The Cities Portal
A city is a human settlement of 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 more narrow sense, a city can be defined as a permanent and densely settled 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 significant negative consequences, such as forming urban heat islands, concentrating pollution, and stressing water supplies and other resources. (Full article...)
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Nuuk (Greenlandic pronunciation: [nuːk] ⓘ; Danish: Nuuk, formerly Godthåb [ˈkʌtˌhɔˀp]) is the capital of and most populous city in Greenland, an autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the territory's largest cultural and economic center. The major cities from other countries closest to the capital are Iqaluit and St. John's in Canada and Reykjavík in Iceland. Nuuk contains a third of Greenland's population and its tallest building. Nuuk is also the seat of government for the Sermersooq municipality. In January 2023, it had a population of 19,604. Nuuk is considered a modernized city after the policy began in 1950.
The city was founded in 1728 by the Dano-Norwegian missionary Hans Egede when he relocated from the earlier Hope Colony (Haabets Koloni) where he arrived in 1721. The governor Claus Paarss was part of the relocation. The new colony was placed at the Inuit settlement of Nûk and was named Godthaab ("Good Hope"). "Nuuk" is the Greenlandic word for "cape" (Danish: næs) and is commonly found in Greenlandic place names. It is so named because of its position at the end of the Nuup Kangerlua fjord on the eastern shore of the Labrador Sea. Its latitude, at 64°11' N, makes it the world's northernmost capital, only a few kilometres farther north than the Icelandic capital Reykjavík. When home rule was established in 1979, the authorization of place names was transferred to Greenlandic authorities, who subsequently preferred Greenlandic names over Danish ones. The name Godthåb mostly went out of use over the next two decades. (Full article...)Did you know -
- ... that a showing of the 1914 film Lord Chumley on the roof of a New York City theatre was canceled with an on-screen announcement due to its 40-minute runtime?
- ... that Wie liegt die Stadt so wüst (How Deserted Lies the City), a motet composed by Rudolf Mauersberger after the bombing of Dresden, was first performed in the destroyed Kreuzkirche?
- ... that Gloria Rojas, one of the first Latina broadcast journalists in New York City, helped launch the career of Geraldo Rivera?
- ... that when Westminster City Council in London agreed to use "global majority" as a more inclusive term than BAME or "ethnic minority", a Conservative MP called it "deeply sinister"?
- ... that The City in the Middle of the Night, a 2019 climate-fiction novel by Charlie Jane Anders, is set on a tidally locked planet?
- ... that the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in New York City was designed by "the only architects in the city who had not begged for the job"?
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San Diego (/ˌsæn diˈeɪɡoʊ/ ⓘ SAN dee-AY-goh, Spanish: [san ˈdjeɣo]) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast in Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.3 million residents, the city is the eighth-most populous in the United States and the second-most populous in the state of California after Los Angeles. The city is the seat of San Diego County, which has a population of nearly 3.3 million people . San Diego is known for its mild year-round Mediterranean climate, extensive beaches and parks, its long association with the United States Navy, and its recent emergence as a healthcare and biotechnology development center.
Historically home to the Kumeyaay Native Americans, San Diego has been referred to as the Birthplace of California, since it was the first site visited and settled by Europeans on what is now the West Coast of the United States. Upon landing in San Diego Bay in 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed the area for Spain, forming the basis for the settlement of Alta California 200 years later. The Presidio and Mission San Diego de Alcalá, founded in 1769, formed the first European settlement in what is now California. In 1821, San Diego became part of the newly declared Mexican Empire, which reformed as the First Mexican Republic two years later. California was conquered by the U.S. in 1848 following the Mexican–American War and was admitted to the union as a state in 1850. (Full article...)Selected article -
A barangay (/bɑːrɑːŋˈɡaɪ/; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as a barrio (abbr. Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolitan areas, the term often refers to an inner city neighborhood, a suburb, a suburban neighborhood, or even a borough. The word barangay originated from balangay, a type of boat used by a group of Austronesian peoples when they migrated to the Philippines.
Municipalities and cities in the Philippines are politically subdivided into barangays, with the exception of the municipalities of Adams in Ilocos Norte and Kalayaan in Palawan, each containing a single barangay. Barangays are sometimes informally subdivided into smaller areas called purok (English: "zone"), or barangay zones consisting of a cluster of houses for organizational purposes, and sitios, which are territorial enclaves—usually rural—far from the barangay center. , there are 42,001 barangays throughout the country. (Full article...)General images -
Gdańsk in the 17th century (from History of cities)
New York City, one of the largest urban areas in the world (from Urban geography)
Cain founding the city of Enoch (from History of cities)
Excavated foundations of Çatalhöyük, Turkey. An Anatolian town dated to 7000 BCE. (from History of cities)
The city of Arbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has a radial urban structure centred on an ancient fortress (from Urban structure)
View 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)
The Avenue of the Dead in Teotihuacan originates with the Pyramid of the Moon, forming the basis of the city grid. (from History of cities)
Constantinople, the largest and wealthiest city in Europe from the 9th through the 12th century (from History of cities)
A 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)
The Round city of Baghdad, the capital of Iraq (from History of cities)
Extent and major sites of the Indus Valley civilization of ancient India (from History of cities)
This woodcut shows Nuremberg as a prototype of a flourishing and independent city in the 15th century. (from History of cities)
Mohenjo-daro, a World Heritage Site that was part of the Indus Valley civilization (from History of cities)
Aerial photograph shows the remains of the Sumerian city Ur, near Nasiriyah, Iraq. (from History of cities)
Palmanova, Italy, constructed in 1593 according to the defensive ideal of the star fort, today retains its distinctive geometry. (from History of cities)
Daily life of people from the Song period at the capital, Bianjing, today's Kaifeng (from History of cities)
A map showing the world energy consumption per capita based on 2013 data from the World Bank. (from Urban geography)
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