Primate city

A primate city (Latin: 'prime', 'first rank'[1]) is a city that is the largest in its country, province, state, or region, and 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 population, a primate city will usually have precedence in all other aspects of its country's society such as economics, politics, culture, and education. Primate cities also serve as targets for the majority of a country or region's internal migration.

Tallinn, the primate city of Estonia

In geography, the phenomenon of excessive concentration of population and development of the main city of a country or a region (often to the detriment of other areas) is called urban primacy or urban macrocephaly.[6]

Measurement

Urban primacy can be measured as the share of a country's population that lives in the primate city.[7] Relative primacy indicates the ratio of the primate city's population to that of the second largest in a country or region.[8]

Significance

Not all countries have primate cities. In those that do, there is debate as to whether the city serves a parasitic or generative function.[9] 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.[10] 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. Simultaneously, the number of educated employees in white-collar endeavors such as politics, finance, media, and higher education rises. These sectors are clustered predominantly in primate cities where power and wealth are concentrated.

Examples

Some global cities are considered national or regional primate cities.[5][11] An example of a global city that serves as a primate city is London in the United Kingdom. London serves as the primate city of the United Kingdom due to the unmatched economic, political, cultural, and educational influence that the city possesses in comparison to other British cities such as Birmingham, Manchester, or Edinburgh. However, not all regions or countries will even possess a primate city. The United States has never had a primate city on a national scale due to the decentralized nature of the country.[12] Mexico City, Paris, Cairo, Jakarta, and Seoul have been described as primate cities in their respective countries.[13] Sub-national divisions can also have primate cities. China does not have a primate city at a national level, but a number of provincial capitals are disproportionately larger than the urban areas in the respective province. For example the Henan, Hubei and Sichuan have provincial capitals (Zhengzhou, Wuhan, and Chengdu respectively) that are the significantly larger than the second largest city despite these provinces having the population of a large European country.

Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, has been called "the most primate city on Earth",[14] being roughly thirty-five times larger than Thailand's second-largest city of Chiang Mai.[15] 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.[16]

The metropolitan area of the city of Moscow, the capital of Russia, is almost four times the size of the metropolitan area of the next largest city, Saint Petersburg,[17][18] and plays a unique and uncontested role of the cultural and political center of the country.[19] It can therefore be considered to be a primate city.

Primate cities need not be capital cities: governments may attempt to establish a new planned capital city to challenge the primacy of the largest city and provide more balanced growth, for example in Tanzania, Dar es Salaam can still be considered a primate city although the capital was moved to Dodoma in 1996. A non-capital primate city may also emerge organically: for example, the existing city of Wellington was chosen to be New Zealand's capital in 1865, although Auckland commands a greater share of the population and economy.

List

Africa
Country Primate city/urban area Population Second largest city/urban area Population Relative primacy
 Ethiopia Addis Ababa3,352,000 Adama 342,940 9.8
 Algeria Algiers7,896,923 Oran 1,560,329 5.1
 Madagascar Antananarivo1,275,207 Toamasina 300,813 4.2
 Eritrea Asmara650,000 Keren 82,198 7.9
 Mali Bamako1,810,366 Sikasso 226,618 8.0
 Central African Republic Bangui622,771 Bimbo 124,176 5.0
 Gambia Banjul-Serekunda area519,835[20] Brikama 101,119[20] 5.1
 Guinea-Bissau Bissau492,004 Gabu 48,670 10.1
 Egypt Cairo[21]9,539,673 Alexandria 5,200,000 3.9
 Guinea Conakry[22]1,660,973 Nzérékoré 195,027 8.5
 Senegal Dakar[22]2,646,503 Touba 753,315 3.5
 Djibouti Djibouti City475,322 Ali Sabieh 37,939 12.5
 Sierra Leone Freetown[22]1,500,234 Bo 233,684 6.4
 Uganda Kampala1,507,080 Nansana 365,124 4.1
 Rwanda Kigali1,132,686 Butare 89,600 12.6
 Democratic Republic of the Congo Kinshasa17,239,463 Mbuji-Mayi 2,643,000 7.3
 Gabon Libreville703,904 Port Gentil 136,462 5.2
 Togo Lomé1,477,660 Sokodé 118,000 12.5
 Angola Luanda[22]8,069,612 Lubango 903,564 8.9
 Zambia Lusaka2,238,569 Kitwe 522,092 4.3
 Lesotho Maseru330,760 Teyateyaneng 75,115 4.4
 Liberia Monrovia1,101,970 Ganta 41,106 26.8
 Kenya Nairobi4,734,881 Mombasa 1,208,333 3.91
 Chad N'Djamena1,605,696 Moundou 137,929 11.6
 Niger Niamey1,243,500 Zinder 235,605 5.3
 Mauritania Nouakchott958,399 Nouadhibou 118,167 8.1
 Sudan Omdurman-Khartoum area5,490,000 Port Sudan 489,725 11.2
 Burkina Faso Ouagadougou2,500,000 Bobo Dioulaso 537,728 4.6
 São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé71,868 Santo Amaro 8,239 8.7
 Tunisia Tunis2,643,695 Sfax 330,440 8.0
 Seychelles Victoria26,450 Anse Boileau 4,093 6.5
 Namibia Windhoek325,858 Walvis Bay 62,096 5.2

Burundi, Nigeria, and Tanzania do not have a primate city, because their capital is not the largest city. But their largest city is more than twice the population of the second-largest city/urban area and is the economic and cultural centre of their country.

Asia
Country Primate city/urban area Population Second largest city/urban area Population Relative primacy
 Jordan Amman4,425,000Irbid750,000 5.9
 Turkmenistan Ashgabat1,168,000Türkmenabat253,000 4.6
 Azerbaijan Baku2,934,000Ganja335,000 8.8
 Brunei Bandar Seri Begawan280,000Kuala Belait70,000 4.0
 Thailand Bangkok[21][23][24]8,305,218Chiang Mai970,000 17.6
 Lebanon Beirut[22]2,781,000Tripoli365,000 7.6
 Kyrgyzstan Bishkek[22]1,297,000Osh282,000 4.6
 Bangladesh Dhaka15,443,000Chittagong3,913,000 3.9
 Timor-Leste Dili235,000Baucau15,000 15.7
 Tajikistan Dushanbe1,390,000Khujand182,000 7.6
 Indonesia Jakarta10,562,088Surabaya2,817,314 5.3
 Afghanistan Kabul[22]4,834,000Kandahar570,000 8.5
   Nepal Kathmandu3,941,000Pokhara523,000 9.8
 Malaysia Kuala Lumpur7,564,000George Town2,412,000 3.1
 Kuwait Kuwait City[22]4,022,000Al Jahra400,000 10.1
 Maldives Malé135,000Addu City34,000 4.0
 Philippines Metro Manila12,877,253 Metro Cebu2,849,213 4.5
 Oman Muscat1,205,000Salalah340,000 3.5
 Cambodia Phnom Penh[22]2,177,000Siem Reap140,000 15.6
 North Korea Pyongyang2,228,000Hamhung535,000 4.2
 South Korea Seoul26,037,000Busan7,752,769 3.4
 Uzbekistan Tashkent3,492,000Samarkand1,201,000 2.9
 Georgia Tbilisi1,207,000Batumi200,000 6.0
 Bhutan Thimphu115,000Phuntsholing28,000 4.1
 Iran Tehran13,633,000Mashhad3,167,000 4.3
 Japan Tokyo13,960,236Yokohama3,732,616 3.7
 Laos Vientiane1,058,000Savannakhet120,000 8.8
 Mongolia Ulaanbaatar[22]1,508,000Erdenet100,000 15.1
 Armenia Yerevan[22]1,403,000Gyumri130,000 10.8

Israel,[25] Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Turkey do not have a primate city, because their capital is not the largest city. But their largest city is more than twice the population of the second-largest city/urban area, and is the economic and cultural centre of their country.

For the Philippines, figures are for Metro Manila and Metro Cebu. Manila is the national capital, which is within Metro Manila, a region. Meanwhile, Cebu City is the capital city of the province of Cebu, with Metro Cebu being its main urban center. Metro Manila is within Mega Manila, the megapolis that has a population of around 25 million.

Europe
Country Primate city/urban area Population Second largest city/urban area Population Relative primacy
 Greece Athens[22][21]3,753,783Thessaloniki1,084,001 3.5
 Serbia Belgrade1,659,440Novi Sad341,625 4.9
 Romania Bucharest2,272,163Cluj-Napoca411,379 5.5
 Hungary Budapest[26]3,303,786Debrecen237,888 13.9
 Moldova Chișinău736,100Tiraspol135,700 5.4
 Denmark Copenhagen[21][26]2,016,285Aarhus330,639 6.1
 Ireland Dublin[22][26]1,904,806Cork399,216 4.8
 Finland Helsinki1,522,694Tampere385,610 3.9
 United Kingdom London[24][26]14,257,962Birmingham3,683,000 3.9
 Luxembourg Luxembourg107,247Esch-sur-Alzette32,600 3.3
 Belarus Minsk2,101,018Gomel526,872 4.0
 Russia Moscow12,506,468[27]Saint Petersburg5,351,935 3.7
 Norway Oslo[21]1,036,059Bergen259,958 4.0
 France Paris[21][23][24][26]12,405,426 Lyon2,237,676 5.5
 Iceland Reykjavík209,680[Note 1]Akureyri18,191 11.5
 Latvia Riga[22][21]627,487Daugavpils82,046 7.6
 North Macedonia Skopje506,926[Note 2]Bitola105,644 4.8
 Bulgaria Sofia1,681,666Plovdiv544,628 3.1
 Estonia Tallinn437,619Tartu95,009 4.6
 Albania Tirana800,986Durrës201,110 4.0
 Austria Vienna[22][23][26]2,600,000Graz269,997 9.6
 Croatia Zagreb1,113,111Split349,314 3.2

North America & Central America
Country Primate city/urban area Population Second largest city/urban area Population Relative primacy
 Saint Kitts and Nevis Basseterre13,000Sandy Point Town3,140 4.1
 Barbados Bridgetown110,000Oistins3,000 36.7
 Saint Lucia Castries70,000Gros Islet22,647 3.1
 Dominican Republic Santo Domingo2,908,607Santiago de los Caballeros553,091 5.3
 Guatemala Guatemala City[21][26]2,749,161Quetzaltenango792,530 3.5
 Cuba Havana2,106,146Santiago de Cuba433,099 4.9
 Jamaica Kingston584,627Portmore182,153 3.2
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Kingstown16,500Georgetown1,700 9.7
 Nicaragua Managua[21]2,560,789León206,264 12.4
 Mexico Mexico City[21][24][26]20,400,000Guadalajara5,002,466 4.1
 Bahamas Nassau274,400Freeport26,914 10.2
 Panama Panama City[22]880,691La Chorrera118,521 7.4
 Haiti Port-au-Prince[22]2,618,894Cap-Haïtien274,404 9.5
 Dominica Roseau16,582Portsmouth2,977 5.6
 Costa Rica San José[22][21][26]2,158,898Puerto Limón58,522 36.9
 El Salvador San Salvador[21][26]1,767,102Santa Ana176,661 10.0
 Grenada St. George's33,734Grenville2,400 14.1
 Antigua and Barbuda St. John's81,799Liberta3,301 24.8

Although Belize does not have a primate city, Belize City is more than twice the size of San Ignacio, the country's second-largest city/urban area. It is also the cultural and economic centre of Belize. The capital is Belmopan, third-largest in the country.

Oceania
Country Primate city/urban area Population Second largest city/urban area Population Relative primacy
 Samoa Apia 36,735 Afega 1,781 20.6
 Tuvalu Funafuti6,025Asau650 9.3
 Solomon Islands Honiara64,609Auki7,785 8.3
 Tonga Nukuʻalofa24,571Neiafu (Vavaʻu)6,000 4.1
 Papua New Guinea Port Moresby410,954Lae76,255 5.4
 Fiji Suva175,399Lautoka52,220 3.4
 Kiribati South Tarawa50,182Abaiang5,502 9.1

New Zealand does not have a primate city as its largest city is not the capital (which is Wellington), although Auckland is more than twice the size the country's second-largest city/urban area and is the cultural and economic centre of New Zealand.

Australia does not have a primate city, but at the state level, each of the capital cities of the states and territories act as the primate city of that state or territory.

South America
Country Primate city/urban area Population Second largest city/urban area Population Relative primacy
 Colombia Bogota10,700,000Medellín3,591,963 3.0
 Paraguay Gran Asunción[22]2,698,401Ciudad del Este293,817 9.2
 Argentina Buenos Aires[24][26]12,741,364Córdoba1,528,000 8.3
 Guyana Georgetown118,363Linden29,298 4.0
 Peru Lima[26]9,752,000Arequipa1,034,736 9.4
 Uruguay Montevideo[22][26]1,947,604Salto104,028 18.7
 Suriname Paramaribo240,924Lelydorp19,910 12.1
 Chile Santiago[22]6,685,685Valparaíso1,036,127 6.5

See also

Notes
  1. refers to Capital Region (Iceland)
  2. based on North Macedonia#Cities

References
  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. 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. Jefferson. "The Law of the Primate City", in Geographical Review 29 (April 1939)
  6. Vladimir Kotlyakov; Anna Komarova (2007), Elsevier's Dictionary of Geography: in English, Russian, French, Spanish and German (1st ed.), North Holland, p. 776
  7. Davis, James C.; Henderson, J.Vernon (1 October 2003). "Evidence on the political economy of the urbanization process". Journal of Urban Economics. 53 (1): 98–125. doi:10.1016/S0094-1190(02)00504-1. What is available and what is utilized in all studies other than Wheaton and Shishido [67] is some measure of urban primacy—here measured as the share of the largest city in national urban population.
  8. Jefferson, Mark (1939). "The Law of the Primate City". Geographical Review. 29 (2): 226–232. doi:10.2307/209944. ISSN 0016-7428. JSTOR 209944. In Denmark the less-than-a-million capital, Copenhagen, has won greater relative primacy. It is nine times as large as Denmark's second town.
  9. 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.
  10. Brunn, Stanley, et al. Cities of the World. Boulder: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2003
  11. Taşan-Kok, Tuna (2004). Mexico, Istanbul and Warsaw: Institutional and spatial change. Eburon Uitgeverij. p. 41. ISBN 978-905972041-1. Retrieved 2013-05-21.
  12. "The World According to GaWC 2012". Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Loughborough University. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  13. Pacione, Michael (2005). Urban Geography: A Global Perspective (2nd ed.). Abingdon: Routledge. pp. 83.
  14. Baker, Chris; Pasuk Phongpaichit (2009). A history of Thailand (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 199. ISBN 978-0-521-76768-2.
  15. ข้อมูลจำนวนองค์กรปกครองส่วนท้องถิ่น [Information on the number of local administrative organizations]. Department of Local Administration (Thailand). 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2019-01-05.
  16. 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. S2CID 145515713.
  17. "A 3-Hour Commute: A close look at Moscow the Megapolis". Strelka Mag. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
  18. "Severo-Zapadnyj Federal'nyj Okrug / Northwestern Russia (Russia): Regions, Republics, Major Cities & Urban Settlements - Population Statistics, Maps, Charts, Weather and Web Information". www.citypopulation.de. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
  19. Argenbright, Robert (2013-01-01). "Moscow on the Rise: From Primate City to Megaregion". Geographical Review. 103 (1): 20–36. doi:10.1111/j.1931-0846.2013.00184.x. ISSN 0016-7428. S2CID 155003653.
  20. "World Gazetteer: World Gazetteer home". archive.is. 2013-02-09. Archived from the original on 2013-02-09. Retrieved 2020-04-09.
  21. "2020-10-06". ssb.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  22. World Urbanization Prospects: The 2003 Revision. United Nations Publications. 1 January 2004. pp. 97–102. ISBN 978-92-1-151396-7.
  23. Michael Pacione (2009). Urban Geography: A Global Perspective. Taylor & Francis. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-415-46201-3.
  24. Kelly Swanson (7 August 2012). Kaplan AP Human Geography 2013-2014. Kaplan Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60978-694-6.
  25. GaWC Research Bulletin 57 - Tel Aviv, Israel - A World City in Evolution: Urban Development at a Deadend of the Global Economy*, "Tel Aviv [...] has been Israel's primate urban agglomeration since the 1920s (Reichmann 1972). Since the late 1980s it has evolved into the hard core of Israel's post-industrial globally oriented economy, its post-modern physical ambience and its social and cultural lifestyle."
  26. Robert B. Kent (January 2006). Latin America: Regions and People. Guilford Press. pp. 144–. ISBN 978-1-57230-909-8.
  27. "A 3-Hour Commute: A close look at Moscow the Megapolis". Strelka Mag. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.