2024-05-16
There are many differences between towns and cities.
The distinction is fluid, however, and differs between countries and regions. And to top it off it's also a linguistic issue.
You see, the Swedish word for "town" is "stad". The Swedish word for "city" is "stad". Yes, we only have one word for something larger than a village or a suburb.
This makes it a little hard in English conversations. The town (or city) that I live in has a population of about 120,000. It's tiny by international standards, but it's something like the seventh or eighth largest settlement in the country. It doesn't have a central business district, but only the three largest towns/cities have that in any meaningful interpretation of the phrase.
There are some parks and great public transport here. On the other hand tiny towns also have that in Sweden.
I describe Umeå as a town or a city rather randomly. It's hard to stick to one, because I honestly don't know which to pick.
-- CC0 Björn Wärmedal