What is the difference between a town and a city?

sue943

Where? It could differ from country to country. In the UK normally, but not exclusively, a city will have a cathedral. I can remember when Southampton was changed to being a city instead of a town, Southampton doesn't have a cathedral. Go to Google and search 'define:city' Oct 16 05, 6:55 AM

my_baby_love

Population is generaly key in defining a city from a town. Oct 16 05, 7:06 AM

MaggieG 5

And yet I've been to a couple of cities in the USA with a population of less than 10,000. And I daresay there are some with even less than that! And what about St. David's in Wales which has a population of only 1,600? And Wells in Somerset which has a population of less than 15,000? Oct 16 05, 7:41 AM

sue943

St David's and Wells both have cathedrals so they are cities. Oct 16 05, 7:46 AM

MaggieG 5

But Newport had a cathedral for years before it was declared a city in 2002. I think there are some anomalies in our system. Oct 16 05, 8:30 AM

TabbyTom

The webpage below gives details of what city status means in the UK today. Nowadays, a town becomes a city by virtue of letters patent issued by the sovereign. This usually happens after a competition, often organized to mark some “milestone” like the end of the second millennium or a royal jubilee or anniversary. A number of towns are called cities by “prescriptive usage”, i.e. they’ve been known as cities for centuries, and so the title is recognized even if there’s no charter or letters patent. When the Christian church established itself in Britain, it naturally set up its bishops’ sees in what were then the main towns. Many of these towns are no longer as important as they were, but because of their former pre-eminence they became cities (possibly by prescriptive usage). So there’s a widespread belief that a cathedral makes a city, but (as you can see from the webpage) this isn’t strictly true. http://www.dca.gov.uk/constitution/city/citygj.htm Oct 16 05, 8:56 AM

MaggieG 5

But what about the USA? There seem to be a great many more cities there than in Britain. What constitutes a city in America? Oct 16 05, 9:46 AM

daddy1161992

Cities in both U.K. and U.S. have to be incorporated, and approved by the State, or the Crown Oct 16 05, 10:01 AM

lanfranco

In the U.S., "city" and "town" can be used interchangeably, depending on simple local custom. The suburb (of a good-sized city) in which my mother lives is incorporated as a city itself and is always referred to as one, though its population is about 9,000. Her hometown, with a population of 12,000, is also incorporated but is described by most of its residents as a town. An unscientific poll of persons visiting my household this morning turned up the prevailing view that a "real" U.S. city has to have a population of 50,000 or more. Anything smaller calling itself a city is suffering from delusions of grandeur. Oct 16 05, 10:59 AM

gmackematix

In summary, there is no international standard definition of city, even in the English speaking world so when reference works specifically call a place a city or town there will often be a degree of arbitrariness about it. In the UK, a city is strictly defined as a town which has been known as a city since time immemorial or which has since been granted the right to call itself a city by a charter. The presence of a cathedral may affect the decision to confer this status but is not a necessity. In the US, many small places have optimistically had city put in the name in the hope that they would grow into such. Interestingly, parts of cities in the US are now calling themselves "Village" to make themselves seem more amenable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City Oct 16 05, 12:18 PM

Flynn_17

Regarding Sue's post, Leeds doesn't have a cathedral, and we're the third biggest metropolitan area in the country, so it's not all about churches anymore... Oct 16 05, 12:44 PM

sue943

Flynn - See what I wrote about Southampton, I can remember the day the town became a city. As you will see from my post, it doesn't have a cathedral. Oct 16 05, 4:41 PM

gmackematix

For the record (once again): UK cities without cathedrals include: Bath, Cambridge, Hull, Lancaster, Newport, Nottingham, Plymouth, Salford, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent and Wolverhampton. UK towns (and one village) with cathedrals that aren't cities include: Bury St Edmunds, Chelmsford, Blackburn, Guildford and Southwell. Clearly, I mean Anglican cathedral, as several towns without city status (like Shrewsbury near me) have Catholic cathedrals. Oct 16 05, 5:11 PM

gmackematix

Sorry, Maggie. The city of Newport does indeed have an Anglican cathedral. However, I missed the cathedral town of St Asaph's. They haven't had city status conferred on them and they are not happy about it. Oct 16 05, 6:08 PM

Arpeggionist

In Israel, most cities are defined as such once they get a population of 20,000. This is unless the settlement in question is already defined as a kibbutz or a moshav, which have definitions of their own. I would venture a guess and say that a very small percentage of cities worldwide have cathedrals. Oct 17 05, 5:15 AM

stats741

Try http://www.lovemytown.co.uk Oct 31 05, 9:16 AM

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