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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 negative consequences, such as forming urban heat islands, concentrating pollution, and stressing water supplies and other resources. (Full article...)

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Midtown Manhattan with the Empire State Building (center) and Lower Manhattan with One WTC (background)

New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive with a respective county. The city is the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the United States by both population and urban area. New York is a global center of finance and commerce, culture, technology, entertainment and media, academics and scientific output, the arts and fashion, and, as home to the headquarters of the United Nations, international diplomacy.

With an estimated population in 2023 of 8,258,035 distributed over 300.46 square miles (778.2 km²), the city is the most densely populated major city in the United States. New York City has more than double the population of Los Angeles, the nation's second-most populous city. With more than 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York City is one of the world's most populous megacities. The city and its metropolitan area are the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States. As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York City, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. In 2021, the city was home to nearly 3.1 million residents born outside the United States, the largest foreign-born population of any city in the world. (Full article...)

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... that from 1853 to 1855 the State Emigrant Refuge and Hospital on Wards Island in New York City was the largest hospital complex in the world?
... that Village East by Angelika is the only remaining Yiddish theater building in what was once the center of New York City's Yiddish Theatre District?
... that graffiti artist Al Diaz cuts up New York metro signs and reconfigures the letters into his own text?
... that a men's soccer team hired Jenna Winebrenner to analyze game film and practice with the squad?
... 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 several murals from New York City's Hotel McAlpin were reinstalled in the subway after being found in a dumpster?

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Olympic Avenue in downtown Arlington

Arlington is a city in northern Snohomish County, Washington, United States, part of the Seattle metropolitan area. The city lies on the Stillaguamish River in the western foothills of the Cascade Range, adjacent to the city of Marysville. It is approximately 10 miles (16 km) north of Everett, the county seat, and 40 miles (64 km) north of Seattle, the state's largest city. As of the 2020 U.S. census, Arlington had a population of 19,868; its estimated population is 20,075 as of 2021.

The city lies in the traditional territory of the Stillaguamish people, an indigenous Coast Salish group. Arlington was established in the 1880s by settlers and the area was platted as two towns, Arlington and Haller City. Haller City was absorbed by the larger Arlington, which was incorporated as a city in 1903. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Arlington area was the site of major projects undertaken for employment under the direction of federal relief agencies, including construction of a municipal airport that would serve as a naval air station during World War II. Arlington began suburbanizing in the 1980s, growing by more than 450 percent by 2000 and annexing the unincorporated area of Smokey Point to the southwest. (Full article...)

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A direct-administered municipality (直辖市; Zhíxiáshì; lit. 'direct-administered city'; commonly known as municipality) is a provincial-level administrative division in China. The direct-administered municipalities are directly affiliated to the central government. There are four municipalities in China: Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, and Tianjin.

Although being as a city by name, a Chinese municipality is more than a city in a traditional sense. It is equivalent to a province as it usually composed of a central urban area and a number of much larger surrounding suburban and rural areas. (Full article...)

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

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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

v t e World's largest cities
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Historical	World Europe
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