A Greater city movement refers to various reform efforts—both contemporary and historical—to expand the municipal boundaries of a primate central city to incorporate all, or part, of the surrounding metropolitan population. Historically, greater city movements were proposed as a solution to the problem of metropolitan planning and administration. Today, the concept has been largely discredited for political reasons Historically, examples of cities that have successfully expanded their boundaries to include the entire metropolitan population are extremely rare, and as a general principle few, if any cities worldwide have been able to maintain a continuous process of boundary adjustment to include surrounding areas of population growth. The greater city movements of the early twentieth century grew out of concern for improving urban health, efficiency and aesthetics. They also reflected the longstanding historical understanding of cities as a politically unified entity. Larger municipal governments with greater resources were seen as a means for implementing the ideas of

municipal socialism Municipal socialism is a type of socialism that uses local government to further socialist aims. It is a form of municipalism in which its explicitly socialist aims are clearly stated. In some contexts the word "municipalism" was tainted with th ...

City beautiful The City Beautiful Movement was a reform philosophy of North American architecture and urban planning that flourished during the 1890s and 1900s with the intent of introducing beautification and monumental grandeur in cities. It was a part of the ...

and the garden city. Greater city movements are distinct from "regionalism" movements, which seek to create an additional tier of regional metropolitan government (Such as

Grand Paris The Métropole du Grand Paris (; "Metropolis of Greater Paris"),There is no official or widely-used English translation yet. also known as Grand Paris or Greater Paris, is a ''métropole'' covering the City of Paris and its nearest surrounding su ...

in 2016).

Examples

Australia

In Australia the movement led to the creation of a

greater Brisbane South East Queensland (SEQ) is a bio-geographical, metropolitan, political and administrative region of the state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.8 million people out of the state's population of 5.1 million. T ...

(1925) which is considered the only true implantation of the "greater city" model. More limited successes were achieved in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

(1938) and

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

(1914-1917). Elsewhere, including Melbourne and Sydney, the movement was entirely unsuccessful and today, the idea of large, metropolitan local authorities coordinating development, infrastructure, financing is rarely identified as a model for urban and regional planning. Examples of successful and partially successful movements include the following: *

: The amalgamation of several inner city municipalities occurred between 1914-1917, but was reversed by the state government in 1993. Efforts to encourage an amalgamation of the

City of Perth A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and the

City of Vincent The City of Vincent is a local government area of Western Australia. It covers an area of approximately in metropolitan Perth, the capital of Western Australia, and lies about 3 km from the Perth CBD. The City of Vincent maintains 139&nbs ...

failed in 2013 although the City of Perth was expanded to include the University of Western Australia and surrounding neighbourhood. *

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

(1924): The only truly successful implementation of the greater city movement in Australia. *

(1937) * Wollongong (1947)

Canada

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

: Seven municipalities were amalgamated into the

City of Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

in 1997.

United Kingdom

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

: The city was expanded to include adjoining districts in 1891, 1909, 1911, 1928, 1931 and 1974. *

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

: The

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

was created in 1889.

United States

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

: The creation of the

City of Greater New York The City of Greater New York was the term used by many politicians and scholars for the expanded City of New York created on January 1, 1898, by consolidating the existing City of New York with Brooklyn, western Queens County, and Staten Is ...

in 1898.

References