Second city of the United Kingdom

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The second city of a country is the city that is thought to be the second-most important, usually after the capital or first city, according to some criteria such as population size, economic or commercial importance, political importance or some cultural sense. There is no official mechanism by which second city status is conferred on a city, rather, it is a description which is unofficial carrying no authority, and arguments often take place between citizens and civic leaders of rival cities making conflicting claims.

Birmingham has generally been described as the second city of the UK since around the First World War.^[1] However, many have claimed that Manchester deserves the distinction.^{[2] [3] [4]}

Since the formation of the UK, Bristol, Glasgow, and Liverpool have all also been seen as the second city, and indeed Glasgow was often described as the second city of the entire British Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.^[5] All three cities were prominent because of their economic importance, especially the central role which they played in overseas trade, and are still some of the largest cities in the country.

Dublin was the second most populous city at the time of the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801, though it lost that position later in the 19th century as other cities grew through industrialisation.^[6] Note that Dublin, and the rest of the Republic of Ireland, ceased to be a part of the UK in the 1920s.

Edinburgh also has a claim on the title ex officio as the capital city of Scotland. It is the second busiest tourist destination after London,^[7] and since devolution has become the most important city after London in governmental terms, housing the Scottish Parliament. It is a growing a financial centre^[8] and houses, amongst other financial and insurance companies, Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS, two of the UK's big five banks.

[edit] City boundaries

Based on population within actual city boundaries the City of Birmingham, the most populous in the UK, is substantially larger than the City of Manchester, which is the sixth largest in England (see List of English cities by population). However, these formal city boundaries should not be regarded as the sole criterion; for instance, the City of London, with a population of only 7,185 (2001 census), 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.

The City of Birmingham has a population of 992,400 (2004 estimate). It forms part of the larger West Midlands conurbation, which has a population of 2,284,093 (2001 census) and also includes the city of Wolverhampton, the towns of the Black Country, and other towns such as Solihull and Sutton Coldfield. The City of Manchester has a population of 437,000, while the Greater Manchester Urban Area is home to 2,240,230 people (2001 census) and also includes the city of Salford, and towns like Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, and Stockport.

[edit] Cultural factors

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: in addition to Birmingham and Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield and others all boast internationally recognised sporting, music and performing arts scenes. In Scotland, meanwhile, Edinburgh has played host to the world's largest arts festival for 60 consecutive years, and Glasgow, 1990's European Capital of Culture, and numerous other festivals including Celtic Connections music festival makes it an important centre for culture also.

Partisans of both Birmingham and Manchester are able to cite numerous examples of cultural factors supporting the case of each city.

[edit] References