GAR3TH:

A small town, even if they are capitals, are still considered towns even in the western world. The administrative name for any settlement, despite its population is considered a city.  But people refer to towns, hamlets, villages or cities by their population and economic activity. There are suburban towns with populations of 330,000 but they are not referred to as cities because they don't have major economic activity, influence and other factors.

But what a city is can not really be defined. They way I define a city is by comparing. We all know lagos is a true city, so just compare lagos to other towns and see if those towns can be called a city. In reality you'll find that nigeria only has about 10 true cities.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islip_(town),_New_York

population 322,612, GDP ~ 1 billion still considered a town

Do you know of any country in the world where a state capital is better described as a town than a city? Am curious. Thanks. Yes, population alone does not completely make a city.

What could be your ten true cities in Nigeria? That makes it even worse than the title of my thread which gives 36 cities + Abuja (And Yenagoa?) and the few commercial cities I mentioned.

did someone write here that kano is not cosmopolitan? i laugh.

Nchara:

Do you know of any country in the world where a state capital is better described as a town than a city? Am curious. Thanks. Yes, population alone does not completely make a city.

Like I said any administrative settlement can be called a city but People refer to them as hamlets, towns, villages or cities. You cant look me in the eye and call yenagoa, Dutse, Abakaliki or Osogbo cities. A town of 9 people can be called a city, but is it really a city? no, you can not sit there and tell me a capital with 9 people is a city. People will refer to it as a town/ village.

What could be your ten true cities in Nigeria? That makes it even worse than the title of my thread which gives 36 cities + Abuja (And Yenagoa?) and the few commercial cities I mentioned.

Like I said previously just compare True Cities like Lagos, Johannesburg, Casablanca, Toronto, DC etc. to those in Nigeria. If your going to call something a city then it should infact match up to other cities around the world right? Even though they are underdeveloped you can look at Lagos, Ibadan, Benin, Port harcourt, Kaduna and kano and actually call them cities. The rest will be considered large towns.

Remember like I showed before, There are suburban towns in the USA with populations of 300,000 plus and GDP of over a billion and they are still considered towns. But some how the same thing in Nigeria people are calling them cities 

GAR3TH:

Like I said any administrative settlement can be called a city but People refer to them as hamlets, towns, villages or cities. You cant look me in the eye and call yenagoa, Dutse, Abakaliki or Osogbo cities. A town of 9 people can be called a city, but is it really a city? no, you can not sit there and tell me a capital with 9 people is a city. People will refer to it as a town/ village.

But none of those cities have a pop less than 100K. I agree that Yenagoa has an issue with overal development. Except for the fact of being state capitals, none of those pass my own personal test of a city. Including Ado Ekiti and many northern state capitals

Like I said previously just compare True Cities like Lagos, Johannesburg, Casablanca, Toronto, DC etc. to those in Nigeria. If your going to call something a city then it should infact match up to other cities around the world right? Nigerian cities would be Lagos, Ibadan, Benin, Port harcourt, Kaduna and kano. The rest will be considered large towns.

Remember like I showed before, There are suburban towns in the USA with populations of 300,000 plus and GDP of over a billion and they are still considered towns. But some how the same thing in Nigeria people are calling them cities 

I do not see how you will classify Ibadan, Benin and Port Harcourt as cities and not Enugu. What are your criteria? You even left out Abuja lol.

If based on Johannesburg, Casablanca, Toronto, DC, then only Lagos (in part) and Abuja fit into the category.

This Nchara guy is being Delusional, compareing Okene , to  Idanre or some other unknown vicinity.

A city is MOSTLY defined on Basis of population.

BTW:That a place is a small town of 50,000, with all the Paved roads, Light rails, Bullet trains, high rises of this world, wont make it a city, if it doesen't have the required population,

[QUOTE]I do not see how you will classify Ibadan, Benin and Port Harcourt as cities and not Enugu. What are your criteria? You even left out Abuja lol.[/QUOTE]

At least, you get the Idea.

U dont expect him to be 1001% articulate.  

scholes0:

This Nchara guy is being Delusional, compareing Okene , to  Idanre or some other unknown vicinity.

A city is MOSTLY defined on Basis of population.

BTW:That a place is a small town of 50,000, with all the Paved roads, Light rails, Bullet trains, high rises of this world, wont make it a city, if it doesen't have the required population,

so okene is a city by your definition?

[QUOTE]why do I have a feeling your replying based on ethnic sentiment [/QUOTE]

Exactly,

scholes0:

This Nchara guy is being Delusional, compareing Okene , to  Idanre or some other unknown vicinity.

A city is MOSTLY defined on Basis of population.

BTW:That a place is a small town of 50,000, with all the Paved roads, Light rails, Bullet trains, high rises of this world, wont make it a city, if it doesen't have the required population,

If we use the US as a yardstick (which I am trying hard to avoid since this thread is about Nigeria), a place of even 30K people with all those facilities you listed above is a city. Please check out American cities. And please tone down on the insults okay? I can only continue replying you if you are civil enough. Thanks.

[QUOTE]so okene is a city by your definition?
[/QUOTE]

O Yes, It qualifies Very well as one.
I don't know where people got this idea that a city has to be Laden all over with skyscrapers, to qualify as one, Lmao
Let Okene build 10 brand new Inner city roads, an offcial CBD, and some 5 high rises now, people will start saying something entirely different.

GAR3TH:

Nchara why do I have a feeling your replying based on ethnic sentiment 

It is your prerogative to have any feeling you wish to have. I would like that you explain how Kano, Kaduna, Benin PH and Ibadan would be cities and Enugu not.
I am leaving Lagos and Abuja out of it for obvious reasons.

Pray tell,

What is the obvious reason for leaving Lagos out? Or do you really believe that the Federal govt did all the development in Lagos? Or can you not see development still happening.

[QUOTE]If we use the US as a yardstick (which I am trying hard to avoid since this thread is about Nigeria), a place of even 30K people with all those facilities you listed above is a city. Please check out American cities. And please tone down on the insults okay? I can only continue replying you if you are civil enough. Thanks.
[/QUOTE]

Look, I dont even need to reply you anymore.
Just go to google and type in the word ''city''

There is no general consensus in English language, on what a city must specifically have, but in ALL definations However, Population is the single most important factor.
If Facilities were the single most defining factors, then most sub-urban towns would qualify as CITIES, While dilapidated city centers, would not.

JamesDoe:

Pray tell,

What is the obvious reason for leaving Lagos out? Or do you really believe that the Federal govt did all the development in Lagos? Or can you not see development still happening.

Who is leaving Lagos out?
Even if the feds did all the development, does that make Lagos not a city?

If there is something bigger than a city, then by all means Lagos deserves that (by Nigerian standards still)

scholes0:

Look, I dont even need to reply you anymore.
Just go to google and type in the word ''city''

There is no general consensus in English language, on what a city must specifically have, but in ALL definations However, Population is the single most important factor.
If Facilities were the single most defining factors, then most sub-urban towns would qualify as CITIES, While dilapidated city centers, would not.

Duh! If only you will read, you would have noticed that I maintain that pop is impt but not the only factor, and no where have I sad facilities are either. There is no where on the internet where you can show me that pop is the only important consideration. Okay?

There are rural areas in china and India with over 1 million pop.
What is the pop a place has to have to be considered a city? (This is fluid because there is no number as a consensus). It can range from some odd 3K to millions.
How many Nigerian cities meet that specific number if any number can be said to be specific?

You grouped Lagos with Abuja. And then said "for obvious reasons". That's the bit I was curious about.

The World Bank is yet to define a city, but uses a "generally accepted" basis.

If you want a Nairaland definition it would be hard.  Some will argue that Maiduguri is a city, whilst others would say no!

Is Ikeja a city? But it's GDP is more than some states in Nigeria. What about Lokoja?

JamesDoe:

You grouped Lagos with Abuja. And then said "for obvious reasons". That's the bit I was curious about.

The World Bank is yet to define a city, but uses a "generally accepted" basis.

If you want a Nairaland definition it would be hard.  Some will argue that Maiduguri is a city, whilst others would say no!

Is Ikeja a city? But it's GDP is more than some states in Nigeria. What about Lokoja?

Those two (Lag and Abuja) are on a different level in Nigeria than other cities/towns. That is obvious enough.
GDP would be a poor yardstick to call a place a city.

What makes a city is functional not infrastructural. The commercial activities going on in Ibadan beats that of a lot of cities in Nigeria in fact, only cities in Ibadan's league are Kano, Lagos, Onitcha and Aba. Coupled with Cultural activities and socio political activities, Aba, Onitcha won't be in Ibadan's league because Onitcha/Aba hold no political/cultural relevance within their region that isn't trumped  by the capitals of the states they are in.

I can't believe some people are basing the definition of a city primarily on popolation. How can that be when there are cities with less than 100 thousand people in the US. Other variables need to be considered in order for a place to be called a city.

9jaganja:

What makes a city is functional not infrastructural. The commercial activities going on in Ibadan beats that of a lot of cities in Nigeria in fact, only cities in Ibadan's league are Kano, Lagos, Onitcha and Aba. Coupled with Cultural activities and socio political activities, Aba, Onitcha won't be in Ibadan's league because Onitcha/Aba hold no political/cultural relevance within their region that isn't trumped  by the capitals of the states they are in.

Are you sure?

9jaganja:

What makes a city is functional not infrastructural. The commercial activities going on in Ibadan beats that of a lot of cities in Nigeria in fact, only cities in Ibadan's league are Kano, Lagos, Onitcha and Aba. Coupled with Cultural activities and socio political activities, Aba, Onitcha won't be in Ibadan's league because Onitcha/Aba hold no political/cultural relevance within their region that isn't trumped  by the capitals of the states they are in.

You are right in many places but no one is comparing cities here. We are saying that our states have [b]mostly [/b]one city in them. Is this wrong or right?

The uniqueness of Ibadan (capital city, population and SIGNIFICANT commerce/industry all rolled in one) is exactly the same reason why I would not consider ogbomosho a city. Only few cities such as PH, Kano, Kaduna, Benin to mention a few will compare to Ibadan in that uniqueness described above.  

The downside to that is that those states are saddled with one-city state structures.

Abia, Anambra, Delta and a few others are unique in their own way in that they have the admin cities separated from the business/industrial cities
Culture does not make a city, I believe. Every group has their own culture and no culture is superior to the other.

Like Lagos, Ibadan deserves to be in two different cities
The fact that everything is rolled into one there may be the reason for its arrested development. It should have been bigger than it is now.

However the different towns in Lagos have confluenced  so much that you cannot get two cities out of it. Thus, Lagos is now a conurbation

What is the definition of a city, if you aren't using population?

In particular, what separates a town from a city?

(someone can kindly point me to a post where this term was defined, if this was done earlier in the thread)

Are city is a relatively large and populated area.

City Country City Population Urban Area Population Urban Area Rank(world)
Lagos Nigeria 8029200     9123200                       27

Cairo Egypt 7764700      15546100                        10

Kinshasa Congo Dem 6301100 7527500                         35

Alexandria Egypt 3806300      4345800                         62

Casablanca Morocco 3344300 3344300                   95

Abidjan Cote d' Ivoire 3310500 3972300                     70

Kano Nigeria 3248700          3519500            88

Ibadan Nigeria 3078400          3670400              78

Cape Town South Africa 2686000  3086600               107

Addis Ababa Ethiopia 2638500   2638500                132

http://www.mongabay.com/igapo/Africa_cities.htm

Poster,

What does it really matter if you call a settlement a town or city?
The problem in Nigeria is underdevelopment. A person living in Ikot, Jalingo, Lagos, Kano, Aba, Ibadan all have the same proplem of poor water and electricity supply.

Gemany is one of the most developed countries. Someone  living in Essen, Munich, Berlin, Wiesbaden, Hamburg,  Paderborn or Freising  can be sure of basic facilities of high quality. Now these Cities and towns vary a lot in population and size but living  standard is high all over.

So we should focus on how to develop the whole country, then it wouldn't bea big deal if  city or town.

Jigawa:

Dutse, Hadeija, Gumel.

Abeokuta a town of over 500,000 vs Oklahoma a city of over 500,000

marabout:

Poster,

What does it really matter if you call a settlement a town or city?
The problem in Nigeria is underdevelopment. A person living in Ikot, Jalingo, Lagos, Kano, Aba, Ibadan all have the same proplem of poor water and electricity supply.

Gemany is one of the most developed countries. Someone  living in Essen, Munich, Berlin, Wiesbaden, Hamburg,  Paderborn or Freising  can be sure of basic facilities of high quality. Now these Cities and towns vary a lot in population and size but living  standard is high all over.

So we should focus on how to develop the whole country, then it wouldn't bea big deal if  city or town.

Hell no!!!

A city has more facilities and amenities than other town and villages.

If you transfer the facilities and amenities in Lagos to Jalingo.

The people in Jalingo will be living fat.

Abagworo:

Abeokuta a town of over 500,000 vs Oklahoma a city of over 500,000

Abeokuta is the largest city and capital of Ogun State.

emmatok:

Abeokuta is the largest city and capital of Ogun State.

The picture clearly shows the difference between a cluster of houses and a city.I used the two examples because they have equal population.

Abagworo:

Abeokuta a town of over 500,000 vs Oklahoma a city of over 500,000

If we are to use infrastructures then many countries dont deserve to be a State in the US

Why would infrastructures be a criteria when we are discussing a continent like Africa.

The singular most important thing(about 80%) when Categorizing cities is the POPULATION.

Timbuktu was undoubtedly a city in the 1800 even though it didnt have Skyscrapers