Primate city

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please
help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced
material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Primate city" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May
2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

A primate city (Latin: 'prime', 'first rank'[1]) is the largest city in its country or region,
disproportionately larger than any others in the urban hierarchy.[2] A primate city distribution is a rank-
size distribution that has one very large city with many much smaller cities and towns, and no
intermediate-sized urban centers: a King effect, visible as an outlier on an otherwise linear graph,
when the rest of the data fit a power law or stretched exponential function.[3] The law of the primate
city was first proposed by the geographer Mark Jefferson in 1939.[4] He defines a primate city as
being "at least twice as large as the next largest city and more than twice as significant."[5] Aside from
size and economic influence, a primate city will usually have precedence in all other aspects of its
country's society, such as being a center of politics, media, culture and education and receive
most internal migration.

Contents

 1Significance
 2Examples
 3Urban primacy
 4List
o 4.1Africa
o 4.2Asia
o 4.3Europe
o 4.4North America
o 4.5Oceania
o 4.6South America
 5See also
 6Notes
 7References

Significance[edit]

Countries or regions in red have no primate city.

Not all countries have primate cities. In those that do, there is debate as to whether the city serves a
parasitic or generative function.[6] The presence of a primate city in a country may indicate an
imbalance in development—usually a progressive core and a lagging periphery—on which the city
depends for labor and other resources.[7] However, the urban structure is not directly dependent on a
country's level of economic development.[2]
Many primate cities gain an increasing share of their country's population. This can be due to a
reduction in blue-collar population in the hinterlands because of mechanization and automation.
Concomitantly, the number of educated employees in white-collar endeavours such as politics,
finance, culture, media, and higher education rises, with those sectors clustered predominantly in the
capital where power and money is concentrated.[citation needed]

Examples[edit]
Some global cities are considered national or regional primate cities.[5][8] They include the two global
cities of London in the United Kingdom (national) and New York City in the United States (regional).
The U.S. has never had a primate city on a national scale.[9] Budapest, Jakarta, Lima, Mexico City,
and Seoul have also been described as primate cities in their respective countries.[10]
Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, has been called "the most primate city on Earth",[citation needed] being
roughly thirty-five times larger than Thailand's second-largest city of Nakhon Ratchasima.[11] Taking
the concept from his examination of the primate city during the 2010 Thai political protests and
applying it to the role that primate cities play if they are national capitals, researcher Jack Fong
noted that when primate cities like Bangkok function as national capitals, they are inherently
vulnerable to insurrection by the military and the dispossessed. He cites the fact that most primate
cities serving as national capitals contain major headquarters for the country. Thus, logistically, it is
rather "efficient" for national targets to be contested since they are all in one major urban
environment.[12]

Urban primacy[edit]
Urban primacy indicates the ratio of the primate city to the next largest, i.e., the second largest in a
country or region. In other words, urban primacy can be defined as the central place in an urban or
city network that has acquired or obtained a great level of dominance. The level of dominance is
measured by population density and the number of functions offered. Higher functions and
population will result in higher dominance.[citation needed]

List[edit]
Africa[edit]

Population (metropolitan Second

City / Urban Area Country area) largest city Population

Abidjan[13] Ivory Coast

Accra Ghana
Addis Ababa Ethiopia

Algiers Algeria

Antananarivo Madagascar

Asmara Eritrea

Bamako Mali

Central African
Bangui
Republic

Banjul-
Gambia
Serekunda area

Bissau Guinea-Bissau

Bujumbura Burundi

Cairo[14] Egypt

Conakry[13] Guinea

Dakar[13] Senegal

Dar es Salaam Tanzania

Djibouti Djibouti
Freetown[13] Sierra Leone

Gaborone Botswana

Harare Zimbabwe

Kampala Uganda

Khartoum Sudan

Kigali Rwanda

Democratic
Kinshasa Republic of the
Congo

Libreville Gabon

Lilongwe Malawi

Lomé Togo

Luanda[13] Angola

Lusaka Zambia

Maputo Mozambique

Maseru Lesotho
Mbabane Eswatini

Monrovia Liberia

Moroni Comoros

N'Djamena Chad

Nairobi Kenya

Niamey Niger

Nouakchott Mauritania

Omdurman-
Sudan
Khartoum area

Ouagadougou Burkina Faso

Porto-Novo-
Cotonou area Benin

São Tomé and

São Tomé
Príncipe

Tunis Tunisia

Victoria Seychelles

Windhoek Namibia
Asia[edit]

Population (metropolitan Second largest

City / Urban Area Country area) city Population

Amman Jordan 2,125,000 Zarqa 635,160

Ashgabat Turkmenistan

Baghdad Iraq 13,500,000 Basrah 8,765,000

Bandar Seri
Brunei
Begawan

Bangkok[14][15][16] Thailand 14,626,225 Chiang Mai 131,000

Baku[13] Azerbaijan 4,670,740 Ganja 2,262,600

Beirut[13] Lebanon 2,200,000 Tripoli 361,366

Bishkek[13] Kyrgyzstan

Colombo Sri Lanka 648,034 Kaduwela 262,456

Dhaka Bangladesh 20,000,000 Chittagong 8,906,039

Dili Timor-Leste

Doha Qatar 1,850,000 Al Rayyan 956,457

Dushanbe Tajikistan
Istanbul Turkey 14,025,646 Ankara 4,587,558

Jakarta Indonesia 30,214,303 Surabaya 13,123,948

Kabul[13] Afghanistan

Kathmandu Nepal 975,453 Pokhara 402,995

Kuala Lumpur Malaysia 7,200,000 George Town 2,412,616

Kuwait City[13] Kuwait

Malé Maldives 133,412 Addu City 33,694

Manila[17] Philippines 16,500,000 Cebu 1,500,000

Muscat Oman

Phnom Penh[13] Cambodia

Pyongyang North Korea 3,222,000 Hamhung 559,056

Seoul South Korea 25,600,000 Busan 9,838,892

Tashkent Uzbekistan

Tbilisi Georgia

Thimphu Bhutan
Tehran Iran 15,232,564 Mashhad 3,372,660

Tokyo Japan 37,832,892 Osaka 2,668,586

Vientiane Laos

Ulaanbaatar[13] Mongolia

Yangon Myanmar

Yerevan[13] Armenia

Europe[edit]

Population (metropolitan Second largest

City / Urban Area Country area) city Population

Andorra la Vella Andorra 36,000[Note 1] Encamp 13,521

Athens[13][14] Greece 3,753,783 Thessaloniki 1,084,001

Belgrade Serbia 1,659,440 Novi Sad 341,625

Bucharest Romania 2,272,163 Cluj-Napoca 411,379

Budapest[18] Hungary 3,303,786 Debrecen 237,888

Chișinău Moldova 736,100 Tiraspol 135,700

Copenhagen[14][18] Denmark 2,016,285 Aarhus 330,639

Dublin[13][18] Ireland 1,904,806 Cork 399,216

Helsinki Finland 1,441,601 Tampere 363,546

Ljubljana Slovenia 537,712 Maribor 95,881

United
London[16][18] 13,879,757 Birmingham 1,137,100
Kingdom

Luxembourg Luxembourg 107,247 Esch-sur-Alzette 32,600

Madrid Spain 3,275,195[19] Barcelona 1,636,762

Minsk Belarus 2,101,018 Gomel 526,872

Oslo[14] Norway 1,717,900 Bergen 420,000

Marseille 1,831,500
Paris[14][15][16][18] France 12,405,426
Lyon 2,237,676

Podgorica Montenegro 187,085 Nikšić 72,443

Prague Czech Republic 2,156,097 Brno 810,000

Reykjavík Iceland 209,680[Note 2] Akureyri 18,191

Riga[13][14] Latvia 1,018,295 Daugavpils 96,818

Bosnia and
Sarajevo 463,992 Banja Luka 185,042
Herzegovina
 North
Skopje 506,926[Note 3] Bitola 105,644
Macedonia

Sofia Bulgaria 1,681,666 Plovdiv 544,628

Stockholm Sweden 2,226,795 Gothenburg 1,001,032

Tallinn Estonia 542,983 Tartu 93,687

Tirana Albania 800,986 Durrës 201,110

Vienna[13][15][18] Austria 2,600,000 Graz 269,997

Zagreb Croatia 1,113,111 Split 349,314

North America[edit]

City / Urban Population (metropolitan Second largest

Area Country area) city Population

Basseterre Saint Kitts and 13,000 Sandy Point Town 3,140

Nevis

Belize City Belize 60,963 San Ignacio 21,151

Bridgetown Barbados 110,000 Oistins 3,000

Castries Saint Lucia 70,000 Gros Islet 22,647

Dominican
Santo Domingo 2,908,607 Santiago 553,091
Republic
Guatemala
Guatemala 2,749,161 Quetzaltenango 792,530
City[14][18]

Havana Cuba 2,106,146 Santiago de Cuba 433,099

Kingston Jamaica 584,627 Portmore 182,153

Saint Vincent
Kingstown 16,500 Georgetown 1,700
and the Grenadines

Managua[14] Nicaragua 2,560,789 León 206,264

Mexico
Mexico 20,400,000 Guadalajara 5,002,466
City[14][16][18]

Nassau Bahamas 274,400 Freeport 26,914

Panama City[13] Panama 880,691 La Chorrera 118,521

Trinidad and
Port of Spain 128,026 Arima 33,606
Tobago

Port-au-Prince[13] Haiti 2,618,894 Cap-Haïtien 274,404

Roseau Dominica 16,582 Portsmouth 2,977

San José[13][14][18] Costa Rica 2,158,898 Puerto Limón 58,522

San Salvador[14][18] El Salvador 1,767,102 Santa Ana 176,661

St. George's Grenada 33,734 Grenville 2,400

St. John's Antigua and 81,799 Liberta 3,301
Barbuda

Oceania[edit]

City / Urban Population (metropolitan

Area Country area) Second largest city Population

Apia Samoa 36,735 Afega 1,781

Funafuti Tuvalu 6,025 Asau 650

Solomon
Honiara 64,609 Auki 7,785
Islands

Koror Palau 14,000 Airai 2,700

Marshall
Majuro 27,797 Ebeye Island 15,000
Islands

Nukuʻalofa Tonga 24,571 Neiafu_(Vavaʻu) 6,000

Port Moresby Papua New 410,954 Lae 76,255

Guinea

Port-Vila Vanuatu 44,040 Luganville 16,312

Suva Fiji 175,399 Lautoka 52,220

South Tarawa Kiribati 50,182 Abaiang 5,502

South America[edit]
 Population (metropolitan Second largest
City / Urban Area Country area) city Population

Gran Asunción[13] Paraguay 2,698,401 Ciudad del Este 293,817

Buenos Aires[16][18] Argentina 12,741,364 Córdoba 1,528,000

Georgetown Guyana 118,363 Linden 29,298

Lima[18] Peru 9,752,000 Trujillo 949,498

Montevideo[13][18] Uruguay 1,947,604 Salto 104,028

Paramaribo Suriname 240,924 Lelydorp 19,910

Santiago
Metropolitan Chile 6,685,685 Valparaíso 1,036,127
Region[13]

See also[edit]
 Primate (disambiguation)
 Global city
 Megacity
 Rank-size distribution
 Secondary city

Notes[edit]
1. ^ including Escaldes-Engordany
2. ^ refers to Capital Region (Iceland)
3. ^ based on Republic of Macedonia#Cities

References[edit]
1. ^ "Primate". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
From Old French or French primat, from a noun use of Latin primat-, from primus
2. ^ Jump up to:a b Goodall, B. (1987) The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography. London: Penguin.
 3. ^ http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/rb/rb186.html GaWC Research Bulletin 186
4. ^ The Law of the Primate City and the Rank-Size Rule, by Matt Rosenberg
5. ^ Jump up to:a b Jefferson. "The Law of the Primate City", in Geographical Review 29 (April 1939)
6. ^ London, Bruce (October 1977). "Is the Primate City Parasitic? The Regional Implications of National
Decision Making in Thailand". The Journal of Developing Areas. 12: 49–68 – via JSTOR.
7. ^ Brunn, Stanley, et al. Cities of the World. Boulder: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2003
8. ^ Taşan-Kok, Tuna (2004). Mexico, Istanbul and Warsaw: Institutional and spatial change. Eburon
Uitgeverij. p. 41. ISBN 978-905972041-1. Retrieved 2013-05-21.
9. ^ "The World According to GaWC 2012". Globalization and World Cities Research Network.
Loughborough University. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
10. ^ Pacione, Michael (2005). Urban Geography: A Global Perspective (2nd ed.). Abingdon: Routledge.
pp. 83.
11. ^ ขอ้ มูลจำนวนองค ์กรปกครองส่วนทอ้ งถิน่ [Information on the number of local administrative
organizations]. Department of Local Administration (Thailand). 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2019-01-05.[not
specific enough to verify]

12. ^ Fong, Jack (May 2012). "Political Vulnerabilities of a Primate City: The May 2010 Red Shirts
Uprising in Bangkok, Thailand". Journal of Asian and African Studies. 48 (3): 332–
347. doi:10.1177/0021909612453981.
13. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w World Urbanization Prospects: The 2003 Revision. United
Nations Publications. 1 January 2004. pp. 97–102. ISBN 978-92-1-151396-7.
14. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l Joseph John Hobbs (2009). World Regional Geography. Cengage
Learning. pp. 109–. ISBN 978-0-495-38950-7.
15. ^ Jump up to:a b c Michael Pacione (2009). Urban Geography: A Global Perspective. Taylor & Francis.
p. 79. ISBN 978-0-415-46201-3.
16. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Kelly Swanson (7 August 2012). Kaplan AP Human Geography 2013-2014.
Kaplan Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60978-694-6.
17. ^ "East Asia's Changing Urban Landscape" (PDF). World Bank. Retrieved March 21,2019.
18. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l m Robert B. Kent (January 2006). Latin America: Regions and People.
Guilford Press. pp. 144–. ISBN 978-1-57230-909-8.
19. ^ Ayuntamiento de Madrid.

hide

World's largest cities

World (Capitals)

Americas (North

Latin

Central

outh)

Asia (Arab world

ASEAN

Arabia

ar East)
Europe (European Union
Nordic)

Oceania

World
Americas (North

outh

West Indies)

Europe (European Union

Nordic)

Asia

Africa
Transborder

World
Europe (European Union

Nordic)

Asia

North America

Europe (European Union)

Asia

Africa

World

Europe

Arcology

Ecumenopolis

Global city

Megacity

Megalopolis

Conurbation

atellite city

opulation

rimate city

econdary city

egate urban areas are entire continuous built-up areas, grouping together contiguous cities (known as conurbations), whereas urban agglomerations are the built-up areas of individua
 Categories:
 Cities by type
 Geography-related lists
 Urban studies and planning terminology