Portal:Cities

The Cities Portal

A city is a human settlement of a substantial 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 and densely populated place with administratively defined boundaries whose members work primarily on non-agricultural tasks. Cities generally have extensive systems for housing, transportation, sanitation, utilities, land use, production of goods, and communication. Their density facilitates interaction between people, government organizations, and businesses, 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 rapid urbanization, more than half of the world population now lives in cities, which has had profound consequences for global sustainability. Present-day cities usually form the core of larger metropolitan areas and urban areas—creating numerous commuters traveling toward city centres for employment, entertainment, and education. However, in a world of intensifying globalization, all cities are to varying degrees also connected globally beyond these regions. This increased influence means that cities also have significant influences on global issues, such as sustainable development, climate change, and global health. Because of these major influences on global issues, the international community has prioritized investment in sustainable cities through Sustainable Development Goal 11. Due to the efficiency of transportation and the smaller land consumption, dense cities hold the potential to have a smaller ecological footprint per inhabitant than more sparsely populated areas. Therefore, compact cities are often referred to as a crucial element in fighting climate change. However, this concentration can also have some significant harmful effects, such as forming urban heat islands, concentrating pollution, and stressing water supplies and other resources. (Full article...)

Selected city -

Yerevan skyline with Mount Ararat

Yerevan (UK: /ˌjɛrəˈvæn/ YERR-ə-VAN, US: /-ˈvɑːn/, -⁠VAHN; Armenian: Երևան [jɛɾɛˈvɑn] ^ⓘ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial centre of the country, as its primate city. It has been the capital since 1918, the fourteenth in the history of Armenia and the seventh located in or around the Ararat Plain. The city also serves as the seat of the Araratian Pontifical Diocese, which is the largest diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church and one of the oldest dioceses in the world.

The history of Yerevan dates back to the 8th century BC, with the founding of the fortress of Erebuni in 782 BC by King Argishti I of Urartu at the western extreme of the Ararat Plain. Erebuni was "designed as a great administrative and religious centre, a fully royal capital." By the late ancient Armenian Kingdom, new capital cities were established and Yerevan declined in importance. The city was mostly depopulated by the Great Surgun of 1603–05, when the Safavid Empire forcibly deported hundreds of thousands of Armenians to Iran. In 1679, the city was mostly destroyed by an earthquake, and then rebuilt on a smaller scale. In 1828, Yerevan became part of the Russian Empire, which led to the repatriation of Armenians whose ancestors had been forcibly relocated in the 17th century. After World War I, Yerevan became the capital of the First Republic of Armenia as thousands of survivors of the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire arrived in the area. The city expanded rapidly during the 20th century while Armenia was a part of the Soviet Union. In a few decades, Yerevan was transformed from a provincial town within the Russian Empire to Armenia's principal cultural, artistic, and industrial centre, as well as becoming the seat of national government. (Full article...)

List of selected cities

Did you know -

... that during the Panic of 1907, the presidents of New York City's banks and trust companies were locked in the Pierpont Morgan Library?
... that "New York City" has been described as a "stupidly fun B-side"?
... that Huntsville, Alabama, is nicknamed Rocket City?
... that Winchester United Church, a place of worship in the City of Winchester District, Hampshire, was built into the walls of the former county jail?
... that in 1987, an estimated one-sixth of New York City's homeless children lived at the Martinique Hotel, even though it lacked basic facilities like kitchens?
... that Ernest Hemingway broke a cane over John O'Hara's head in Costello's, an Irish bar in New York City?

Related portals

Related WikiProjects

WikiProject Cities
WikiProject Countries
WikiProject Geography

Recognized content -

Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

Martyrs' Square with the Old Clock

Homs (Arabic: حِمْص, romanized: Ḥimṣ [ħɪmsˤ]; Levantine Arabic: حُمْص, romanized: Ḥomṣ [ħɔmsˤ]), known in pre-Islamic times as Emesa (/ˈɛməsə/ EM-ə-sə; Ancient Greek: Ἔμεσα, romanized: Émesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is 501 m (1,644 ft) above sea level and is located 162 km (101 mi) north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is also the central link between the interior cities and the Mediterranean coast.

Before the Syrian civil war, Homs was a major industrial hub with a population of at least 652,609 people in 2004, it was the third-largest city in Syria after Aleppo to the north and the capital Damascus to the south. Its population reflected Syria's general religious diversity, composed of Sunni and Alawite Muslims, and Christians. There are a number of historic mosques and churches in the city, and it is close to the Krak des Chevaliers castle, a World Heritage Site. (Full article...)

List of Recognized articles

Selected article -

Gentrification in Chicago has been an issue between the residents of minority neighborhoods who believe the influx of new residents destabilizes their communities, and the gentrifiers who see it as a process that economically improves a neighborhood. Gentrification is the process of altering the demographic and socioeconomic composition of a neighborhood usually by decreasing the percentage of low-income minority residents and increasing the percentage higher-income residents,

Researchers have debated the significance of its effects on the neighborhoods and whether or not it leads to the displacement of residents. There are some researchers who claim that the loss of affordable housing mainly impacts the poorer minority residents and causes them to have to move out of their neighborhoods which destabilizes their cultural communities. However, critics say that since gentrification often excludes highly black neighborhoods, those residents are prevented from benefiting from any of the positive effects such as redevelopment and neighborhood investment. Factors associated with and used to measure gentrification in Chicago are changes in the number of residents with bachelor's degrees, median household income, racial composition, visual observations, and the presence of coffee shops. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

General images -

Image 1View of the Agora of Athens with the temple of Hephaestus to the left and the Stoa of Attalos to the right (from History of cities)
Image 2Mohenjo-daro, a World Heritage Site that was part of the Indus Valley Civilization (from History of cities)
Image 3Aerial photograph shows the remains of the Sumerian city Ur, near Nasiriyah, Iraq. (from History of cities)
Image 4Palmanova, Italy, constructed in 1593 according to the defensive ideal of the star fort, today retains its distinctive geometry. (from History of cities)
Image 5A map showing the world energy consumption per capita based on 2013 data from the World Bank. (from Urban geography)
Image 6Gdańsk in the 17th century (from History of cities)
Image 7The Avenue of the Dead in Teotihuacan originates with the Pyramid of the Moon, forming the basis of the city grid. (from History of cities)
Image 8This woodcut shows Nuremberg as a prototype of a flourishing and independent city in the 15th century. (from History of cities)
Image 9Extent and major sites of the Indus Valley Civilization of ancient India (from History of cities)
Image 10The "Great Colonnade" marks the cardo maximus of Apamea, Syria. (from History of cities)
Image 11Cain founding the city of Enoch (from History of cities)
Image 12Glasgow slum in 1871 (from History of cities)
Image 13The city of Arbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has a radial urban structure centred on an ancient fortress (from Urban structure)
Image 14New York City, one of the largest urban areas in the world (from Urban geography)
Image 15The Round city of Baghdad, the capital of Iraq (from History of cities)
Image 16A poster from the EPA entitled "Soak Up the Rain with Green Infrastructure." The poster depicts various green infrastructure that can be effective in preventing floods. (from Urban geography)
Image 17Daily life of people from the Song period at the capital, Bianjing, today's Kaifeng (from History of cities)
Image 18Excavated foundations of Çatalhöyük, Turkey. An Anatolian town dated to 7000 BCE. (from History of cities)
Image 19Constantinople, the largest and wealthiest city in Europe from the 9th through the 12th century (from History of cities)

Topics

List articles

– Lists of cities –

Subcategories

Select [►] to view subcategories

Cities

Categories by city

Cities by location

Cities by period

Images of cities

Lists of cities

Cities by type

Outlines of cities

Bibliographies of cities

City archives

City councils

City districts

City founding

City guides

City lockdowns

City museums

City names

City status

City walls

Cityscapes

Histories of cities

City layout models

Maps of cities

Municipal coats of arms

Municipal courts

Municipal international relations

Municipal wireless networks

Neighbourhoods

Private cities

Quarters (urban subdivision)

Seats of local government

Smart cities

Suburbs

Symbols of cities

Types of cities

Urban society

Urban warfare

Works about cities

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Commons
Free media repository
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals
Wikidata
Free knowledge base
Wikinews
Free-content news
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations
Wikisource
Free-content library
Wikiversity
Free learning tools
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus

Discover Wikipedia using portals

Cities
Urban geography	Urban area City centre Downtown Suburb Core city Twin cities Satellite city Edge city Commuter town City proper limits Conurbation Metropolitan area Metropolis Megalopolis Cities with the most skyscrapers Urbanization Suburbanization Shrinking cities Ghost town
Urban government	City status Municipality direct-controlled Independent city City-state Autonomous city Capital city
Urban economics	World's cities by GDP Global city Central business district Most expensive cities Cheapest cities Most livable cities Urban decay Urban renewal Municipal bond Habitat III
Urban planning	History of urban planning Theories of urban planning Technical aspects of urban planning Urban planners Zoning Mixed-use development Urban design Grid plan Concentric zone model Sector model Multiple nuclei model Linear city Land use Smart city
Urban population	World's largest cities throughout history Most densely populated cities Most populous national capitals
Urbanism	Urban warfare Urban studies Urban morphology Urban culture Urban sociology Anti-urbanism Urban exploration Urban homesteading Unitary urbanism
Environment	Climate change Green urbanism Sustainable city Sustainable urbanism Sustainable Development Goal 11 Urban heat island Urban ecology

World's largest cities
City proper	Capitals Americas (North Latin Central South) Asia (Arab world ASEAN Arabia East, South and Southeast Asia) Europe (European Union Nordic)
Metropolitan area	Americas (North South West Indies) Europe (European Union Nordic) Asia Africa Middle East
Urban area/agglomeration	Asia Africa Europe European Union Nordic North America Oceania Transborder
Historical	World Europe
Related articles	Arcology Ecumenopolis Global city Megacity Megalopolis Conurbation Satellite city population Primate city Secondary city