Spatial Definitions of the City: Four Perspectives

The extent of the city is important in a number of respects, not least in relation to the question of city size, an issue of considerable significance in urban and regional analysis. Four definitions of the city are considered here. The first involves the city as a physical entity, or the area devoted to primarily urban uses. This Built City (BC) is perhaps the most familiar perception of the city, largely because it is relatively easy to visualise. The BC forms the core or basis of each of the other three definitions of the city. These are as follows: the Consumption City (an area within which most of the consumption of goods and services occurs in the BC); the Employment City (an area in which the bulk of the employed workforce works in the BC); and the Workforce City (an area upon which the BC draws for a given majority of its labour requirements). These four definitions of the city are brought together and shown to be interrelated.