Editing Town (section)

=== Germany ===
{{Main|List of cities and towns in Germany}}
{{redirect|Großstadt|the painting|Metropolis (Dix){{!}}''Metropolis'' (Dix)}}
[[File:Putbus (2011-05-21) 14.JPG|thumb|[[Putbus]] on [[Rügen|Rügen Island]], Germany]]
Germans do not, in general, differentiate between 'city' and 'town'. The German word for both is {{Lang|de|Stadt}}, as it is the case in many other languages that do not differentiate between these concepts. The word for a 'village', as a smaller settlement, is {{Lang|de|Dorf}}. However, the International Statistics Conference of 1887 defined different sizes of {{Lang|de|Stadt}}, based on their population size, as follows: {{Lang|de|Landstadt}} ('country town'; under 5,000), {{Lang|de|Kleinstadt}} ('small town'; 5,000 to 20,000), {{Lang|de|Mittelstadt}} ('middle town'; between 20,000 and 100,000) and {{Lang|de|Großstadt}} ("large town"; 100,000 to 1,000,000).<ref>Universität Dortmund: [http://www.raumplanung.uni-dortmund.de/srp/web/dokumente/downloads/64_SRPapers%20Nr.1.pdf Kleine und mittlere Städte – Blaupausen der Großstadt?], Dokumentation des Expertenkolloquiums am 29. April 2004 in Dortmund</ref> The term {{Lang|de|Großstadt}} may be translated as 'city'. In addition, Germans may speak of a {{Lang|de|Millionenstadt}}, a city with anywhere between one and five million inhabitants (such as [[Cologne]], [[Munich]], [[Hamburg]] and Berlin). Also, a city with more than five million inhabitants is often referred to as a {{Lang|de|Megastadt}} (commonly translated as [[megacity]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Megastadt |url=https://www.spektrum.de/lexikon/geographie/megastadt/4993 |access-date=25 June 2022 |website=www.spektrum.de |language=de}}</ref>

Historically, many settlements became a {{Lang|de|Stadt}} by being awarded a [[Town privileges|''Stadtrecht'']] in medieval times. In modern German language use, the historical importance, the existence of central functions (education, retail etc.) and the population density of an urban place might also be taken as characteristics of a {{Lang|de|Stadt}}. The modern local government organisation is subject to the laws of each [[States of Germany|state]] and refers to a {{Lang|de|Gemeinde}} ([[States of Germany#Municipalities (Gemeinden)|municipality]]), regardless of its historic title. While most {{Lang|de|Gemeinden}} form part of a {{Lang|de|Landkreis}} ([[States of Germany#Administrative districts (Kreise)|district]]) on a higher tier of local government, larger towns and cities may have the status of a {{Lang|de|kreisfreie Stadt}}, combining both the powers of a municipality and a district.

Designations in different states are as diverse as e.g. in Australian States and Territories, and differ from state to state. In some German states, the words {{Lang|de|Markt}} ('market'), {{Lang|de|Marktflecken}} (both used in southern Germany) or {{Lang|de|Flecken}} ('spot'; northern Germany e.g. in [[Lower Saxony]]) designate a town-like residential community between {{Lang|de|Gemeinde}} and {{Lang|de|Stadt}} with special importance to its outer conurbation area. Historically those had {{Lang|de|Marktrecht}} (market right) but not full town privileges; see [[Market town]]. The legal denomination of a specific settlement may differ from its common designation (e.g. {{Lang|de|Samtgemeinde}} – a legal term in [[Lower Saxony]] for a group of villages [{{Lang|de|Dorf}}, pl. {{Lang|de|Dörfer}}] with common local government created by combining municipalities [{{Lang|de|Gemeinde}}, pl. {{Lang|de|Gemeinden}}]).