Primate city (made by Latin word prime that means the first rank) is a very big city and hub of the large population, political, and economic of a country. It is incomparable to other cities in any aspect ( i.e. Population, politically, economically) in that country.
The idea of the primate city was given by Mark Jefferson to explain the huge cities that have a huge population and economic activities, the following criteria are for being the primate city:
There is no primate city at the global level. As per 2018 population:
The following countries have primate city at the national level:
The idea of the primate city was given by Mark Jefferson to explain the huge cities that have a huge population and economic activities, the following criteria are for being the primate city:
- The primate city is at least twice the population as large then the next big city.
- Primate city must have twice significance ( i.e. Population, politically, economically) as compared to the next big city.
Primate city at the global level
There is no primate city at the global level. As per 2018 population:
- Largest city:
- Tokyo (38 million)
- Second largest:
- Delhi-NCR( 25 million)
- Third largest:
- Shanghai (23 million)
Primate city at the National Level
The following countries have primate city at the national level:
- France:
- Paris (9.7 million population) as compared to next big city Marseilles( 1.3 million)
- The United Kingdom:
- London( 7 million population) is seven times larger in population as compared to Liverpool( 1 million).
- Mexico:
- Mexico City (8.6 million) is five times larger in population as compared to Guadalajara( 1.6 million)
- Japan:
- Tokyo has more than twice the population as compared to Yokohama.
- Thailand:
- Bangkok( 7.6 million population) as compared to next big city Nothaburi( 0.5 million)
- India
- China,
- Canada,
- Germany
- Brazil,
- Russia
- USA
In India, no primate city at the national level, but state-level we do have many primate cities.
It is the result of sucking of resources from periphery to core region. As a result, there is a progressive core & un-progressive periphery. Many factors are responsible for the primate city development, some important factors are:
- In Maharastra state,
- Mumbai is 5 times larger than Pune.
- In Tamil Nadu,
- Chennai is 5 times larger than Coimbatore
- In Karnataka,
- Bangalore is 6 times larger than Hubli
- In West Bengal,
- Calcutta is 25 times larger than Asansol
How and where primate city developed?
It is the result of sucking of resources from periphery to core region. As a result, there is a progressive core & un-progressive periphery. Many factors are responsible for the primate city development, some important factors are:
- Historical: Colonial era, more focused on a particular location.
- Administrative: Small territorial extent of the country also responsible for primate city development, for example, in South Korea, Seoul City.
- Overdependence on agriculture & low income
- Primate city dominates the country's influence due to large size, it has strong pull factors leads to the city become even larger as compared to other cities.
- Having a large population means a huge brain, ideas, and flow of information.
- Agglomeration of economic activities
- Large markets of goods and services attract FDI, capital, and the brain from the surrounding region.
- Ability to provide high-end goods and services and able to compete on a global scale
- Advantage of large & cheap way of communication and transportation network
Dis-advantage of having primate city:
- Brain drain, migration, huge sucking of capital from the surrounding region leads to unequal economic, political, and resource development.
- Overpopulation in primate cities leads to resource depletion and unsustainable urban growth.
- It creates slums and pollution likes problem.
- It is prone to epidemic spread like the coronavirus.
- Under the population in the surrounding region leads to underutilization of resources.
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