Chapter 2:

What is a City?
What is a “sustainable city”?
“a city designed, built, and managed in a manner
where all its citizens are able to meet their own needs
without endangering the well-being of other people, now
or in the future”
Definition of a City:

• Cities can be defined as those areas where people can easily get good
education, health, and other socio-economic facilities.
• Collection of buildings for economic (commercial) or living purposes.

• Cities are “concentrations of many people located close together for

residential and productive purposes.

• Cities are places in which population density is greater than the rural
areas of the countries.

• An area with relatively high population density that contains a set of

closely related activities.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A CITY:

• Densely populated

• Heterogeneous

• Source of economic activities

• Access to resources

• Defensive capabilities

• Ease of transportation

• Potential for trade

• Historic significance
 Two Kinds of Cities:

Micropolitan City:
A city having population size of less than 10,000 is known as
micropolitan city.

Metropolitan City:
A city having population size of 50,000 is known as metropolitan
city.
Tokyo is the most populous metropolitan city of the world
TYPES OF CITIES:

• Cosmopolitan City: -A city having heterogeneous

population belonging to different cultures, nations,
religions is known as Cosmopolitan City.

• Planned Cities – Built through proper planning

• Commercial Cities – Based on trade

• Sacred Cities – Grows based on a person, place or event

• Colonial Cities – Built to support colonial powers

Planned City:

A planned community or planned city is a city, town, or community that was

carefully planned from its inception (beginning) and is typically constructed in
those areas which has multiple benefits e.g location, environment and etc.
Several of the world's capital cities are planned cities, including Washington, D.C.
in the United States, Canberra in Australia, Brasília in Brazil, New Delhi in India,
Abuja in Nigeria and Islamabad in Pakistan

Beijing, China Mumbai, India

SACRED CITIES – Grows based on a person, place
or event

Jerusalem - Sacred
COLONIAL CITIES: – Built to support colonial
powers

Mumbai - Colonial
Commercial Cities – Based on trade, e.g. Dubai
Why are cities interesting
to Economists:

•Innovation:
People share ideas and develop new products and production
techniques.
•Learning in Cities:
Contacts in a city facilitate the exchange of knowledge.
•Production in Cities:
Cities provide economies of scale that make the production of goods
and services more efficient.
•Trade in Cities:
Cities are a gathering place for buyers and sellers: they facilitate trade.
•Consumption in Cities:
Since there are more consumers in cities, there will be demand for
many goods and services.
ADVANTAGES OF CITIES TO HOUSEHOLD:

Educational Facilities:
There are greater facilities of education in cities as
compared to villages. One can get higher education in Urban areas.

Job Opportunities:
There are greater job opportunities for unemployed people in Urban
areas as compared to rural areas where mostly people are employed in
agriculture sectors.

Health Facilities:
Cities have greater health facilites as compared to rural areas. Specialist
doctors are available in city. Hospitals are open day and night.
Business Opportunities:
As cities are the centers of business so it has greater
opportunites for business. One can start its own business
and can become good businessman.
Career Growth:
Besides an ordinary job, one can have career growth in urban
areas as large business firms operate their business in the urban
areas.
Personality Development:
Living in a developed city people tries to develop their
personalities because of competition.
Security of life:
Mostly the people in cities feel secure because there are no
enmities in the urban areas as compared to rural areas.
ADVANTAGES OF CITIES TO FIRMS:

Infrastructure Facilities:
Cities have good infrastructure facilities like road, energy
resources etc which is very important for operation of business
firms.
Outsourcing:
If a firm is located in industrial zone, it can take advantage of other
firms for outsourcing (contract out).
outsource ; if a company, organization etc. outsources its work, it
employs another company to do it
Benchmarking:
Benchmarking is the process of studying the best and
becoming best. Firms can be studying other firms and
can learn from their experience.
benchmark ; to use a company's good performance
as a standard by which to judge the performance of
other companies of the same type .
Skilled Employees:
One major advantage of cities to firms is that they can easily find
skilled employees near the plant.
Nearness to the Market:
If a firm is located in city, it is near to the market. The
transportation cost of the product to supply it to the market will
be low so the price of the product will be low which will give
competitive edge to the firm over its competitor.
Close Eye on Competitors:
If a firm is located in city, it will be near to the market and it will
have a close eye on the activities of competitor i.e. How the
competitor is distributing the product, what sales promotion
techniques are it using, what research activities it is carrying out.
DIS-ADVANTAGES OF CITIES :

Urban Poverty and Unemployment:

One of the basic dis-advantages of city is that urbanization
sometimes promote poverty and unemployment. As population
increases in the city, poverty and unemployment increases in city.
Urban Housing Problems:
As the population in the city increases,
the demand for the houses increases
while its supply remains less elastic
therefore, the rents of the houses in the
cities increases and it has become a
serious problem for the people living
in the urban areas.
Traffic Congestion:
One of the basic problem in urban
area is that of traffic congestion.
One has to stick for hours in traffic
jam due to large number of vehicle
on a road of low capacity or due to
construction or some accident.
Urban Crime:
As the size of city increases, the crime rate also increases with the
size of the city.
Crime in urban area is mainly due to urban poverty and
unemployment. The unemployed youngsters often join gangs or
commit individual crime like stealing etc
Air Pollution:

One of the major problem in cities is that of air pollution caused by the emission
from industries and traffic.
Urbanization also responsible for;

Higher prices of real estate

Increased transportation costs

Increased costs of infrastructure – water, sewage

• Thanks