Primate city

A primate city (Latin: 'prime', 'first rank'[1]) is a neologism used to refer to 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.

Countries without a primate city highlighted in red.

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.

Examples

Some global cities are considered national or regional primate cities.[5][8] They include the three global cities of London in the United Kingdom, Toronto in Canada, 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] 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]

The metropolitan area of the city of Moscow, the capital of the Russian Federation, is almost four times the size of the metropolitan area of the next largest city, Sankt Peterburg,[14][15] and plays an unique and uncontested role of the cultural and political center of the country.[16] It can therefore be considered to be a primate city.

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.

List

Africa
Country City / Urban AreaPopulation (metropolitan area)Second largest cityPopulation
 Ethiopia Addis Ababa3,352,000 Adama 342,940
 Algeria Algiers7,896,923 Oran 1,560,329
 Madagascar Antananarivo1,275,207 Toamasina 300,813
 Eritrea Asmara650,000 Keren 82,198
 Mali Bamako1,810,366 Sikasso 226,618
 Central African Republic Bangui622,771 Bimbo 124,176
 Gambia Banjul-Serekunda area519,835[17] Brikama 101,119[17]
 Guinea-Bissau Bissau492,004 Gabu 48,670
 Egypt Cairo[18]20,439,541 Alexandria 5,200,000
 Guinea Conakry[19]1,660,973 Nzérékoré 195,027
 Senegal Dakar[19]2,646,503 Touba 753,315
 Djibouti Djibouti City475,322 Ali Sabieh 37,939
 Sierra Leone Freetown[19]1,500,234 Bo 233,684
 Botswana Gaborone421,907 Francistown 150,800
 Zimbabwe Harare1,619,000 Bulawayo 653,337
 Uganda Kampala1,507,080 Nansana 365,124
 Rwanda Kigali1,132,686 Butare 89,600
 Democratic Republic of the Congo Kinshasa11,855,000 Lubumbashi 1,630,186
 Gabon Libreville703,904 Port Gentil 136,462
 Togo Lomé1,477,660 Sokodé 118,000
 Angola Luanda[19]8,069,612 Lubango 903,564
 Zambia Lusaka2,238,569 Kitwe 522,092
 Mozambique Maputo1,766,823 Nampula 743,125
 Lesotho Maseru330,760 Teyateyaneng 75,115
 Liberia Monrovia1,101,970 Ganta 41,106
 Chad N'Djamena1,605,696 Moundou 137,929
 Kenya Nairobi9,354,580 Mombasa 3,528,940
 Niger Niamey1,243,500 Zinder 235,605
 Mauritania Nouakchott958,399 Nouadhibou 118,167
 Sudan Omdurman-Khartoum area5,490,000 Port Sudan 489,725
 Burkina Faso Ouagadougou2,500,000 Bobo Dioulaso 537,728
 Mauritius Port Louis149,194 Beau Bassin-Rose Hill 104,610
 São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé71,868 Santo Amaro 8,239
 Tunisia Tunis2,643,695 Sfax 330,440
 Seychelles Victoria26,450 Anse Boileau 4,093
 Namibia Windhoek325,858 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 AreaPopulation (metropolitan area)Second largest cityPopulation
 Jordan Amman4,425,000Irbid750,000
 Turkmenistan Ashgabat1,168,000Türkmenabat253,000
 Azerbaijan Baku2,934,000Ganja335,000
 Brunei Bandar Seri Begawan280,000Kuala Belait70,000
 Thailand Bangkok[18][20][21]17,066,000Chiang Mai970,000
 Lebanon Beirut[19]2,781,000Tripoli365,000
 Kyrgyzstan Bishkek[19]1,297,000Osh282,000
 Bangladesh Dhaka15,443,000Chittagong3,913,000
 Timor-Leste Dili235,000Baucau15,000
 Qatar Doha1,850,000Al Rayyan960,000
 Tajikistan Dushanbe1,390,000Khujand182,000
 Indonesia Jakarta34,540,000Surabaya6,499,000
 Afghanistan Kabul[19]4,834,000Kandahar570,000
Nepal Kathmandu3,941,000Pokhara403,000
 Malaysia Kuala Lumpur7,564,000George Town2,412,000
 Kuwait Kuwait City[19]4,022,000Al Jahra400,000
 Maldives Malé135,000Addu City34,000
 Philippines Manila23,088,000Cebu City2,275,000
 Oman Muscat1,205,000Salalah340,000
 Cambodia Phnom Penh[19]2,177,000Siem Reap140,000
 North Korea Pyongyang2,228,000Hamhung535,000
 South Korea Seoul21,794,000Busan3,286,000
 Uzbekistan Tashkent3,492,000Samarkand1,201,000
 Georgia Tbilisi1,207,000Batumi200,000
 Bhutan Thimphu115,000Phuntsholing28,000
 Iran Tehran13,633,000Mashhad3,167,000
 Japan Tokyo38,140,000Osaka2,668,586
 Laos Vientiane1,058,000Savannakhet120,000
 Mongolia Ulaanbaatar[19]1,508,000Erdenet100,000
 Armenia Yerevan[19]1,403,000Gyumri130,000

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 AreaPopulation (metropolitan area)Second largest cityPopulation
 Andorra Andorra la Vella36,000[Note 1]Encamp13,521
 Greece Athens[19][18]3,753,783Thessaloniki1,084,001
 Serbia Belgrade1,659,440Novi Sad341,625
 Romania Bucharest2,272,163Cluj-Napoca411,379
 Hungary Budapest[22]3,303,786Debrecen237,888
 Moldova Chișinău736,100Tiraspol135,700
 Denmark Copenhagen[18][22]2,016,285Aarhus330,639
 Ireland Dublin[19][22]1,904,806Cork399,216
 Finland Helsinki1,441,601Tampere363,546
 Ukraine Kyiv3,475,000Kharkiv1,443,207
 United Kingdom London[21][22]14,257,962Birmingham1,137,100
 Luxembourg Luxembourg107,247Esch-sur-Alzette32,600
 Belarus Minsk2,101,018Gomel526,872
 Russia Moscow≈20,000,000[23]Saint Petersburg5,351,935
 Norway Oslo[18]1,036,059Bergen259,958
 France Paris[18][20][21][22]12,405,426Lyon2,237,676
 Montenegro Podgorica187,085Nikšić72,443
 Czech Republic Prague2,156,097Brno810,000
 Iceland Reykjavík209,680[Note 2]Akureyri18,191
 Latvia Riga[19][18]1,018,295Daugavpils96,818
 Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo463,992Banja Luka185,042
 North Macedonia Skopje506,926[Note 3]Bitola105,644
 Bulgaria Sofia1,681,666Plovdiv544,628
 Sweden Stockholm[24]1,584,196Gothenburg592,042
 Estonia Tallinn542,983Tartu93,687
 Albania Tirana800,986Durrës201,110
 Austria Vienna[19][20][22]2,600,000Graz269,997
 Poland Warsaw3,100,844Cracow1,725,894
 Croatia Zagreb1,113,111Split349,314

North America & Central America
Country City / Urban AreaPopulation (metropolitan area)Second largest cityPopulation
 Saint Kitts and Nevis Basseterre13,000Sandy Point Town3,140
 Barbados Bridgetown110,000Oistins3,000
 Saint Lucia Castries70,000Gros Islet22,647
 Dominican Republic Santo Domingo2,908,607Santiago de los Caballeros553,091
 Guatemala Guatemala City[18][22]2,749,161Quetzaltenango792,530
 Cuba Havana2,106,146Santiago de Cuba433,099
 Jamaica Kingston584,627Portmore182,153
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Kingstown16,500Georgetown1,700
 Nicaragua Managua[18]2,560,789León206,264
 Mexico Mexico City[18][21][22]20,400,000Guadalajara5,002,466
 Bahamas Nassau274,400Freeport26,914
 Panama Panama City[19]880,691La Chorrera118,521
 Haiti Port-au-Prince[19]2,618,894Cap-Haïtien274,404
 Dominica Roseau16,582Portsmouth2,977
 Costa Rica San José[19][18][22]2,158,898Puerto Limón58,522
 El Salvador San Salvador[18][22]1,767,102Santa Ana176,661
 Grenada St. George's33,734Grenville2,400
 Antigua and Barbuda St. John's81,799Liberta3,301

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 AreaPopulation (metropolitan area)Second largest cityPopulation
 Samoa Apia36,735Afega1,781
 Tuvalu Funafuti6,025Asau650
 Solomon Islands Honiara64,609Auki7,785
 Marshall Islands Majuro27,797Ebeye Island15,000
 Tonga Nukuʻalofa24,571Neiafu (Vavaʻu)6,000
 Papua New Guinea Port Moresby410,954Lae76,255
 Vanuatu Port-Vila44,040Luganville16,312
 Fiji Suva175,399Lautoka52,220
 Kiribati South Tarawa50,182Abaiang5,502

South America
Country City / Urban AreaPopulation (metropolitan area)Second largest cityPopulation
 Colombia Bogota10,700,000Medellín3,591,963
 Paraguay Gran Asunción[19]2,698,401Ciudad del Este293,817
 Argentina Buenos Aires[21][22]12,741,364Córdoba1,528,000
 Guyana Georgetown118,363Linden29,298
 Peru Lima[22]9,752,000Arequipa1,034,736
 Uruguay Montevideo[19][22]1,947,604Salto104,028
 Suriname Paramaribo240,924Lelydorp19,910
 Chile Santiago[19]6,685,685Valparaíso1,036,127

See also

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

References
  1. "Primate". Merriam-Webster 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. 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.
  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 3-Hour Commute: A close look at Moscow the Megapolis". Strelka Mag. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
  15. "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.
  16. 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.
  17. "World Gazetteer: World Gazetteer home". archive.is. 2013-02-09. Archived from the original on 2013-02-09. Retrieved 2020-04-09.
  18. "2020-10-06". ssb.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  19. World Urbanization Prospects: The 2003 Revision. United Nations Publications. 1 January 2004. pp. 97–102. ISBN 978-92-1-151396-7.
  20. Michael Pacione (2009). Urban Geography: A Global Perspective. Taylor & Francis. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-415-46201-3.
  21. Kelly Swanson (7 August 2012). Kaplan AP Human Geography 2013-2014. Kaplan Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60978-694-6.
  22. Robert B. Kent (January 2006). Latin America: Regions and People. Guilford Press. pp. 144–. ISBN 978-1-57230-909-8.
  23. "A 3-Hour Commute: A close look at Moscow the Megapolis". Strelka Mag. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  24. "Tätorter i Sverige". Statistiska Centralbyrån (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-11-17.
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