THE CITY

•WHAT’S A CITY?

•DEFFINITIONS

•CITY’S ATTRIBUTES

•A GREAT CITY

•TODAY’S CITIES

WHAT’S A CITY?

There is no one standard international definition of a city: the term may be used either for a town possessing city status; for an urban locality exceeding an arbitrary population size; for a town dominating other towns with particular regional economic or administrative significance. Although city can refer to an agglomeration including suburban an distinct d satellite areas, the term is not appropriate for a conurbation of urban places, nor for a wider metropolitan area including more than one city, each acting as a focus for parts of the area.

A city is an urban area with high population density. The population of a city can vary from a few hundred people up to ten million. It usually consists of residential, industrial and business areas together with administrative functions

The city is an important agglomeration, organized for collective life and in which a significant portion of the population lives off-farm activities

The political concept applies to the city as an urban conglomerated institution (capital) that has greater importance in the region. The term applies to any administrative body with some autonomy at the level of municipality.

DEFINITIONS

Economical concept: A city is a spatial organization of people and specialized activities. It’s designed to maximize local trade; the city is the best way to link

social and economic activities for the maximum benefit of all.

Physical and tangible aspects of the city: circulations, gutters, landscaping, public spaces, zoning, etc. If we see the city in this way we can define it as a living entity and people are a part of it.

The city is a place where man lives and relates to others identified by a specific cultural form, but the city is more than

that.

In the religious concept, both in the High Middle Ages and in other periods as the Renaissance and before the twelfth century, it was only a city the one that had a cathedral, in the past cathedrals were also schools.

All these “city” definitions are just talking about a part thereof; they referred to a specific aspect and ignore the other aspects that can focus on the city, which are many.

If we put together all of those concepts we can say:

The city is an autonomous entity that contains the public services, administrative agencies; it provides security, backup and order to their inhabitants and it allows the development of the multiplicity of human

activities in their daily lives as work, spirituality, leisure, entertainment and

expression.

Functional specializations

Urban concentration – human activities

Centrality

Density –the city has always been place

of the dense concentration of inhabitants

Heterogeneity – cultural, economical and architectural diversity

CITY’S ATTRIBUTES

CITY’S ATTRIBUTES

Tolerance - diversity, unusual

Urban theatricality –the city is the stage of the citizens’ daily lives

Urban culture – the city is

constantly changing along history,

it also creates behavior- development

of individual consciousness

Exchange

A GREAT CITY HAS:• IntegrationConnection and overlap with surrounding areas.

• Functional efficiencyIndividual elements (buildings, streets, open space etc) work together as part of an efficient whole.

• Environmental harmony Its forms are energy efficient and ecologically sensitive.

• A sense of placeSomewhere that is recognizably distinct but simultaneously strengthens local identity.

• Commercial viabilityIt responds to the realities of market influence on development mix and delivery.

Cities play an important role in all our lives today and in the years ahead. After the industrial revolution, urban centers grew rapidly and over the past 50 years there has been an explosion" in the growth of cities, both in their numbers and in their size. Cities have always been at the center of economic growth, technological advances and cultural production. But their rapid growth has also brought negative things: urban violence and poverty, homelessness, overcrowding and health problems, pollution and waste. Cities have had a great impact on our lives and on world civilization in general. They are becoming more and more important as their sizes and numbers grow. By the 21st century, it is estimated that half the world's population will be living in cities.

TODAY’S CITY

REFERENCES

http://ecolocalizer.com/2009/07/08/what-is-a-good-city/

http://www.urbandesigncompendium.co.uk/public/documents/Chapter%203%20Creating%20the%20urban%20structure_1.pdf

http://www.wordiq.com/definition/City

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City