What is the difference between urban and city

On other issues, differences across community types remain, even after controlling for partisanship. Rural Republicans are more likely than Republicans in urban areas to say the legalization of same-sex marriage is a bad thing for society, and they are also more likely to express very positive views of Trump. In turn, Democrats across community types express different views on immigration, with those in urban areas more likely than their rural counterparts to say the growing number of newcomers strengthens American society.

Concerns about drug addiction vary significantly along socio-economic lines. Certain problems are felt more deeply in some types of communities than in others. For example, rural adults are more likely than their urban and suburban counterparts to say access to public transportation and to high-speed internet are major problems. For their part, urban dwellers express greater concern than those in suburban and rural areas about the availability of affordable housing, crime, poverty and the quality of K education in public schools.

In urban, suburban and rural areas, more point to family ties than to any other factor as one of the main reasons why they stayed in the community where they grew up or why they left and later returned. Adults in urban, suburban and rural areas report nearly identical levels of attachment to their local community. In each of the three types of communities, those who have lived in their community for more than a decade and who have made connections with their neighbors are the most likely to feel a sense of attachment.

About a third of U. Among those who say they would want to move, many, particularly in suburban and rural areas, say they would like to stay in the same type of community. However, among those who know at least some of their neighbors, rural Americans are no more likely than their urban and suburban counterparts to say they interact with them on a regular basis. Other forms of communication, such as exchanging emails or text messages or talking on the phone with neighbors, are less common: About one-in-five or fewer in urban, rural and suburban areas say this happens at least once a week.

Americans are generally trusting of their neighbors, but those in suburban and rural areas are more so. There is little variation among those living in different types of communities in the share reporting they have social support, feel optimistic about their lives or feel lonely.

And the idea that life in the city feels more hectic than life in the country is not borne out by the data — only about one-in-ten urban, suburban and rural residents say they always or almost always feel they are too busy to enjoy their lives. The analysis of how urban, suburban and rural communities are changing along demographic lines Chapter 1 , based on data from the U.

All references to party affiliation include those who lean toward that party: Republicans include those who identify as Republicans and independents who say they lean toward the Republican Party, and Democrats include those who identify as Democrats and independents who say they lean toward the Democratic Party. References to Millennials include adults who are ages 22 to 37 in Generation Xers include those who are ages 38 to 53, Baby Boomers include those who are 54 to 72 and members of the Silent Generation include those ages 73 to References to whites, blacks and Asians include only those who are non-Hispanic and identify as only one race.

Hispanics are of any race. Nonwhites include blacks, Hispanics, other races and people who identify with more than one race.

In urban areas, many people live in large, multi-story apartment buildings. Some are quite luxurious, while others are very basic.

Many single-family urban homes are intermingled in with commercially zoned property, such that a house, or a few houses, may be surrounded by businesses. There are urban neighborhoods and subdivisions in many cities.

Homes in these developments tend to be built very close together and have only very small yards. Urban Businesses Urban areas are home to a lot of businesses, including corporate offices for large organizations with locations throughout the country or world. Many urban businesses operate in large, multi-story office buildings.

Corporate headquarters may occupy multiple buildings on their own, while other office buildings are home to multiple tenants. Shopping malls are common in urban areas. It's also common to see stores and restaurants on the first few floors of office buildings.

Suburban Location Suburban areas are locations that build up around the outside of cities. Suburban Living Suburbs are often referred to as bedroom communities, as many residents of the suburbs commute to the city for work.

Most homes in the suburbs are located in subdivisions zoned exclusively for residential purposes. They typically have more land than homes in urban neighborhoods and less than homes in rural areas. The most exclusive single-family homes in suburban areas are in gated communities, with secure gates that only residents and their invited guests can pass through.

Apartment complexes are common in the suburbs, but they are different from city apartments. They are usually only a few stories tall and tend to have more spacious floorplans than urban apartments.

Suburban apartment complexes tend to be situated on larger plots of land, which allows for amenities like swimming pools, tennis courts, and dog runs. Suburban Businesses People who move to the suburbs to escape from the city don't want to have to go back to the city to shop. Large shopping centers anchored by major chain retailers are common in suburban areas. Freestanding stores, restaurants, and other product and service businesses are common in suburban areas.

Suppliers and distribution centers often set up shop in suburban areas for easy access to customers in nearby cities. Urban areas are very developed, meaning there is a density of human structures such as houses, commercial buildings, roads, bridges, and railways.

An urban area includes the city itself, as well as the surrounding areas. Many urban areas are called metropolitan areas, or "greater," as in Greater New York or Greater London. When two or more metropolitan areas grow until they combine, the result may be known as a megalopolis.

Rural areas are the opposite of urban areas. Rural areas, often called "the country," have low population density and large amounts of undeveloped land. Usually, the difference between a rural area and an urban area is clear.

But in developed countries with large populations, such as Japan, the difference is becoming less clear. In the United States, settlements with 2, inhabitants or more are defined as urban.

In Japan, which is far more densely populated than the U. Throughout the world, the dominant pattern of migration within countries has been from rural to urban areas.

This is partly because improved technology has decreased the need for agricultural workers and partly because cities are seen as offering greater economic opportunities. Most of the worlds people, however, still live in rural areas. One type of urban area is a town. A town is generally larger than a village , but smaller than a city. Some geographers further define a town as having 2, to 20, residents. Towns usually have local self-government , and they may grow around specialized economic activities, such as mining or railroading.

The western part of the United States, for instance, is dotted with "ghost towns. They are full of abandoned buildings and roads that have been overtaken by shrubs and natural vegetation.

Many ghost towns in the western U. Economic activity boomed in these towns, most of it centered on mining. When all the gold and silver was mined, economic activity stopped and people moved away, leaving ghost towns of empty homes and businesses. Suburbs are smaller urban areas that surround cities. Most suburbs are less densely populated than cities. They serve as the residential area for much of the citys work force. The suburbs are made up of mostly single-family homes, stores, and services.

Many city residents move to suburbs, a situation known as suburban migration. Homes in suburbs are usually larger than homes in cities, and suburbs usually have more parks and open spaces. Residents may move to escape the traffic, noise, or to enjoy a larger residence. Large groups of Americans began to move to suburbs in the late s. The invention of the streetcar made it possible for residents to commute from their homes to their city jobs.

This created an explosion of single-family homes and increased the growth of suburbs across America. The establishment of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of also contributed to the growth of suburbs and urban areas. The Highway Act created 66, kilometers 41, miles of interstate roadway systems. The original plan for the highway system was for the evacuation of large cities in case of a nuclear or military attack.

What the Highway Act created instead was suburban sprawl. Suburban sprawl continues to be a phenomenon in the U. First, outlying areas of a city widen. Slowly, these outlying areas become more crowded, pushing the suburbs farther into rural areas. Housing and businesses that serve suburban communities eat up farmland and wilderness.

More than , hectares 2 million acres of farmland and wilderness are lost to development every year in the U. Recently, experts have tried to curb the spread of suburban sprawl, or at least create urban areas that are developed more purposefully. This is known as "smart growth. Some developers recover old communities in downtown urban areas, rather than develop the next piece of farmland or wilderness.

States such as Oregon are passing laws to prevent unplanned urban sprawl. They have created boundaries around cities that limit the growth of development. Officials have created laws stating that the minimum size of a plot of land is 32 hectares 80 acres. This is to prevent developers from creating suburban communities. An acre plot of land is too costly for a single-family home!

Other smart-growth communities are creating new types of development. Some have large amounts of undeveloped " green space ," organic farms, and lakes.