Editing South West England (section)

===Settlements===
The South West region is largely rural, with small towns and villages; a higher proportion of people live in such areas than in any other English region. There are two major regional cities in terms of population, which are Bristol and Plymouth (although Bristol is larger by some consideration), and two major conurbations which are the South East Dorset Conurbation (Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole) and the Bristol Metropolitan Conurbation (which includes the City of Bristol and areas of South Gloucestershire).
[[File:Pulteney Bridge, Bath 2.jpg|alt=A three arch stone bridge with buildings on it, over water. Below the bridge is a three step weir and pleasure boat.|thumb|upright=0.75|[[Pulteney Bridge]] in Bath, Somerset: the entire city is a World Heritage Site]]
Cities and Towns with specific tourist and cultural sites of interest include Bath, Bristol, Salisbury, Plymouth, Exeter, Cheltenham, Gloucester and Weston-super-Mare, as well as the county of Cornwall on a widespread scale.

The region is home to eleven universities: [[University of Bath]], [[University of Exeter]], [[University of Bristol]], [[Bournemouth University]], [[Falmouth University]] (Cornwall), [[University of Plymouth]], [[University of the West of England]], [[University of Gloucestershire]] (Gloucester and Cheltenham), [[Arts University Bournemouth]], [[Bath Spa University]], [[Plymouth Marjon University]], and [[Royal Agricultural University]] (Cirencester).
[[File:Cambray Place, Cheltenham (geograph 7343989).jpg|thumb| [[Cheltenham]]]]
The largest cities and towns in order of population are:
#[[Bristol]] (483,000)
#[[Plymouth]] (278,000)
#[[Bournemouth]] (196,000)
#[[Swindon]] (184,000)
#[[Poole]] (152,000)
#[[Exeter]] (135,000)
#[[Gloucester]] (132,000)
#[[Cheltenham]] (119,000)
#[[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] (94,000)
#[[Weston-super-Mare]] (82,000)
#[[Paignton]] (68,000)
#[[Torquay]] (65,000)
#[[Taunton]] (60,000)
#[[Weymouth, Dorset|Weymouth]] (53,000).
#[[Yeovil]] (50,000)
#[[Salisbury]] (42,000)
#[[Bridgwater]] (41,000)
#[[Kingswood, South Gloucestershire|Kingswood]] (41,000)

The largest conurbations are:
# City of Bristol and surrounds, sometimes called [[Greater Bristol]] or "Bristol Built-up Area", which includes parts of [[South Gloucestershire]] (617,000)
# [[South East Dorset conurbation]], covering Bournemouth, Poole and [[Christchurch, Dorset|Christchurch]] (467,000)
# Plymouth (301,000)
#[[Gloucester#Geography|Gloucester Urban Area]], covering Gloucester and Innsworth (169,000)
#[[Torbay]], covering Torquay, Paignton and Brixham (122,000)

The population of the South West in 2009 was about five million.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.southwestrda.org.uk/region/population.shtm|title=Population|publisher=South West RDA|access-date=9 September 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090904094452/http://www.southwestrda.org.uk/region/population.shtm|archive-date=4 September 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>