Primate city
Also called: Law of the primate city · Topic: Human Settlements and Urbanisation in India · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
A primate city is a city much larger than any other city in its country or region. It is usually more than twice the size of the next city. It dominates the country's economy, politics and culture. Mark Jefferson gave the idea in 1939. A primate city shows that growth is lopsided, with one city drawing in people, money and power.
Example
Bangkok is the primate city of Thailand. India has no primate city at the national level, because Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata are close in size. Within West Bengal, however, Kolkata is a primate city, far ahead of every other town in the state.
Don't confuse with
- Rank-size rule: Zipf's pattern in which the second city has about half the population of the largest, the third about one-third, and so on. A country with a primate city breaks this rule, because its top city is too big compared with the rest.