What Makes a City?
📋 What it is
A city is a large, dense settlement where many people live and work close together, connected by shared services.
🗣️ Coach says
A city isn’t just a lot of buildings — it’s a lot of PEOPLE living close and sharing systems: water, roads, power, schools. The magic (and the challenge) of a city is getting all those shared systems to work for everyone.
🧠 Memory hook
City = many people + shared systems. Density + services.
😂 Giggle
Why was the architect always calm?
They knew how to handle the pressure — and the load-bearing walls!
😲 Whoa!
Tokyo’s greater area is home to about 37 million people — more than the entire population of Canada, all in one metro region.
✅ Quick check: What makes a place a “city” rather than just a big group of houses?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
Lots of people living densely together AND shared systems/services (water, roads, power, schools) that connect them.
Defining a city by density + shared systems frames the whole subject.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Name three services your town or city shares that a single house couldn’t provide alone.