NeantHumain wrote:
It's hard to say whether I live in a city or a town. I know in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. First of all, when I think of the concept of city, my hometown of St. Louis is a definite reference point. Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, California; San Francisco, California; New York, New York; Washington, D.C.; London, England; Paris, France; Tokyo, Japan; Mexico City, Mexico; Moscow, Russia; Jerusalem, Israel/Palestine; and Rome, Italy, also definitely fit this concept. For me, this concept of city fits the whole urbanized region and does not necessarily coincide with political boundaries. Thus, I can say the city I am from is St. Louis, Missouri.
As my knowledge grew, I realized cities weren't just the densely populated areas with tall skyscrapers at their center and rings of rundown buildings around those. They are also local areas of jurisdiction. You can see "City Limit" signs alongside the road for many small cities in the middle of no where. Numerous cities bump up next to one another in the highly developed metropolitan areas in the United States of America.
A third conception of city I have is in relation to suburbs and country. The city is the oldest part with the rundown buildings, skyscrapers, and attractions. Around that are the suburbs, where the streets are wider and the buildings not as tall. Beyond this is the country, that seemingly endless stretch of farmland, patches of trailers, small towns, and woodlands beyond the urbanized area.
I live in an unincorporated part of St. Louis County, Missouri, which means I do not live in any kind of municipality or city jurisdictionally. I might call the specific suburb I live in a town, but there aren't any formally defined boundaries for it since urbanized parts of the St. Louis area that go by other names blend into it.
I thought a city was any town that has a cathedral. Is this the same all over the world?
edit - only in England, I now know.