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...)

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The Nile, 6th October Bridge and Downtown from Cairo Tower on Gezira Island

Cairo (/ˈkaɪroʊ/ ^ⓘ KY-roh; Arabic: القاهرة, romanized: al-Qāhirah, Egyptian Arabic: [el‿ˈqɑːheɾɑ] ^ⓘ) is the capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world, and the Middle East. The Greater Cairo metropolitan area is one of the largest in the world by population with over 22.2 million people.

The area that would become Cairo was part of ancient Egypt, as the Giza pyramid complex and the ancient cities of Memphis and Heliopolis are near-by. Located near the Nile Delta, the predecessor settlement was Fustat following the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 641 next to an existing ancient Roman fortress, Babylon. Subsequently, Cairo was founded by the Fatimid dynasty in 969. It later superseded Fustat as the main urban centre during the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods (12th–16th centuries). (Full article...)

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Did you know -

... that Huntsville, Alabama, is nicknamed Rocket City?
... that the San Francisco nightclub City Nights was the target of bombing threats by an alleged supporter of the Islamic State?
... that New York City's Barbizon Hotel hosted its first male guests on Valentine's Day in 1981 after operating as a women-only hotel for more than five decades?
... that a local newspaper hosted a beauty pageant to celebrate the opening of New York City's Queensboro Bridge?
... that the New York City Board of Estimate voted to demolish Fort Clinton six times before the fort became a U.S. national monument?
... that because of New York City's Summer Streets program, Park Avenue in Manhattan has no motor traffic in three mornings in August?

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

San Diego County, California, has been called "the Craft Beer Capital of America". As of 2018, 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...)

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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.

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 liberal PR professional Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall), the more conservative art dealer Charlotte York (Kristin Davis) and the cynical lawyer Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon). (Full article...)

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General images -

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

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Cities
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