City governments have also begun to usetax increment financing,in which a development project is financed by loans based on future tax revenues which it is expected to yield.Under these circumstances, creditors and consequently city governments place a high importance on citycredit ratings.

Governance

TheRipon Building,the headquarters ofGreater Chennai CorporationinChennai,is one of the oldest city governing corporations inAsia.

Governanceincludes government but refers to a wider domain ofsocial controlfunctions implemented by many actors includingnon-governmental organizations.The impact of globalization and the role ofmultinational corporationsin local governments worldwide, has led to a shift in perspective on urban governance, away from the "urban regime theory" in which a coalition of local interests functionally govern, toward a theory of outside economic control, widely associated in academics with the philosophy ofneoliberalism.In the neoliberal model of governance, public utilities areprivatized,the industry isderegulated,andcorporationsgain the status of governing actors—as indicated by the power they wield inpublic-private partnershipsand overbusiness improvement districts,and in the expectation of self-regulation throughcorporate social responsibility.The biggestinvestorsandreal estate developersact as the city'sde factourban planners.

The related concept ofgood governanceplaces more emphasis on the state, with the purpose of assessing urban governments for their suitability fordevelopment assistance.The concepts of governance and good governance are especially invoked in emergent megacities, where international organizations consider existing governments inadequate for their large populations.

Urban planning

Main articles:Urban planningandUrban design

La Platain Argentina is based on a perfect square with 5196-meter sides, and was designed in the 1880s as the new capital ofBuenos Aires Province.

Urban planning,the application of forethought to city design, involves optimizing land use, transportation, utilities, and other basic systems, in order to achievecertain objectives.Urban planners and scholars have proposed overlappingtheoriesas ideals for how plans should be formed. Planning tools, beyond the original design of the city itself, includepublic capitalinvestment in infrastructure andland-use controlssuch aszoning.The continuous process ofcomprehensive planninginvolves identifying general objectives as well as collecting data to evaluate progress and inform future decisions.

Government is legally the final authority on planning but in practice, the process involves both public and private elements. The legal principle ofeminent domainis used by the government to divest citizens of their property in cases where its use is required for a project.Planning often involves tradeoffs—decisions in which some stand to gain and some to lose—and thus is closely connected to the prevailing political situation.

Thehistory of urban planningdates to some of the earliest known cities, especially in the Indus Valley and Mesoamerican civilizations, which built their cities on grids and apparently zoned different areas for different purposes.The effects of planning, ubiquitous in today's world, can be seen most clearly in the layout ofplanned communities,fully designed prior to construction, often with consideration for interlocking physical, economic, and cultural systems.

Society

Social structure

Urban societyis typicallystratified.Spatially, cities are formally or informallysegregatedalong ethnic, economic, and racial lines. People living relatively close together may live, work, and play in separate areas, and associate with different people, formingethnicorlifestyleenclaves or, in areas of concentrated poverty,ghettoes.While in the US and elsewhere poverty became associated with theinner city,in France it has become associated with thebanlieues,areas of urban development that surround the city proper. Meanwhile, across Europe and North America, the raciallywhitemajority is empirically the most segregated group.Suburbsin the West, and, increasingly,gated communitiesand other forms of "privatopia" around the world, allow local elites to self-segregate into secure and exclusiveneighborhoods.

Landless urban workers, contrasted withpeasantsand known as theproletariat,form a growing stratum of society in the age of urbanization. InMarxistdoctrine, the proletariat will inevitablyrevoltagainst thebourgeoisieas their ranks swell with disenfranchised and disaffected people lacking all stakein thestatus quo.The global urban proletariat of today, however, generally lacks the status of factory workers which in the nineteenth century provided access to themeans of production.

Economics

Clusters of skyscrapers inXinyi Planning District,the centre of commerce and finance ofTaipei,the capital ofTaiwan

Historically, cities rely onrural areasforintensive farmingtoyield surplus crops,in exchange for which they provide money, political administration, manufactured goods, and culture.Urban economicstends to analyze larger agglomerations, stretching beyond city limits, in order to reach a more complete understanding of the locallabor market.

As hubs of trade, cities have long been home toretailcommerce andconsumptionthrough the interface ofshopping.In the 20th century,department storesusing new techniques ofadvertising,public relations,decoration,anddesign,transformed urban shopping areas intofantasy worldsencouraging self-expression and escape throughconsumerism.

In general, the density of cities expedites commerce and facilitatesknowledge spillovers,helping people and firms exchange information and generate new ideas.A thicker labor market allows for better skill matching between firms and individuals. Population density enables also sharing of common infrastructure and production facilities; however, in very dense cities, increased crowding and waiting times may lead to some negative effects.

Althoughmanufacturingfueled the growth of cities, many now rely on atertiaryorservice economy.The services in question range fromtourism,hospitality,entertainment,andhousekeepingtogrey-collarwork inlaw,financial consulting, andadministration.

According to a scientific model of cities by ProfessorGeoffrey West,with the doubling of a city's size, salaries per capita will generally increase by 15%.

Culture and communications

Parisis one of the best-known cities in the world.

Nepalesedancers atEdmonton Heritage Festival,inAlberta,Canada,an example of the cultural diversity of a city

Cities are typically hubs foreducationandthe arts,supportinguniversities,museums,temples,and othercultural institutions.They feature impressive displays ofarchitectureranging from small to enormous and ornate tobrutal;skyscrapers,providing thousands of offices or homes within a small footprint, and visible from miles away, have become iconic urban features.Cultural elites tend to live in cities, bound together by sharedcultural capital,and themselves play some role in governance.By virtue of their status as centers of culture and literacy, cities can be described as the locus ofcivilization,human history,andsocial change.

Density makes for effectivemass communicationand transmission ofnews,throughheralds,printedproclamations,newspapers,and digital media. These communication networks, though still using cities as hubs, penetrate extensively into all populated areas. In the age of rapid communication and transportation, commentators have described urban culture as nearly ubiquitousor as no longer meaningful.

Today, a city's promotion of its cultural activities dovetails withplace brandingandcity marketing,public diplomacytechniques used to inform development strategy; attract businesses, investors, residents, and tourists; and to createshared identityandsense of placewithin the metropolitan area.Physical inscriptions,plaques,andmonumentson display physically transmit a historical context for urban places.Some cities, such asJerusalem,Mecca,andRomehave indelible religious status and for hundreds of years have attractedpilgrims.Patriotic tourists visitAgrato see theTaj Mahal,orNew York Cityto visit theWorld Trade Center.Elvislovers visitMemphisto pay their respects atGraceland.Place brands (which include place satisfaction and place loyalty) have great economic value (comparable to the value of commoditybrands) because of their influence on thedecision-makingprocess of people thinking about doing business in— "purchasing" (the brand of)—a city.

Bread and circusesamong other forms of cultural appeal, attract and entertainthe masses.Sports also play a major role in city branding and localidentityformation.Cities go to considerable lengths in competing to host theOlympic Games,which bring global attention and tourism.Paris, a city known for its cultural history, was the site of the most recent Olympics in the summer of 2024.

Warfare

Theatomic bombingofHiroshimaon 6 August 1945 devastated the city and led toImperial Japan's surrenderand the end ofWorld War II.

Cities play a crucial strategic role in warfare due to their economic, demographic, symbolic, and political centrality. For the same reasons, they are targets inasymmetric warfare.Many cities throughout history were founded under military auspices, a great many have incorporatedfortifications,and military principles continue toinfluence urban design.Indeed, war may have served as the social rationale and economic basis for the very earliest cities.

Powers engaged ingeopoliticalconflict have established fortified settlements as part of military strategies, as in the case ofgarrisontowns, America'sStrategic Hamlet Programduring theVietnam War,andIsraeli settlementsin Palestine.WhileoccupyingthePhilippines,the US Army ordered local people to concentrate in cities and towns, in order to isolate committed insurgents and battle freely against them in the countryside.

DuringWorld War II,national governments on occasion declared certain citiesopen,effectivelysurrenderingthem to an advancing enemy in order to avoid damage and bloodshed. Urban warfare proved decisive, however, in theBattle of Stalingrad,where Soviet forces repulsed German occupiers, with extreme casualties and destruction. In an era oflow-intensity conflictand rapid urbanization, cities have become sites of long-term conflict waged both by foreign occupiers and by local governments againstinsurgency.Such warfare, known ascounterinsurgency,involves techniques of surveillance andpsychological warfareas well asclose combat,and functionally extends modern urbancrime prevention,which already uses concepts such asdefensible space.

Although capture is the more common objective, warfare has in some cases spelled complete destruction for a city. Mesopotamiantabletsandruinsattest to such destruction,as does the Latin mottoCarthago delenda est.Since theatomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasakiand throughout theCold War,nuclear strategistscontinued to contemplate the use of "counter-value"targeting: crippling an enemy by annihilating its valuable cities, rather thanaiming primarily at its military forces.

Climate change

Main article:Climate change and cities

This section is an excerpt fromClimate change and cities.[edit]

Jakartawas listed as the most vulnerable city toclimate changein a 2021Verisk Maplecroftstudy.

Climate change and citiesare deeply connected. Cities are one of the greatest contributors and likely best opportunities for addressingclimate change.Cities are also one of the most vulnerable parts of the human society to theeffects of climate change,and likely one of the most important solutions for reducing theenvironmental impact of humans.The UN projects that 68% of the world population will live in urban areas by 2050.In the year 2016, 31 mega-cities reported having at least 10 million in their population, 8 of which surpassed 20 million people.However,secondary cities- small to medium size cities (500,000 to 1 million) are rapidly increasing in number and are some of the fastest growing urbanizing areas in the world further contributing to climate change impacts.Cities have a significant influence on construction and transportation—two of the key contributors to global warming emissions.Moreover, because of processes that createclimate conflictandclimate refugees,city areas are expected to grow during the next several decades, stressing infrastructure andconcentrating more impoverished peoples in cities.

Hamburg,Germany,is a large city that has experienced multiple droughts throughout the years, which has led to decreased economic productivity.

High density and urban heat island effect are examples of weather changes that impact cities due to climate change. It also causes exacerbating existing problems such as air pollution, water scarcity, and heat illness in metropolitan areas. Moreover, because most cities have been built on rivers or coastal areas, cities are frequently vulnerable to the subsequent effects ofsea level rise,which causefloodinganderosion;these effects are also connected with other urban environmental problems, such assubsidenceandaquifer depletion. A report by theC40 Cities Climate Leadership Groupdescribedconsumption based emissionsas having significantly more impact than production-based emissions within cities. The report estimates that 85% of the emissions associated with goods within a city is generated outside of that city.Climate change adaptationandmitigation investments in citieswill be important in reducing the impacts of some of the largest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions: for example, increased density allows for redistribution ofland use for agricultureandreforestation,improving transportation efficiencies,and greening construction (largely due to cement's outsized role in climate changeand improvements insustainable construction practicesandweatherization).

Infrastructure

Traffic congestion inBandungin Indonesia

Urbaninfrastructureinvolves various physical networks and spaces necessary for transportation, water use, energy, recreation, and public functions.Infrastructure carries a high initial cost infixed capitalbut lowermarginal costsand thus positiveeconomies of scale.Because of the higherbarriers to entry,these networks have been classified asnatural monopolies,meaning that economic logic favors control of each network by a single organization, public or private.

Infrastructure in general plays a vital role in a city's capacity for economic activity and expansion, underpinning the very survival of the city's inhabitants, as well as technological, commercial, industrial, and social activities.Structurally, many infrastructure systems take the form ofnetworkswith redundant links and multiple pathways, so that the system as a whole continue to operate even if parts of it fail.The particulars of a city's infrastructure systems have historicalpath dependencebecause new development must build from what exists already.

Megaprojectssuch as the construction ofairports,power plants,andrailwaysrequire large upfront investments and thus tend to require funding from the national government or the private sector.Privatization may also extend to all levels of infrastructure construction and maintenance.

Urban infrastructure ideally serves all residents equally but in practice may prove uneven—with, in some cities, clear first-class and second-class alternatives.

Utilities

Aqueduct of SegoviainSegovia,Spain

Public utilities(literally, useful things with general availability) include basic and essential infrastructure networks, chiefly concerned with the supply of water, electricity, and telecommunications capability to the populace.

Sanitation,necessary for good health in crowded conditions, requires water supply andwaste managementas well as individualhygiene.Urbanwatersystems include principally awater supply networkand a network (sewerage system) forsewageandstormwater.Historically,either local governments or private companies have administered urbanwater supply,with a tendency toward government water supply in the 20th century and a tendency toward private operation at the turn of the twenty-first.The market for private water services is dominated by two French companies,Veolia Water(formerlyVivendi) andEngie(formerlySuez), said to hold 70% of all water contracts worldwide.

Modern urban life relies heavily on theenergytransmitted throughelectricityfor the operation ofelectric machines(from householdappliancestoindustrial machinesto now-ubiquitouselectronicsystems used in communications, business, and government) and fortraffic lights,street lights,and indoorlighting.Cities rely to a lesser extent onhydrocarbon fuelssuch asgasolineandnatural gasfor transportation,heating,andcooking.Telecommunicationsinfrastructure such astelephone linesandcoaxial cablesalso traverse cities, forming dense networks formassandpoint-to-pointcommunications.

Transportation

See also:Public transport

GautrainatO. R. Tambo International AirportinJohannesburg

TransJakartainIndonesiais the longestbus rapid transitsystem in the world.

Baana,ashared-pathrail trailinHelsinki

Because cities rely on specialization and aneconomic systembased onwage labor,their inhabitants must have the ability to regularly travel between home, work, commerce, and entertainment.City dwellers travel by foot or by wheel onroadsandwalkways,or use specialrapid transitsystems based onunderground,overground,andelevatedrail. Cities also rely on long-distance transportation (truck,rail,andairplane) for economic connections with other cities and rural areas.

City streets historically were the domain ofhorsesand their riders andpedestrians,who only sometimes hadsidewalksandspecial walking areasreserved for them.In the West,bicyclesor (velocipedes), efficient human-powered machines for short- and medium-distance travel,enjoyed a period of popularity at the beginning of the twentieth century before the rise of automobiles.Soon after, they gained a more lasting foothold in Asian and African cities under European influence.In Western cities, industrializing, expanding, andelectrifyingpublic transitsystems, and especiallystreetcarsenabled urban expansion as new residential neighborhoods sprung up along transit lines and workers rode to and from work downtown.

Since the mid-20th century, cities have relied heavily onmotor vehicletransportation, with majorimplicationsfor their layout, environment, and aesthetics.(This transformation occurred most dramatically in the US—where corporate and governmental policies favored automobile transport systems—and to a lesser extent in Europe.)The rise of personalcarsaccompanied the expansion of urban economic areas into much largermetropolises,subsequently creating ubiquitoustrafficissues with the accompanying construction of newhighways,wider streets, and alternativewalkwaysfor pedestrians.However, severe traffic jams still occur regularly in cities around the world, as private car ownership and urbanization continue to increase, overwhelming existing urbanstreet networks.

The urbanbus system,the world's most common form of public transport, uses a network of scheduledroutesto move people through the city, alongside cars, on the roads.The economic function itself also became more decentralized as concentration became impractical and employers relocated to more car-friendly locations (includingedge cities).Some cities have introducedbus rapid transitsystems which include exclusivebus lanesand other methods for prioritizing bus traffic over private cars.Many big American cities still operate conventional public transit by rail, as exemplified by the ever-popularNew York City Subwaysystem. Rapid transit is widely used in Europe and has increased in Latin America and Asia.

Walkingandcycling( "non-motorized transport" ) enjoy increasing favor (morepedestrian zonesandbike lanes) in American and Asian urban transportation planning, under the influence of such trends as theHealthy Citiesmovement, the drive forsustainable development,and the idea of acarfree city.Techniques such asroad space rationingandroad use chargeshave been introduced to limit urban car traffic.

Housing

Horbury Terrace, aterrace housinginSydney,c. 1836

The housingof residents presents one of the major challenges every city must face. Adequate housing entails not only physicalsheltersbut also the physical systems necessary to sustain life and economic activity.

Homeownershiprepresents status and a modicum of economic security, compared torentingwhich may consume much of the income of low-wage urban workers.Homelessness,or lack of housing, is a challenge currently faced by millions of people in countries rich and poor.Because cities generally have higher population densities than rural areas, city dwellers are more likely to reside inapartmentsand less likely to live in asingle-family home.

Ecology

Main article:Urban ecology

An urban scene inParamaribofeaturing a few plants growing amidstsolid wasteandrubblebehind some houses

Anurban heat island

St Stephen's Green,anurban parkinDublin,Ireland

Urbanecosystems,influenced as they are by the density of human buildings and activities, differ considerably from those of their rural surroundings. Anthropogenicbuildingsandwaste,as well ascultivationingardens,create physical and chemical environments which have no equivalents in thewilderness,in some cases enabling exceptionalbiodiversity.They provide homes not only for immigrant humans but also forimmigrant plants,bringing about interactions between species that never previously encountered each other. They introduce frequentdisturbances(construction, walking) to plant and animalhabitats,creating opportunities forrecolonizationand thus favoringyoung ecosystemswithr-selected speciesdominant. On the whole, urban ecosystems are less complex and productive than others, due to the diminished absolute amount of biological interactions.

Typical urbanfaunaincludesinsects(especiallyants),rodents(mice,rats), andbirds,as well ascatsanddogs(domesticatedandferal). Largepredatorsare scarce.However, in North America, large predators such as coyotes and other large animals like white-tailed deer persist.

Cities generate considerableecological footprints,locally and at longer distances, due to concentrated populations and technological activities. From one perspective, cities are not ecologicallysustainabledue to their resource needs. From another, proper management may be able to ameliorate a city's ill effects.Air pollutionarises from various forms of combustion,including fireplaces, wood or coal-burning stoves, other heating systems,andinternal combustion engines.Industrialized cities, and today third-world megacities, are notorious for veils ofsmog(industrialhaze) that envelop them, posing a chronic threat to the health of their millions of inhabitants.Urban soil contains higher concentrations ofheavy metals(especiallylead,copper,andnickel) and has lowerpHthan soil in the comparable wilderness.

Modern cities are known for creating their ownmicroclimates,due toconcrete,asphalt,and other artificial surfaces, which heat up insunlightand channelrainwaterintounderground ducts.Thetemperature in New York Cityexceedsnearby rural temperaturesby an average of 2–3 °C and at times 5–10 °C differences have been recorded. This effect varies nonlinearly with population changes (independently of the city's physical size).Aerialparticulatesincrease rainfall by 5–10%. Thus, urban areas experience unique climates, with earlier flowering and later leaf dropping than in nearby countries.

Poor and working-class people face disproportionate exposure to environmental risks (known asenvironmental racismwhen intersecting also with racial segregation). For example, within the urban microclimate, less-vegetated poor neighborhoods bear more of the heat (but have fewer means of coping with it).

One of the main methods of improving theurban ecologyis including in the cities moreurban green spaces:parks, gardens, lawns, and trees.These areas improve the health and well-being of the human, animal, and plant populations of the cities.Well-maintained urban trees can provide many social, ecological, and physical benefits to the residents of the city.

A study published inScientific Reportsin 2019 found that people who spent at least two hours per week in nature were 23 percent more likely to be satisfied with their life and were 59 percent more likely to be in good health than those who had zero exposure. The study used data from almost 20,000 people in the UK. Benefits increased for up to 300 minutes of exposure. The benefits are applied to men and women of all ages, as well as across different ethnicities, socioeconomic statuses, and even those with long-term illnesses and disabilities. People who did not get at least two hours – even if they surpassed an hour per week – did not get the benefits. The study is the latest addition to a compelling body of evidence for the health benefits of nature. Many doctors already give nature prescriptions to their patients. The study did not count time spent in a person's own yard or garden as time in nature, but the majority of nature visits in the study took place within two miles of home. "Even visiting local urban green spaces seems to be a good thing," Dr. White said in a press release. "Two hours a week is hopefully a realistic target for many people, especially given that it can be spread over an entire week to get the benefit."

World city system

As the world becomes more closely linked through economics, politics, technology, and culture (a process calledglobalization), cities have come to play a leading role in transnational affairs, exceeding the limitations ofinternational relationsconducted by national governments.This phenomenon, resurgent today, can be traced back to theSilk Road,Phoenicia,and the Greek city-states, through theHanseatic Leagueand other alliances of cities.Today theinformation economybased on high-speedinternetinfrastructure enables instantaneoustelecommunicationaround the world, effectively eliminating the distance between cities for the purposes of the international markets and other high-level elements of the world economy, as well as personal communications andmass media.

Global city

Stock exchanges,characteristic features of the top global cities, are interconnected hubs for capital. Here, a delegation from Australia visits theLondon Stock Exchange.

Aglobal city,also known as a world city, is a prominent centre of trade, banking, finance, innovation, and markets.Saskia Sassenused the term "global city" in her 1991 work,The Global City: New York, London, Tokyoto refer to a city'spower,status, and cosmopolitanism, rather than to its size.Following this view of cities, it is possible torank the world's cities hierarchically.Global cities form the capstone of the global hierarchy, exertingcommand and controlthrough their economic and political influence. Global cities may have reached their status due to early transition topost-industrialismor through inertia which has enabled them to maintain their dominance from the industrial era.This type of ranking exemplifies an emergingdiscoursein which cities, considered variations on the same ideal type,mustcompete with each other globally to achieve prosperity.

Critics of the notion point to the different realms of power and interchange. The term "global city" is heavily influenced by economic factors and, thus, may not account for places that are otherwise significant.Paul James,for example argues that the term is "reductive and skewed" in its focus on financial systems.

Multinational corporationsandbanksmake their headquarters in global cities and conduct much of their business within this context.American firms dominate the international markets forlawandengineeringand maintain branches in the biggest foreign global cities.

Large cities have a great divide between populations of both ends of the financial spectrum.Regulations on immigration promote the exploitation of low- and high-skilled immigrant workers from poor areas.During employment, migrant workers may be subject to unfair working conditions, including working overtime, low wages, and lack of safety in workplaces.

Modern global cities, likeNew York City,often include largecentral business districts(CBDs) that serve as hubs for economic activity. A panorama ofManhattan,the world's largest central business district, is shown with prominent buildings highlighted by number, February 2018.

1. Riverside Church
2. Deutsche Bank Center
3. 220 Central Park South
4. Central Park Tower
5. One57
6. 432 Park Avenue
7. 53W53
8. Chrysler Building
9. Bank of America Tower
10. 4 Times Square
11. The New York Times Building
12. Empire State Building
13. Manhattan West
14. a:55 Hudson Yards,b:35 Hudson Yards,c:10 Hudson Yards,d:15 Hudson Yards
15. 56 Leonard Street
16. 8 Spruce Street
17. Woolworth Building
18. 70 Pine Street
19. Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown
20. 40 Wall Street
21. 3 World Trade Center
22. 4 World Trade Center
23. One World Trade Center

Transnational activity

Cities increasingly participate in world political activities independently of their enclosing nation-states. Early examples of this phenomenon are thesister cityrelationship and the promotion ofmulti-level governancewithin the European Union as a technique forEuropean integration.Cities includingHamburg,Prague,Amsterdam,The Hague,andCity of Londonmaintain their own embassies tothe European Union at Brussels.

New urban dwellers are increasinglytransmigrants,keeping one foot each (through telecommunications if not travel) in their old and their new homes.

Global governance

Cities participate inglobal governanceby various means including membership in global networks which transmit norms and regulations. At the general, global level,United Cities and Local Governments(UCLG) is a significantumbrella organizationfor cities; regionally and nationally,Eurocities,Asian Network of Major Cities 21,theFederation of Canadian MunicipalitiestheNational League of Cities,and theUnited States Conference of Mayorsplay similar roles.UCLG took responsibility for creatingAgenda 21 for culture,a program forcultural policiespromoting sustainable development, and has organized various conferences and reports for its furtherance.

Networks have become especially prevalent in the arena ofenvironmentalismand specificallyclimate changefollowing the adoption ofAgenda 21.Environmental city networks include theC40 Cities Climate Leadership Group,theUnited Nations Global Compact Cities Programme,theCarbon Neutral Cities Alliance(CNCA), theCovenant of Mayorsand theCompact of Mayors,ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability,and theTransition Towns network.

Cities with world political status as meeting places for advocacy groups, non-governmental organizations, lobbyists, educational institutions, intelligence agencies, military contractors, information technology firms, and other groups with a stake in world policymaking. They are consequently also sites for symbolic protest.

South Africahas one of the highest rate of protests in the world.Pretoria,a city in South Africa, had a rally where five thousand people took part in order to advocate for increasing wages to afford living costs.

United Nations System

TheWorld Bankheadquarters inWashington, D.C.

The World Assembly of Mayors at theHabitat IIIconference inQuito

TheUnited Nations Systemhas been involved in a series of events and declarations dealing with the development of cities during this period of rapid urbanization.

• TheHabitat Iconference in 1976 adopted the "Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements" which identifies urban management as a fundamental aspect ofdevelopmentand establishes various principles for maintaining urbanhabitats.
• Citing the Vancouver Declaration, the UN General Assembly in December 1977 authorized the United Nations Commission Human Settlements and the HABITAT Centre for Human Settlements, intended to coordinate UN activities related to housing and settlements.
• The 1992Earth SummitinRio de Janeiroresulted in a set of international agreements includingAgenda 21which establishes principles and plans forsustainable development.
• TheHabitat IIconference in 1996 called for cities to play a leading role in this program, which subsequently advanced theMillennium Development GoalsandSustainable Development Goals.
• In January 2002 the UN Commission on Human Settlements became an umbrella agency called theUnited Nations Human Settlements Programmeor UN-Habitat, a member of theUnited Nations Development Group.
• TheHabitat IIIconference of 2016 focused on implementing these goals under the banner of a "New Urban Agenda". The four mechanisms envisioned for effecting the New Urban Agenda are (1) national policies promoting integrated sustainable development, (2) stronger urban governance, (3) long-term integrated urban and territorial planning, and (4) effective financing frameworks.Just before this conference, theEuropean Unionconcurrently approved an "Urban Agenda for the European Union" known as thePact of Amsterdam.

UN-Habitat coordinates the U.N. urban agenda, working with theUN Environmental Programme,theUN Development Programme,theOffice of the High Commissioner for Human Rights,theWorld Health Organization,and theWorld Bank.

TheWorld Bank,a U.N.specialized agency,has been a primary force in promoting the Habitat conferences, and since the first Habitat conference has used their declarations as a framework for issuing loans for urban infrastructure.The bank'sstructural adjustmentprograms contributed to urbanization in theThird Worldby creating incentives to move to cities.The World Bank and UN-Habitat in 1999 jointly established theCities Alliance(based at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C.) to guide policymaking, knowledge sharing, andgrantdistribution around the issue of urban poverty.(UN-Habitat plays an advisory role in evaluating the quality of a locality's governance.)The Bank's policies have tended to focus on bolsteringreal estatemarkets through credit and technical assistance.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,UNESCOhas increasingly focused on cities as key sites for influencingcultural governance.It has developed various city networks including the International Coalition of Cities against Racism and the Creative Cities Network. UNESCO's capacity to selectWorld Heritage Sitesgives the organization significant influence overcultural capital,tourism,andhistoric preservationfunding.

Representation in culture

Further information:Urban fiction

The Fall of Babylon,an 1831 portrait byJohn Martin,depicts chaos with the Persian army occupyingBabylon,symbolizing the ruin of a decadent civilization. The lightning striking theBabylonian zigguratrepresents theTower of Babeland God's judgment against Babylon.

Cities figure prominently in traditional Western culture, appearing in theBiblein both evil and holy forms, symbolized byBabylonandJerusalem.CainandNimrodare the first city builders in theBook of Genesis.In Sumerian mythologyGilgameshbuilt the walls ofUruk.

Cities can be perceived in terms of extremes or opposites: at once liberating and oppressive, wealthy and poor, organized and chaotic.The nameanti-urbanismrefers to various types of ideological opposition to cities, whether because of their culture or their political relationship withthe country.Such opposition may result from identification of cities with oppression and the rulingelite.This and other political ideologies strongly influence narratives and themes indiscourseabout cities.In turn, cities symbolize their home societies.

Writers, painters, and filmmakers have produced innumerable works of art concerning the urban experience. Classical and medieval literature includes a genre ofdescriptioneswhich treat of city features and history. Modern authors such asCharles DickensandJames Joyceare famous for evocative descriptions of their home cities.Fritz Langconceived the idea for his influential 1927 filmMetropoliswhile visitingTimes Squareand marveling at the nighttimeneon lighting.Other early cinematic representations of cities in the twentieth century generally depicted them as technologically efficient spaces with smoothly functioning systems of automobile transport. By the 1960s, however,traffic congestionbegan to appear in such films asThe Fast Lady(1962) andPlaytime(1967).

Literature, film, and other forms of popular culture have supplied visions of future cities bothutopiananddystopian.The prospect of expanding, communicating, and increasingly interdependent world cities has given rise to images such asNylonkong(New York, London, Hong Kong)and visions of a single world-encompassingecumenopolis.

Gallery

• 
  Hillside housing and acemeteryinKabul,Afghanistan
• 
  Map ofPiraeus,designed according to theHippodameiangrid plan
• 
  The city hallinGeorge Town,Malaysia, serves as theseatofPenang Island City Council.
• 
  Warsaw Old Town after theWarsaw uprisingwith 85% of the citydestroyed
• 
  Central ParkinNew York City

See also

• Lists of cities
• List of adjectivals and demonyms for cities
• Compact city
• Eco-cities
• Lost city
• Megacity
• Metropolis
• Settlement hierarchy
• Urbanization
• Walking city

References

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• 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.
• Southall, Aidan(1998).The City in Time and Space.Cambridge University Press.ISBN0-521-46211-8
• Wellman, Kath & Marcus Spiller, eds. (2012).Urban Infrastructure: Finance and Management.Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.ISBN978-0-470-67218-1.

Further reading

• Berger, A.S. (1978).The City: Urban Communities and Their Problems.Brown.ISBN978-0-697-07555-0.
• Chandler, T.Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census.Lewiston, NY:Edwin Mellen Press,1987.
• Geddes, Patrick,City Development(1904)
• Glaeser, Edward(2011).Triumph of the City: How Our Best Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier.New York:Penguin Press.ISBN978-1-59420-277-3.
• Kemp, Roger L. (2007).Managing America's Cities: A Handbook for Local Government Productivity.McFarland.ISBN978-0-7864-3151-9.
• Kemp, Roger L. (16 March 2007).How American Governments Work: A Handbook of City, County, Regional, State, and Federal Operations.McFarland.ISBN978-0-7864-3152-6.
• Kemp, Roger L. (7 March 2013).Town and Gown Relations: A Handbook of Best Practices.Jefferson, NC London: McFarland.ISBN978-0-7864-6399-2.
• Monti, Daniel (29 October 1999).The American City: A Social and Cultural History.Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell.ISBN978-1-55786-918-0.
• Reader, John (2005).Cities.New York: Vintage.
• Robson, W.A., and Regan, D.E., ed.,Great Cities of the World,(3d ed., 2 vol., 1972)
• Smethurst, P. (22 May 2015).The Bicycle — Towards a Global History.Springer.ISBN978-1-137-49951-6.
• Smith, Monica L. (14 April 2020).Cities: The First 6,000 Years.London: Penguin.ISBN978-0-7352-2368-4.
• 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)

External links

• World Urbanization Prospects,Website of the United Nations Population Division (archived 10 July 2017)
• Urban population (% of total)– World Bank website based on UN data.
• Degree of urbanization (percentage of urban population in total population) by continent in 2016–Statista,based onPopulation Reference Bureaudata.