CP 101 Introduction to City Planning – Prof. H. Alshuwaikhat Definitions of Cities one classic definition states that a city is a "relatively large, dense, and permanent settlement of socially heterogeneous Individuals.“ The criteria of urbanism as: a concentration of large numbers of people, craft specialization, a redistributive economic mode, monumental public architecture, developed social stratification, the use of writing, exact and predictive sciences, naturalistic art, foreign trade, and group membership based on residence rather than kinship.

CP 101 Introduction to City Planning – Prof. H. Alshuwaikhat 10 criteria to define a city: 1.Large size and population for its time and places 2.Permanency 3.A minimum density for its time and place 4.Urban structures and layout as indicated by recognizably urban streets and spaces 5.A place where People live and work

CP 101 Introduction to City Planning – Prof. H. Alshuwaikhat 6.A minimum of specifically urban functions, which may include a market an administrative or political center, a military center, a religious center, or a center of intellectual activity with corresponding institutions 7. A hierarchical heterogeneity and differentiation 8. A center of urban economy for its time and place linking an agricultural hinterland and processing raw materials for a larger market 9. A center of services for neighboring areas 1O. A center of diffusion, having an urban way of life for its time and place.

CP 101 Introduction to City Planning – Prof. H. Alshuwaikhat However, working through this complexity eventually leads to an improved understanding of cities and urbanism so that a definition can be derived that can be applied to a larger range of settlements. Thus, a settlement can be defined as a city not In terms of particular morphological features, or even collections of features, but in terms of a particular function-that of organizing a region and creating effective space. This view now seems generally accepted.

CP 101 Introduction to City Planning – Prof. H. Alshuwaikhat Any definition of a city, to have cross cultural significance, must be in terms of a unit of settlement that in some way organizes a broader hinterland or region. It is therefore likely that cities did not suddenly spring up, There was no urban revolution they developed gradually as settlements gradually extended their organizing functions outwards. There is a progression from the house- settlement system to the settlement-settlement and settlement-region systems.

CP 101 Introduction to City Planning – Prof. H. Alshuwaikhat In other words, since human activities tend to occur in organized settings, these form a system with continuity and commonalities extending from the dwelling to the region.

CP 101 Introduction to City Planning – Prof. H. Alshuwaikhat