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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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Alexandria (/ˌælɪɡˈzændriə, -ˈzɑːn-/ AL-ig-ZA(H)N-dree-ə; Arabic: الإسكندرية; Greek: Ἀλεξάνδρεια, Coptic: Ⲣⲁⲕⲟϯ - Rakoti or ⲁⲗⲉⲝⲁⲛⲇⲣⲓⲁ) is the second largest city in Egypt and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile River delta. Founded in c. 331 BC by Alexander the Great, Alexandria grew rapidly and became a major centre of Hellenic civilisation, eventually replacing Memphis, in present-day Greater Cairo, as Egypt's capital. Called the "Bride of the Mediterranean" internationally, Alexandria is a popular tourist destination and an important industrial centre due to its natural gas and oil pipelines from Suez.

The city extends about 40 km (25 mi) along the northern coast of Egypt and is the largest city on the Mediterranean, the second-largest in Egypt (after Cairo), the fourth-largest city in the Arab world, the ninth-largest city in Africa, and the ninth-largest urban area in Africa. (Full article...)

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... that U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Melville Fuller's mustache was denounced as "deplorable" by the New York Sun, which claimed that it distracted lawyers and debased the court's dignity?
... that the Engineers' Club Building and Engineering Societies' Building in New York City were described in the mid-20th century as "the engineering crossroads of the world"?
... that in the 1909 election to the city council of Surabaya, less than 1 percent of the population was enrolled to vote?
... that a 1 a.m. phone call resulted in financier George D. Gould joining the efforts to stave off New York City's near-bankruptcy in 1975?
... that the building housing the city council of Palembang, Indonesia, was claimed to be the "grandest" of its kind?
... that when part of New York City's Hotel Riverview became a theater, some people thought that the hotel's overflowing toilets and leaky ceilings were part of the show there?

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Scarborough (/ˈskɑːrbʌroʊ/; 2021 Census 629,941) is a district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is situated atop the Scarborough Bluffs in the eastern part of the city. Its borders are Victoria Park Avenue to the west, Steeles Avenue and the city of Markham to the north, Rouge River and the city of Pickering to the east, and Lake Ontario to the south. Scarborough was named after the English town of Scarborough, North Yorkshire, inspired by its cliffs.

Scarborough, which was settled by Europeans in the 1790s, has grown from a collection of small rural villages and farms to become fully urbanized with a diverse cultural community. Incorporated in 1850 as a township, The district became part of Metropolitan Toronto in 1953 and was reconstituted as a borough in 1967. The borough rapidly developed as a suburb of Toronto over the next decade and became a city in 1983. In 1998, the city and the rest of Metropolitan Toronto were amalgamated into the present city of Toronto. The Scarborough Civic Centre – the former city's last seat of government – is now used by the municipal government of Toronto. (Full article...)

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City status in the United Kingdom is granted by the monarch of the United Kingdom to specific centres of population, which might or might not meet the generally accepted definition of cities. , there are 76 cities in the United Kingdom—55 in England, seven in Wales, eight in Scotland, and six in Northern Ireland. Although it carries no special rights, the status of city can be a marker of prestige and confer local pride.

The status does not apply automatically on the basis of any particular criterion, though in England and Wales it was traditionally given to towns with diocesan cathedrals. This association between having an Anglican cathedral and being called a city was established in the early 1540s when King Henry VIII founded dioceses (each having a cathedral in the see city) in six English towns and granted them city status by issuing letters patent. A city with a cathedral is often termed a cathedral city. (Full article...)

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