What makes a city a city?

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

In the UK, I think "city" status is still conferred by Parliament. I remember Preston getting it. I think a University has to be involved (although absolutely everywhere's got one of those now). Sometimes on the news from the States, in particular, there'll be a news story from such and such "city" and it"s got a population of about 1,500, which would barely be classed a village here. How do other countries do it?

[Guy Profumo]

Needs a charter (traditionally from the monarch)

Was once based on "having a cathedral", but later became more of "being a big town"

Rochester, famously of course, used to be a city, but isn't any more - when the local government was reorganised, they didn't re-apply for the charter, so the new authority lost its city status.

[Giggler]

Whatever the factors, Brechin isn't one as revealed on an episode of Pointless a while back.

[pebblethefish]

I hope all the town councillors in Preston celebrated their rise in status to city councillors by jumping in their cars and wheel-spinning past Walton-le-Dale council making wanker signs. Otherwise it would be pointless.

[ursus arctos]

In the US, status is a matter of state law, and requirements vary significantly from state to state.

Terms like city, town, and village are also used frequently without any regard to the place's formal legal status.

[sw2borshch]

Roman Catholic cathedrals don't count.

[3 Colours Red]

Roman Catholic cathedrals don't count.

This is why I was confused that Wrexham wasn't a city when I was a young 'un. I didn't know that St. Mary's was the wrong denomination.

We've applied three times anyway and unsurprisingly failed three times. Can any town beat that?

[Hot Pepsi]

In the US, status is a matter of state law, and requirements vary significantly from state to state.

Terms like city, town, and village are also used frequently without any regard to the place's formal legal status.

As I've mentioned before, Pennsylvania is mostly made up of boroughs and townships, but there are 57 cities, which are either first class, second class, second class A, or third class.
But there's only one first class city, Philadelphia (which is also a county), one second class city, Pittsburgh, one 2A city, Scranton, and then 54 third-class cities - including some really small places. It's all about their charter/home rule thing. There's also a single Town, Bloomsburg.

Massachusetts, by contrast, has lots of Towns. No boroughs or townships, as far as I know.

[Bored Of Education]

Was once based on "having a cathedral", but later became more of "being a big town"

Yes, hence weird places like St. David's, Truro and Wells being cities. Also, having an abbey counts, hence Bath being a city. Apparently, the smallest city in the world is Hum in Croatia with 27 people living there but I can't quite work out why it is a town let alone a city.

[Lang Spoon]

Perth and Stirling, recently given city status by Her Maj for her Scotch subjects, no fuckin way are they anything else but provincial big toons. They might be full of history, but they're smaller than my own one horse town. I'll allow Inverness though, it'll probably get close to 100,000 before I peg it, and does function as a regional capital.

[tee rex]

This is why I was confused that Wrexham wasn't a city when I was a young 'un. I didn't know that St. Mary's was the wrong denomination.

We've applied three times anyway and unsurprisingly failed three times. Can any town beat that?

Yeovil Town? Before re-election was abolished ...

Actually, the prospect of automatic promotion to the City League might be a useful spur to local investment. "Stoke, you're out ... come in, Basingstoke."

[Paul S]

I thought Iona was the smallest city in Britain?

[Lang Spoon]

There's only 7 recognized modern cities in Scotland: Embra, Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen as the "real" cities and then the 3 new additions since Blair. The old school cities like Elgin have no official city status anymore.

[Patrick Thistle]

I thought Iona was the smallest city in Britain?

I'd not heard that and I'm pretty sure someone would have mentioned it when I visited. If not the Ionites themselves, Mrs Thistle would have read it in the guidebook and told me.

[Southport Zeb]

Perth and Stirling, recently given city status by Her Maj for her Scotch subjects, no fuckin way are they anything else but provincial big toons. They might be full of history, but they're smaller than my own one horse town. I'll allow Inverness though, it'll probably get close to 100,000 before I peg it, and does function as a regional capital.

They are vast metropolises compared to somewhere like St Asaph, which was the Welsh elevatee for one of the queens jubilees.

[Lang Spoon]

Jesus that's teeny.

[Amor de Cosmos]

The town I live in has proposed becoming a city. It's not clear what the advantages, if any, are but everyone is certain it'll cost more money.

[EIM]

Good music. Good football. Industrial past. Tram system. Tart or cake named after it. There are probably other considerations, but I'm not interested in them and nor should you be.

[Lang Spoon]

Trams, pfft. Pissant Karlsruhe minnow city stuff, subway or at least decent s-bahn style commuter rail. And a grid plan preferably.

[EIM]

You're off your head mate.

[Lang Spoon]

Aye, probably so. Trams are still pony but. Should be a supplement to a good train and/or metro (underground in city centre of course) at most, not the main deal, that's just Thatcher's Britain value engineering your standards. If Manchester had something like the Newcastle Metro (no one sane would do a circle line like the dinky Glasgow Subway or London's oldest tube lines, so of course Stalin did just that, but massively deeper underground), and the density of suburban stations like Glasgow, then it really would be the centre of the liveable city universe. Or at least to reasonable European standards of infrastructure.

[Gerontophile]

Good music. Good football. Industrial past. Tram system. Tart or cake named after it. There are probably other considerations, but I'm not interested in them and nor should you be.

Blackpool.

[Lang Spoon]

<Applause>

[EIM]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/the-n...phone-exchange

[Lang Spoon]

What might have been, if Britain wasn't so centralised and shit and short-termist. municipal govt and infrastructural schemes a joke outside Lunnon for decades. If Europe hasn't been bombed flat in WWII, the gimcrack rubbish nature of Britain's infrastructure compared to its neighbours would have been obvious far sooner.