Since Antiquity, urban centers have formed. The first cities arose in the Mesopotamia region and also in Egypt, about three thousand years ago a. Ç. However, during the era of Capitalism, especially in its industrial phase, this process of formation and urban growth reached its peak, which allowed the spread of urbanization across the planet.
In one of the several aspects related to urbanization, we can highlight the way in which some cities tend to specialize economically. This specialization can occur in the sense of boosting a local or regional economy, which can transform a previously existing space, or design and plan the creation of cities to serve functions specific.
Among these sectoral activities specifically carried out by urban formations, we can highlight some types of cities, such as the political-administrative, tourist, port, industrial and others that may present several of these aspects concomitantly. Below is a brief explanation of each of these types.
Political-administrative cities
: are cities where important administrative headquarters of governments and parliaments are located. They are usually characterized by the high offer of jobs in the public sector and a strategic political function. They are generally cities specifically planned and built for this purpose, although in some cases they take on other functions. We can mention, as examples of political-administrative cities, Brasília (Brazil), Pretoria (South Africa), Washington (USA), Ottawa (Canada), among others.religious cities: these are urban formations that have their economic dynamics mostly centered on some type of religious activity, which it takes place all year or for a few days, but it attracts a large number of faithful and moves a significant ornament financial. Examples of cities of this type are: Jerusalem (Israel), Mecca (Saudi Arabia), Aparecida do Norte (Brazil), Santiago de Compostela (Spain), Trinidad (Brazil), among others.
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Jerusalem, holy city for various religions
Touristic cities: these are cities that have some significant tourist and leisure attraction, either for their natural resources or for the possibilities offered by their geographic space. Among this type of city, we can mention Las Vegas (USA), Porto Seguro (Brazil), Cancun (Mexico) etc.
port cities: these are cities that play an important role in the economy of the country to which they belong, as it is from them that the largest part of the exports and imports take place, thanks to the structure of its port, used for loading and unloading of goods. Some examples of cities of this type are: Santos (Brazil), Rotterdam (Netherlands) and Hamburg (Germany).
industrial cities: although most cities are formed directly or indirectly due to the growth of the industrial production in a given region, only some of them can be classified as cities industrial. These are characterized by focusing most of their activities almost exclusively on the industrial sector, featuring vast and modern productive business parks. Examples are the cities of Camaçari (Brazil), Córdoba (Argentina), Manchester (England), Dusseldorf (Germany) and many others.
Dusseldorf, Germany. Important city for its industrial dynamism
Despite this classification, there are those cities that manage to present two or more of these types mentioned above. Endowed with great dynamism, these urban formations are characterized, in general, by their high weight economic both regionally and internationally, in addition to a significant contingent populational. Examples are São Paulo, Paris, New York, Rio de Janeiro, among others.
By Rodolfo Alves Pena
Graduated in Geography
