This paper examines the nature of city character and its role in attracting people and industry, drawing on scholarship from urban planning and geography. Beginning with the difficulty of defining "city" as a concept, the paper moves through discussions of multifaceted urban identities, the differentiation of major global cities, the phenomenon of urban downsizing, and the emergence of second cities. Key questions addressed include why some second cities succeed while others fail, and what role transportation, resources, and strategic planning play in urban development. Examples ranging from Brighton, England, to Dubai, UAE, illustrate contrasting approaches to city formation and sustainability.
The character of a city serves to attract or repel both people and industry. Caves (2005) states that the term "city" means "anything and everything" — in other words, Caves speaks of the many activities and events conducted within a city, including art, film, written publications, location, culture, institutional governance, and environmental and economic matters. Indeed, Caves describes the city as a sentient being, very much alive.
There is no definition that should be taken as a cut-and-dried, cookie-cutter account of what precisely comprises a city. Cities are extraordinarily diverse and readily differentiated from one another due to the distinct characteristics possessed by individual cities throughout the world. While some cities bear resemblances to one another, the cookie-cutter view is inaccurate. In fact, quite the opposite is true: each city's characteristics and very character are uniquely its own. As the Encyclopaedia Britannica's overview of cities reflects, urban settlements resist simple categorization across cultures and historical periods.
Gallion and Eisner (1983) state that the word "city" carries implications of "a concentration of people in a geographic area," whether that city be industrial, educational, governmental, or otherwise characterized. Cities are understood to be "commercial, industrial, financial centers" that provide jobs paying higher wages than those found in other geographic locations. Cities are also places of recreation and cultural activity, including the hosting of major sporting events.
This multifaceted nature means that no single function defines a city. Rather, the interplay of economic opportunity, cultural expression, governance, and social life together constitutes what a city is and how it is experienced by its residents and visitors alike.
Foroohar (2006) explains that cities such as New York, Tokyo, and London "dominate our imaginations" because they are associated with legendary connections to "fortune, fame, and the future." These cities are also dominant in national economies and politics. However, Foroohar (2006) argues that the dominance of these enormously populated cities is beginning to wane, as their growth rate has dropped by nearly 50% over the last half-decade and is predicted to become stagnant within the next 25 years.
This shift in urban dynamics signals a broader reorganization of how and where people choose to live and work. As global city theory has long recognized, the commanding role of a small number of mega-cities in organizing the world economy is not necessarily permanent, and alternative urban centers are increasingly gaining relevance.
"Declining growth rates and emergence of smaller cities"
"Factors determining second city success or failure"
The functional purpose of a city also formulates its character, as is the case with Dubai. Located in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dubai is characterized by aesthetic form, high functionality, and self-sustainability. While some challenges have emerged in certain aspects of the project, overall it represents an intelligently conceived and successfully developed model of urban planning and city development.
Caves, R. W. (2005). Introduction. In Caves, Encyclopedia of the City (pp. xxi–xxix). London and New York: Routledge.
Foroohar, R. (2006). Unlikely boomtowns. Retrieved from
The development of cities. (2008). City. How Stuff Works:
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