What Is City?

Abstract

The object of this paperis the city as a specific form of territorial organization of society. The task is to identify the main characteristics that determine the modern city as a specific phenomenon. The historical variability of ideas about the city associated with the historical development of the phenomenon of the city and society as a whole is demonstrated. The relativity of the distinction between the city and the non-city in modern society and the problematic definition of clear boundaries of the city are shown. The list of the main attributes of the city, which in addition to specific buildings, population and employment include its parameters such as its ability to act as a specific community and as a form of capital, is supplemented.