If I were to ask you what a city is, you might say that it's a place full of buildings, or that it's where a lot of people live.
These answers point out the different things you might find in a city, but are we really defining the word itself here?
A "city", in old British documents, was a term that referred to centralized places with a cathedral and qualified by their monarch, while in common conversations referred to London itself ("the city"). The word itself originated from the Latin "citatem" or "civitatem", rooted in "civis" meaning citizen or civilian, to refer to the inhabitants of a place. At some point the French language adopted the term "cite" to refer to locations.
At around this time, the word seems to have shifted in focus from the people to the place.
In modern definition, a city is an administered region with relatively high population density. With enough people within a built environment we are able to maintain advanced services such as safe drinking water and ride-sharing apps. Commerce and governance are an organizational result of our lifestyles as residents and our work contributions to society.
In a global perspective, cities are defined by their local laws, each with their own historical context, administered by a state. Some states have many cities, have their unique forms of representation. Canada, for example, votes for their regional representative who support their party leader ("Prime Minister"), while U.S. votes for their nationwide representative ("President"). As well, some cities are the only city of their state, such as Singapore or Vatican City.
Our planet is increasingly becoming an interconnected system of cities. It would be simpler to think of cities as nodes on a surface full of life and interaction. This isn't just about communications or sharing of resources, but more broadly about how we relate to each other. Cities allow for the facilitation of sustainability, and the fostering of human potential.
Cities are a big deal. They are commonly viewed simply as places we identify ourselves with. Yet they are technically materialized as a complex infrastructural network administered within a cultural framework. I prefer the original vision of the "city" concept, placing the inhabitants at the core of its definition, as I like to think of cities as a reflection and an extension of ourselves. Cities evolve along with us in the world.
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