thumb|300px|[[Bidhannagar|Bidhannagar (Salt Lake City) is a satellite city of Kolkata with over 670,000 residents.]]

A satellite city or satellite town is a smaller municipality or settlement that is part of (or on the edge of) a larger metropolitan area and serves as a regional population and employment center. It differs from mere suburbs, subdivisions and especially bedroom communities in that it has employment bases sufficient to support its residential population, and conceptually, could be a self-sufficient community outside of its larger metropolitan area. However, it functions as part of a metropolis and experiences high levels of cross-commuting (that is, residents commuting out of and employees commuting into the city).

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Characteristics

Satellite cities are smaller cities near a large metropolis that:

  • predate the metropolis's suburban expansion
  • are at least partially independent from that metropolis economically and socially
  • are physically separated from the metropolis by rural territory or by a major geographic barrier such as a large river
  • have a traditional downtown surrounded by traditional "inner city" neighborhoods
  • may or may not be counted as part of the large metropolis's Combined Statistical Area

Quick reference

In the United States, the easiest way to tell if a community is a satellite city or some other type of development (see below) is to refer to the List of United States urban areas to see if it has its own independent urbanized area or is considered to be part of the urbanized area of its larger neighbor. This rule has exceptions, but should generally be followed.

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See also

;General:

  • New Urbanism
  • Rural flight
  • Satellite village
  • Urban area
  • Urban sprawl

;Planning:

  • Regional planning
  • Spatial planning

;Lists:

  • List of United States urban areas
  • :Category:Satellite cities

References

External articles

  • Graham Romeyn Taylor, Satellite Cities. A Study of Industrial Suburbs.
  • Berger, A. S. (1978). The city: urban communities and their problems. Dubuque, Iowa: Brown.
  • Carpenter, N. (1931). The sociology of city life. Longmans' social science series. New York: Longmans, Green and Co.