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Primate city

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Countries without a primate city highlighted in red.

A primate city (Latin: 'prime', 'first rank'[1]) is the largest city in its country, province, state, 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.

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.[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. Simultaneously, the number of educated employees in white-collar endeavors 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

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 regards to the Eastern United States. 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] Subnational divisions can also have primate cities.

Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, has been called "the most primate city on Earth",[11] being roughly thirty-five times larger than Thailand's second-largest city of Nakhon Ratchasima.[12][contradictory] 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.[13]

Urban primacy

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

Africa

Country City / Urban Area Population (metropolitan area) Second largest city Population
 Ethiopia Addis Ababa 3,352,000 Adama 342,940
 Algeria Algiers 7,896,923 Oran 1,560,329
 Madagascar Antananarivo 1,275,207 Toamasina 300,813
 Eritrea Asmara 650,000 Keren 82,198
 Mali Bamako 1,810,366 Sikasso 226,618
 Central African Republic Bangui 622,771 Bimbo 124,176
 Gambia Banjul-Serekunda area 519,835[14] Brikama 101,119[14]
 Guinea-Bissau Bissau 492,004 Gabu 48,670
 Egypt Cairo[15] 20,439,541 Alexandria 5,200,000
 Guinea Conakry[16] 1,660,973 Nzérékoré 195,027
 Senegal Dakar[16] 2,646,503 Touba 753,315
 Djibouti Djibouti City 475,322 Ali Sabieh 37,939
 Sierra Leone Freetown[16] 1,500,234 Bo 233,684
 Botswana Gaborone 421,907 Francistown 150,800
 Zimbabwe Harare 1,619,000 Bulawayo 653,337
 Uganda Kampala 1,507,080 Nansana 365,124
 Rwanda Kigali 1,132,686 Butare 89,600
 Democratic Republic of the Congo Kinshasa 11,855,000 Lubumbashi 1,630,186
 Gabon Libreville 703,904 Port Gentil 136,462
 Togo Lomé 1,477,660 Sokodé 118,000
 Angola Luanda[16] 8,069,612 Lubango 903,564
 Zambia Lusaka 2,238,569 Kitwe 522,092
 Mozambique Maputo 1,766,823 Nampula 743,125
 Lesotho Maseru 330,760 Teyateyaneng 75,115
 Liberia Monrovia 1,101,970 Ganta 41,106
 Chad N'Djamena 1,605,696 Moundou 137,929
 Kenya Nairobi 9,354,580 Mombasa 3,528,940
 Niger Niamey 1,243,500 Zinder 235,605
 Mauritania Nouakchott 958,399 Nouadhibou 118,167
 Sudan Omdurman-Khartoum area 5,490,000 Port Sudan 489,725
 Burkina Faso Ouagadougou 2,500,000 Bobo Dioulaso 537,728
 Mauritius Port Louis 149,194 Beau Bassin-Rose Hill 104,610
 São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé 71,868 Santo Amaro 8,239
 Tunisia Tunis 2,643,695 Sfax 330,440
 Seychelles Victoria 26,450 Anse Boileau 4,093
 Namibia Windhoek 325,858 Walvis Bay 62,096

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, and is the economic and cultural center of their country.

Asia

Country City / Urban Area Population (metropolitan area) Second largest city Population
 Jordan Amman 4,425,000 Irbid 750,000
 Turkmenistan Ashgabat 1,168,000 Türkmenabat 253,000
 Azerbaijan Baku 2,934,000 Ganja 335,000
 Brunei Bandar Seri Begawan 280,000 Kuala Belait 70,000
 Thailand Bangkok[15][17][18] 17,066,000 Chiang Mai 970,000
 Lebanon Beirut[16] 2,781,000 Tripoli 365,000
 Kyrgyzstan Bishkek[16] 1,297,000 Osh 282,000
 Bangladesh Dhaka 15,443,000 Chittagong 3,913,000
 Timor-Leste Dili 235,000 Baucau 15,000
 Qatar Doha 1,850,000 Al Rayyan 960,000
 Tajikistan Dushanbe 1,390,000 Khujand 182,000
 Indonesia Jakarta 34,540,000 Surabaya 6,499,000
 Afghanistan Kabul[16] 4,834,000 Kandahar 570,000
 Nepal Kathmandu 3,941,000 Pokhara 403,000
 Malaysia Kuala Lumpur 7,564,000 George Town 2,412,000
 Kuwait Kuwait City[16] 4,022,000 Al Jahra 400,000
 Maldives Malé 135,000 Addu City 34,000
 Philippines Manila 23,088,000 Cebu City 2,275,000
 Oman Muscat 1,205,000 Salalah 340,000
 Cambodia Phnom Penh[16] 2,177,000 Siem Reap 140,000
 North Korea Pyongyang 2,228,000 Hamhung 535,000
 South Korea Seoul 21,794,000 Busan 3,286,000
 Uzbekistan Tashkent 3,492,000 Samarkand 1,201,000
 Georgia Tbilisi 1,207,000 Batumi 200,000
 Bhutan Thimphu 115,000 Phuntsholing 28,000
 Iran Tehran 13,633,000 Mashhad 3,167,000
 Japan Tokyo . Osaka .
 Laos Vientiane 1,058,000 Savannakhet 120,000
 Mongolia Ulaanbaatar[16] 1,508,000 Erdenet 100,000
 Armenia Yerevan[16] 1,403,000 Gyumri 130,000

Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates 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, and is the economic and cultural center of their country.

Europe

Country City / Urban Area Population (metropolitan area) Second largest city Population
 Andorra Andorra la Vella 36,000[Note 1] Encamp 13,521
 Greece Athens[16][15] 3,753,783 Thessaloniki 1,084,001
 Serbia Belgrade 1,659,440 Novi Sad 341,625
 Romania Bucharest 2,272,163 Cluj-Napoca 411,379
 Hungary Budapest[19] 3,303,786 Debrecen 237,888
 Moldova Chișinău 736,100 Tiraspol 135,700
 Denmark Copenhagen[15][19] 2,016,285 Aarhus 330,639
 Ireland Dublin[16][19] 1,904,806 Cork 399,216
 Finland Helsinki 1,441,601 Tampere 363,546
 United Kingdom London[18][19] 13,879,757 Birmingham 1,137,100
 Luxembourg Luxembourg 107,247 Esch-sur-Alzette 32,600
 Belarus Minsk 2,101,018 Gomel 526,872
 Russia Moscow 12,506,468 Saint Petersburg 5,351,935
 Norway Oslo[15] 1,036,059 Bergen 259,958
 France Paris[15][17][18][19] 12,405,426 Lyon 2,237,676
 Montenegro Podgorica 187,085 Nikšić 72,443
 Czech Republic Prague 2,156,097 Brno 810,000
 Iceland Reykjavík 209,680[Note 2] Akureyri 18,191
 Latvia Riga[16][15] 1,018,295 Daugavpils 96,818
 Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo 463,992 Banja Luka 185,042
 North Macedonia Skopje 506,926[Note 3] Bitola 105,644
 Bulgaria Sofia 1,681,666 Plovdiv 544,628
 Sweden Stockholm[20] 1,584,196 Gothenburg 592,042
 Estonia Tallinn 542,983 Tartu 93,687
 Albania Tirana 800,986 Durrës 201,110
 Austria Vienna[16][17][19] 2,600,000 Graz 269,997
 Poland Warsaw 3,100,844 Cracow 1,725,894
 Croatia Zagreb 1,113,111 Split 349,314

North America & Central America

Country City / Urban Area Population (metropolitan area) Second largest city Population
 Saint Kitts and Nevis Basseterre 13,000 Sandy Point Town 3,140
 Barbados Bridgetown 110,000 Oistins 3,000
 Saint Lucia Castries 70,000 Gros Islet 22,647
 Dominican Republic Santo Domingo 2,908,607 Santiago de los Caballeros 553,091
 Guatemala Guatemala City[15][19] 2,749,161 Quetzaltenango 792,530
 Cuba Havana 2,106,146 Santiago de Cuba 433,099
 Jamaica Kingston 584,627 Portmore 182,153
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Kingstown 16,500 Georgetown 1,700
 Nicaragua Managua[15] 2,560,789 León 206,264
 Mexico Mexico City[15][18][19] 20,400,000 Guadalajara 5,002,466
 Bahamas Nassau 274,400 Freeport 26,914
 Panama Panama City[16] 880,691 La Chorrera 118,521
 Haiti Port-au-Prince[16] 2,618,894 Cap-Haïtien 274,404
 Dominica Roseau 16,582 Portsmouth 2,977
 Costa Rica San José[16][15][19] 2,158,898 Puerto Limón 58,522
 El Salvador San Salvador[15][19] 1,767,102 Santa Ana 176,661
 Grenada St. George's 33,734 Grenville 2,400
 Antigua and Barbuda St. John's 81,799 Liberta 3,301

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. It is also the cultural and economic center of Belize.

Oceania

New Zealand does not have a primate city, though Auckland is more than twice the size the country's second largest city and is the cultural and economic center of New Zealand.


Country City / Urban Area Population (metropolitan area) Second largest city Population
 Samoa Apia 36,735 Afega 1,781
 Tuvalu Funafuti 6,025 Asau 650
 Solomon Islands Honiara 64,609 Auki 7,785
 Marshall Islands Majuro 27,797 Ebeye Island 15,000
 Tonga Nukuʻalofa 24,571 Neiafu (Vavaʻu) 6,000
 Papua New Guinea Port Moresby 410,954 Lae 76,255
 Vanuatu Port-Vila 44,040 Luganville 16,312
 Fiji Suva 175,399 Lautoka 52,220
 Kiribati South Tarawa 50,182 Abaiang 5,502

South America

Country City / Urban Area Population (metropolitan area) Second largest city Population
 Colombia Bogota 10,700,000 Medellín 3,591,963
 Paraguay Gran Asunción[16] 2,698,401 Ciudad del Este 293,817
 Argentina Buenos Aires[18][19] 12,741,364 Córdoba 1,528,000
 Guyana Georgetown 118,363 Linden 29,298
 Peru Lima[19] 9,752,000 Arequipa 1,034,736
 Uruguay Montevideo[16][19] 1,947,604 Salto 104,028
 Suriname Paramaribo 240,924 Lelydorp 19,910
 Chile Santiago[16] 6,685,685 Valparaíso 1,036,127

See also

Notes

  1. ^ including Escaldes-Engordany
  2. ^ refers to Capital Region (Iceland)
  3. ^ based on North Macedonia#Cities

References

  1. ^ Primate. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 2008-07-21. {{cite encyclopedia}}: |work= ignored (help)
    From Old French or French primat, from a noun use of Latin primat-, from primus
  2. ^ 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. ^ 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. ^ Baker, Chris; Pasuk Phongpaichit (2009). A history of Thailand (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 199. ISBN 978-0-521-76768-2.
  12. ^ ข้อมูลจำนวนองค์กรปกครองส่วนท้องถิ่น [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]
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ a b "World Gazetteer: World Gazetteer home". archive.is. 2013-02-09. Archived from the original on 2013-02-09. Retrieved 2020-04-09.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "2020-10-06". ssb.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u World Urbanization Prospects: The 2003 Revision. United Nations Publications. 1 January 2004. pp. 97–102. ISBN 978-92-1-151396-7.
  17. ^ a b c Michael Pacione (2009). Urban Geography: A Global Perspective. Taylor & Francis. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-415-46201-3.
  18. ^ a b c d e Kelly Swanson (7 August 2012). Kaplan AP Human Geography 2013-2014. Kaplan Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60978-694-6.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ "Tätorter i Sverige". Statistiska Centralbyrån (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-11-17.
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