states using a minimum between 1,500 and 5,000 inhabitants. Common population definitions for an urban area (city or town) range between 1,500 and 50,000 people, with most U.S. Typical working definitions for small-city populations start at around 100,000 people. National censuses use a variety of definitions - invoking factors such as population, population density, number of dwellings, economic function, and infrastructure - to classify populations as urban. The term can also refer either to the physical streets and buildings of the city or to the collection of people who dwell there, and can be used in a general sense to mean urban rather than rural territory. ДЄ city can be distinguished from other human settlements by its relatively great size, but also by its functions and its special symbolic status, which may be conferred by a central authority. Palitana represents the city's symbolic function in the extreme, devoted as it is to Jain temples. The cities of Jericho, Faiyum, Damascus, Athens, Aleppo and Argos are among those laying claim to the longest continual inhabitation. Religious holy sites offer another example of capital status within a religion, Jerusalem, Mecca, Varanasi, Ayodhya, Haridwar and Prayagraj each hold significance. Some historic capitals, such as Kyoto, maintain their reflection of cultural identity even without modern capital status. reflect the identity and apex of their respective nations. For example, country capitals such as Beijing, London, Mexico City, Moscow, Nairobi, New Delhi, Paris, Rome, Athens, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. Other important traits of cities besides population include the capital status and relative continued occupation of the city. However, this concentration can also have significant negative consequences, such as forming urban heat islands, concentrating pollution, and stressing water supplies and other resources.

Therefore, compact cities are often referred to as a crucial element of fighting climate change. Due to the efficiency of transportation and the smaller land consumption, dense cities hold the potential to have a smaller ecological footprint per inhabitant than more sparsely populated areas. Because of these major influences on global issues, the international community has prioritized investment in sustainable cities through Sustainable Development Goal 11. This increased influence means that cities also have significant influences on global issues, such as sustainable development, global warming and global health. However, in a world of intensifying globalisation, all cities are to varying degrees also connected globally beyond these regions.

Present-day cities usually form the core of larger metropolitan areas and urban areas-creating numerous commuters traveling towards city centres for employment, entertainment, and education. Historically, city-dwellers have been a small proportion of humanity overall, but following two centuries of unprecedented and rapid urbanization, more than half of the world population now lives in cities, which has had profound consequences for global sustainability. Their density facilitates interaction between people, government organisations and businesses, sometimes benefiting different parties in the process, such as improving efficiency of goods and service distribution. Cities generally have extensive systems for housing, transportation, sanitation, utilities, land use, production of goods, and communication. It can be defined as a permanent and densely settled place with administratively defined boundaries whose members work primarily on non-agricultural tasks. Left to right, from top: Westminster Palace in London, Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo, painting of Boulevard Montmartre in Paris by Camille Pissarro, the Rocinha favela in Rio de Janeiro, 6th Avenue in Manhattan, Aerial view of Mumbai, Hong Kong, the SГЈo Paulo MetroДЄ city is a large human settlement.

Ancient cities in the world