The word “city” is generally used to describe a large and important town. Every country has a capital city, where its government is based. Other large cities have grown up around industries and the services that go with them, such as ports, shops, transport and offices.
Cities first developed in the ancient world, in those places where farming had become so efficient that not everybody had to work on the land. Some people became craft-workers, priests or teachers instead. The cities brought together many people with skills and new ideas. The emergence of cities marked the beginning of civilization (from the Latin civis, meaning citizen, a city-dweller).
Some cities developed from market towns, local trading centres. People came from the countryside to sell their produce at the market. If that town was favourably positioned – for example, at a place where a river could be bridged or near a natural harbor – it grew as more and more people came to live and work there.
The Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries provided a major boost for the expansion of cities. Large cities grew up around the new factories and ports, where jobs much better paid than in the countryside were on offer.
Cities have continued to grow up to the present day and some have become merged to become a super city or “megalopolis” where many millions of people live and work. The region of the eastern USA from Boston via New York and Philadelphia to Washington is an example of a megalopolis. Cities cover only 2 per cent of the world’s surface but use 75 Per cent of its resources. It is estimated that two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities by 2025.
The fastest-growing cities today are in the developing world. Many people from poor rural districts go to cities where they hope to find work and a better life. Home to 24 million people, Mexico City is one of the world’s largest cities. Cities with such large populations face serious overcrowding and high unemployment when work is short.
The world’s largest city is the supercity of Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan. Space for building is limited in this mountainous country, although some land has been “reclaimed” from the sea. Tokyo’s facilities, including its underground railway, hotels and swimming pools, for example, are often overcrowded.
The Italian city of Venice was built on islands in a shallow bay, called a lagoon, of the Adriatic Sea. The city has canals instead of streets, so you cannot take a car there. People travel in boats called gondolas or catch a water bus called a vaporetto. Venice was once an independent state with a ruler called a Doge. The Bridge of Sighs crossed from the Doge’s Palace to the prison.
New York in the United States of America is a city of skyscrapers. It was built on the island of Manhattan. Like other island cities such as Hong Kong, room to expand was limited, so the only alternative was to build upwards. New York is the largest city in the USA and the nation’s leading seaport one of the world’s leading financial centres is New York’s Wall Street.
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