Second city

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Template:For 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 believed, rightly or wrongly, that the second city assumes the role of capital city (as seat of government, market trading, etc.) if the capital were to be compromised by invasion or insurrection.

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Australia

In Australia, Melbourne is sometimes referred to as the second city, behind the largest city Sydney (although neither is the capital; this is the comparatively small Canberra).

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Canada

In Canada, Toronto was referred to as the second city before the late 1970s when it overtook Montreal in population and the centre of the financial industry moved from St. James Street to Bay Street.

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United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, Birmingham has generally been considered the second city since around the First World War. More recently, many have claimed that Manchester deserves the distinction. Many Birmingham residents agree, with the tongue-in-cheek stipulation that Birmingham be the 'First City'.

Based on formal city boundaries the City of Birmingham is larger than the City of Manchester, although these formal city boundaries should not be regarded as the sole criteria; for instance, the City of London is very small. The surrounding conurbations and the areas that can be considered informally part of each city are hard to define. However after the 1974 re-organisation of local government and the creation of the Metropolitan county, the City of Birmingham was included with the City of Coventry and five other "Boroughs" into a new administrative county called West Midlands. The City of Manchester joined with the neighbouring City of Salford and eight other "Boroughs" to become Greater Manchester, which for many years, in population terms at least, was slightly larger than the West Midlands, giving some credence to its claim on second city status.

It is perhaps even more difficult to make a distinction based on cultural factors, as all major UK cities play an important role in the cultural make-up of the country. A 1970's BBC drama series called "Second City Firsts" was based in Birmingham, as was the mythical Crossroads motel. While the longest running TV soap opera, Coronation Street and a number of other recent popular TV series like Shameless and Queer as folk are clearly very Mancunian.

Certain other indices of city size/status may also be considered - for example Postal Code or number of subscribers in the telephone dialing code area. However these can also lead to distortions as historically there are many anomalies Rochdale, Wigan & Bolton - all part of Greater Manchester - have their own separate dialing codes; likewise Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley & Coventry are not included under the Birmingham code. Other city comparisions might use airport size, football or other sport successes, number of orchestras, pop music artists, public transport or metro (both Birmingham and Manchester have trams but Glasgow has an Underground Railway).

In the past, Glasgow and Liverpool each had a claim to being the second city of the UK or indeed of the entire British Empire. Both cities were prominent because of their economic importance, especially the central role which they played in overseas trade. Other UK cities with minor claims to ancient second or even capital city status include Lincoln, York, Norwich, Winchester and Hamwick (now in Southampton).

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United States

In the United States, the term is a nickname for Chicago, because for most of its history was second both in population and in cultural influence to New York City (although Los Angeles overtook Chicago to become the second-largest city in the 1980s). Chicago still remains an important cultural and business capital in the United States.

In the years prior to the American Revolution, Philadelphia was the second-largest English-speaking city in the British Empire after London.

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Other countries

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