The 'second city' of a country is the
city that is (or was) the second-most important, usually after the
capital or first city, according to some criteria.
Criteria for second city status include population size, economic or commercial importance, political importance, or some cultural sense. Since it is often difficult to draw a precise boundary where cities end, deciding which city is second in a country is not always straightforward. If the cultural definition is used, then the choice of second city is highly subjective and a matter of opinion rather than fact. In many countries, more than one city might have a legitimate claim to being second city, depending on the definition or criteria used.
It is also sometimes believed, rightly or wrongly, that the second city would assume the role of capital city (as seat of government, market trading, etc.) if the capital were to be compromised by invasion or insurrection.
Australia
In
Australia,
Melbourne is usually referred to as the second city, behind the largest city
Sydney. Neither is the national capital, which is the comparatively small
Canberra (compare to
Ottawa in
Canada or
Wellington in New Zealand). Sydney and Melbourne are both state capitals.
The postcodes for the state capitals were originally designated roughly in order of population size: Sydney 2000, Melbourne 3000,
Brisbane 4000,
Adelaide 5000,
Perth 6000,
Hobart 7000. (Note that the metropolitan population of Perth now exceeds that of its eastern neighbour, Adelaide). The postcode 1000 was not originally used. Canberra's postcode is 2600, since it is surrounded by the state of
New South Wales.
Within
Sydney, the western suburb of
Paramatta is often referred to as Sydney's second
CBD.
Within Tasmania,
Launceston is the second city after the largest city, the state capital
Hobart.
Canada
In
Canada,
Montreal is commonly considered to be the country's second city. Until the late 1970s, this title had belonged to
Toronto. It was during that time, amidst political and social unrest caused by the growing
Quebec sovereignty movement, that it overtook Montreal, the first city, in population, and the center of the financial industry would move from
St. James Street in Montreal to
Bay Street in Toronto. For more on the rivalry between the country's two largest cities see
Toronto-Montreal rivalry
Each province may have a second city, but this is controversial. For example in
British Columbia,
Victoria is secondary in population to
Vancouver despite being the provincial capital, as in the case with
Quebec City and
Montreal in the province of
Quebec as well as
Toronto and
Ottawa in the province of
Ontario, despite Ottawa's being the nation's capital. In some provinces, however, cities are more evenly matched. In
Alberta,
Calgary and
Edmonton are nearly equal in population, and while Edmonton is the capital, Calgary is a more important business centre (see
Battle of Alberta). Similarly
Saskatchewan's
Regina and
Saskatoon are of a similar size, while
New Brunswick has three similarly sized cities,
Saint John,
Moncton, and
Fredericton. In the provinces of Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland & Labrador and Prince Edward Island the capital city is also the largest city by a significant margin.
Chile
Valparaíso is
Chile’s most important seaport and an increasingly vital cultural center. The city is located in central Chile, where it is capital of the Region of Valparaíso. Although Santiago is Chile's official capital,
Valparaiso houses the National Congress
Colombia
Medellín is the second city of
Colombia, and has been for most of the
20th century. As the most important city in the coffee-growing region known as the ''eje cafetero'', for decades the economic surplus of a very profitable export trade accumulated here. The
National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia, which provided credit, extension education, and marketing services for the individual small farmers, invested its surpluses in diversifying the local economy. This led to a thriving textile and fashion industry, so Medellín is sometimes called the ''
Manchester of South America'', after England's textile capital. The cultural, economic and political influence of the ''paisas'', as the people of the region are called, has traditionally been very strong in Colombia; businessmen once complained "even the Banco Alemán (German Bank) is owned by paisas". Recently the cultural influence of the Caribbean coastal region has grown, so that the status of second city is now disputable between Medellín and
Cartagena. Cartagena, which began as a walled city and major seaport in colonial times, was the traditional second city of the country, a power rival to the capital,
Bogotá.
Japan
Osaka is the city in Japan with the third largest population, following
Tokyo and
Yokohama. Yokohama is, however, one of the
satellite towns of Tokyo,
[1][2] and is considered a part of the
Greater Tokyo Area. After the 7th century A.D., the Japanese capital was moved to Osaka a few times. In the 16th century, at about the time Tokyo (then called
Edo) was established as Japan's ''de facto'' capital, Osaka was rezoned, which gave it the advantage of the largest port and access to many tradesmen.
Like Tokyo, Osaka is now part of a larger metropolitan area (
Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto), and it has all the top level infrastructure and social systems except a national legislative organ.
Republic of Ireland
Cork is generally considered to be the second city to
Dublin, having a much higher population than
Galway,
Kilkenny,
Limerick,
Sligo or
Waterford.
Mexico
From colonial times,
[3] and until the beginning of the 20th century,
[4] Puebla was considered the second city in
Mexico; it was the first to industrialize and the second most important cultural and academic centre.
[5] Throughout the 20th century,
Guadalajara has been traditionally considered the second city given its initial rapid industrialization
[6] and population growth. Nowadays, it continues to be the second most important cultural centre hosting prestigious international literary, music and film events.
[7] It was selected to be the "Cultural Capital of the Americas" on one occasion, and at the same time remains an important industrial hub for Western Mexico, and it remains the country's second most populous city. Nonetheless, since the last quarter of the century,
Monterrey has engaged in an industrial restructuring that has positioned the city in the international arena as the second most important industrial and financial hub in the country after
Mexico City,
[8] with the presence of important transnational conglomerates. Having being ranked as the best city to do business in
Latin America by
Fortune Magazine, and enjoying the second highest income per capita in Mexico, Monterrey has also played an important role in the technological and educational modernization of the country. In all aspects of urban modernization Monterrey is the second city in Mexico.
[9]
South Africa
Cape Town is still regarded as South Africa's second city, because of its economic importance, its prevalence as an international tourist destination, and its airport, which is the second-busiest in the country after
OR Tambo International Airport near Johannesburg. However, in the same way that Los Angeles outgrew Chicago in the 1980s,
Durban outgrew Cape Town in the 1990s in terms of population.
Durban International Airport, however, does not handle as much traffic as
Cape Town International Airport. Moreover, Durban does not function as either a provincial or national capital as Cape Town does, and is not as economically strong as Cape Town.
[10] As such, it is generally still regarded in the lexicon of the South African urban hierarchy as South Africa's third city.
United Kingdom
The first city in the
United Kingdom is undisputedly the capital,
London.
Birmingham, the second-largest city both by geographical size and population, has generally been described as the second city of the UK since around the
First World War [11] [12] [13]. More recently, it has been claimed that
Manchester deserves the distinction
[14] [15], and it has occasionally been described as the second city in published media
[16] [17] [18].
Since the formation of the UK, Norwich, Dublin
[19] Bristol , Glasgow , and Liverpool have all also been identified as the second city, and indeed Glasgow was often described as the second city of the entire British Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These cities were prominent because of their economic importance, especially the central role which they played in overseas trade, and are still among the largest cities in the country.
Scotland
The capital city of
Scotland is
Edinburgh, having been so since
1437. However, the main city in Scotland, in terms of population, metropolitan area, commuter belt, economic importance and most recently tourism is
Glasgow. Glasgow's famous nickname is the "Second City of the Empire", (the first city in this context being
London rather than Edinburgh).
[20]
Northern Ireland
The capital city of
Northern Ireland is
Belfast. The second city of Northern Ireland is
Derry. Until 2002 Northern Ireland's only other city was
Armagh, the ecclesiastical capital of the island of Ireland. That year,
Queen Elizabeth granted city status to
Lisburn and
Newry.
[21]
Wales
Cardiff is the capital city of Wales and the largest city by population. The second most populous city is
Swansea.
United States
In the
United States, the term has long been a nickname for
Chicago, which has a history as the largest urban area second to
New York City. In the late 1980s, however, Chicago was displaced by
Los Angeles as the second largest city in the United States. Chicago has embraced its "Second City" moniker and has widely accepted it as a shorthand name for the city; this is the origin of the name of
The Second City comedy troupe.
Other countries
See also
★
List of countries whose capital is not their largest city
★
Satellite city
References
1. http://www.urban.e.u-tokyo.ac.jp/UEA/uea_code_e.htm
2. http://www.stat.go.jp/data/kokusei/2000/final/zuhyou/092.xls
3. The patronage of Juan de Palafox y Mendoza: Constructing the cathedral and civic image of Puebla de Los Angeles, Mexico
4. The New Student's Reference Work, Puebla entry,
5. Historia de la ciudad de Puebla..
6. Fragmentos urbanos de una misma ciudad: Guadalajara
7. Guadalajara hosts the most important literary even of the Spanish speaking world, ''Feria Internacional del Libro'', and a prestigious cinema award ceremony
8. La urbanización en México en el último cuarto del siglo XX
9. Mexican Regionalism Reconsidered
10. http://www.joburg.org.za/nov_2002/nov25_gdp.stm
11. Birmingham: The Making of the Second City 1850-1939, Hopkins, Eric, , , Tempus Publishing, 2001,
12. What It Was, Was Britball Swindle, Michael , "Birmingham, the second city of England"
13. One shot dead, two injured in Manchester shootings , "Britain's second city of Birmingham"
14. Manchester 'England's second city'
15. Manchester 'close to second city'
16. Britain's Second City Sandblasts its Image Nottle, Diane
17. With Manchester Festival, England's second city bids for cultural spotlight Swed, Mark
18. Manchester United Mead, Rebecca
19. The Second City of Empire . Dublin was the second most populous city at the time of the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801, though it and the rest of the Republic of Ireland, ceased to be a part of the UK in the 1920s.
20. The Second City
21. BBC report
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
