ABSTRACT
As a preliminary to a review of the attempts so far made to present standardised urban population figures for different countries, it is necessary to understand the conceptual problem involved. Until the twentieth century it was broadly true that the administrative definition of a city or town provided a reasonable definition of an urban area. During the present century, however, as suburban growth has proceeded outside city boundaries in many countries, this has become increasingly untrue. The physical entity, in the form of the continuously built-up area, has extended beyond the administrative boundaries of may cities; while the functional area of the city, in terms of the commuter field or the field to which services (shopping, public services, entertainments, local media services) are provided, has tended to extend even more widely. Academics as well as official statisticians have therefore been impelled to try to produce working definitions of these other realities. Among the best known are the official Conurbations of the British Census in use since 1951, and the Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas and Urbanised Areas (SMSA) used by the United States Census since 1950.
