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 negative consequences, such as forming urban heat islands, concentrating pollution, and stressing water supplies and other resources. (Full article...)
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Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601,911 residents as of 2021, with more than 6.4 million people living in the metropolitan area. Saint Petersburg is the fourth-most populous city in Europe, the most populous city on the Baltic Sea, and the world's northernmost city of more than 1 million residents. As the former capital of Imperial Russia, and a historically strategic port, it is governed as a federal city.
The city was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on 27 May 1703 on the site of a captured Swedish fortress, and was named after the apostle Saint Peter. In Russia, Saint Petersburg is historically and culturally associated with the birth of the Russian Empire and Russia's entry into modern history as a European great power. It served as a capital of the Tsardom of Russia, and the subsequent Russian Empire, from 1712 to 1918 (being replaced by Moscow for a short period of time between 1728 and 1730). After the October Revolution in 1917, the Bolsheviks moved their government to Moscow. The city was renamed Leningrad after Lenin's death in 1924. It was the site of the siege of Leningrad during the Second World War, the most lethal siege in history. In June 1991, only a few months before the Belovezha Accords and the dissolution of the USSR, voters supported restoring the city's original appellation in a city-wide referendum. (Full article...)
Did you know -
- ... that Ernest Hemingway broke a cane over John O'Hara's head in Costello's, an Irish bar in New York City?
- ... that Henry Clay Frick would not take World War I as an excuse for delays in the construction of his New York City house?
- ... that the Beacon Theatre, once described as "a true bit of Bagdad on Broadway", later gained a reputation as a rock venue?
- ... that All Nations Baptist Church in New York City is primarily associated with ethnic Koreans of the former Soviet Union?
- ... that Balbuena metro station was flooded with sewage following a failure attributed to an unrelated fire?
- ... that City Pier A's clock tower was the first memorial to World War I casualties in the United States, according to a New York City government spokesperson?
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San Diego County, California, has been called "the Craft Beer Capital of America". As of 2018[update], the county was home to 155 licensed craft breweries – the most of any county in the United States. Based on 2016 sales volume, three San Diego County breweries – Stone, Green Flash, and Karl Strauss – rank among the 50 largest craft brewers in the United States. San Diego County brewers pioneered the specialty beer style known as Double India Pale Ale (Double IPA), sometimes called San Diego Pale Ale. Its beer culture is a draw for tourism, particularly during major festivals such as San Diego Beer Week and the San Diego International Beer Competition. San Diego County breweries including Stone Brewing Co., AleSmith Brewing Company and Ballast Point Brewing Company are consistently rated among the top breweries in the world. (Full article...)
Selected article -
Sex and the City is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO, based on the newspaper column and 1996 book by Candace Bushnell. It premiered in the United States on June 6, 1998, and concluded on February 22, 2004, with 94 episodes broadcast over six seasons. It had various producers, screenwriters and directors, principally Michael Patrick King.
The series follows the lives of four female friends living in New York City: the streetwise newspaper columnist Carrie Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker), the sexually liberated public relations professional Samantha Jones (played by Kim Cattrall), the more conservative art dealer Charlotte York (played by Kristin Davis) and the cynical lawyer Miranda Hobbes (played by Cynthia Nixon). The stories address sex and relationships, friendship and femininity. (Full article...)
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Excavated foundations of Çatalhöyük, Turkey. An Anatolian town dated to 7000 BCE. (from History of cities) -
Cain founding the city of Enoch (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) -
Gdańsk in the 17th century (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) -
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) -
This woodcut shows Nuremberg as a prototype of a flourishing and independent city in the 15th century. (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) -
Aerial photograph shows the remains of the Sumerian city Ur, near Nasiriyah, Iraq. (from History of cities) -
The Round city of Baghdad, the capital of Iraq (from History of cities) -
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) -
Constantinople, the largest and wealthiest city in Europe from the 9th through the 12th century (from History of cities) -
New York City, one of the largest urban areas in the world (from Urban geography) -
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Extent and major sites of the Indus Valley civilization of ancient India (from History of cities) -
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Mohenjo-daro, a World Heritage Site that was part of the Indus Valley civilization (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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