ABSTRACT
It is relatively easy to classify which areas are urban and which areas are not urban. There are a host of indicators available. These include population size, population density, number and range of services and employment profiles. Some sociologists have even claimed to have recognised distinctly urban and non-urban lifestyles, yet these have been severely criticised (Glass 1989; Savage and Warde 1993: 2). However, classifications such as these are descriptive classifications. While they are able to describe what characteristics are present in urban areas, they
are unable to isolate and identify anything that is unique to urban areas and which can therefore be used as a basis of a definition of ‘what is urban’. These indicators identify differences of degree, not type.
