Specialized city

A specialized city is one where a particular economic activity plays (or historically has played) a dominant role in urban life. It gives focus to the town's character. This character may be expressed in specific areas within the city. Cities may be specialized in more than one economic activity. For example, Oxford, United Kingdom is an important industrial city as well as a university city.
City properties
City properties can be expressed in a number of ways such as by describing: its physical characteristics (for example, in a "tourist" city, one might observe many hotels); its population (for example, in an university city, one might find large number of young people); the employment of its residents (for example, the percentage of citizens employed in the economic activity of a specialised city may be greater than percentage employed in the same activity in a non-specialized city) and its international reputation for a particular economic activity.
Types of specialized cities
Port cities
Port cities were once confined to locations suited to their establishment, for example, those with natural deep water harbours such as Mumbai Harbour or Sydney Harbour. Now, through technological advances, these same conditions can be created artificially (Port of Jebel Ali for instance).
In port cities, shipping facilities may occupy a large area of the city proper and coastline. Economic activity tends to concentrate in the city's port area.
Proximity to raw materials and manufactured goods to be shipped is favoured in order to decrease the transport costs of importers and exporters. The area from which materials and goods arrive at a port city is its economic hinterland.
Ports themselves may be specialized on the basis of their size, shape, depth, level of activity and the way materials and goods are handled for example, liquids such as oil, containers of goods, passengers or bulk materials.
Port cities may change if the factors which allow the economic activity of their port decrease. One example is London where wear-houses and docks on the banks of the River Thames fell into disrepair by the 1970s when trading about the British Empire had decreased.
Industrial cities
Industrial cities may be characterised by an landscape", typified by for example, large industrial zones, heavy pollution and factories. They may also be characterised by the nature of their industry or "practice". Examples include: carpet making in Bukhara, Uzbekistan and aircraft production in Seattle, Washington.
Tourist cities
A tourist city is one where the specialized economic activity is tourism. The factors attracting tourists to a city are many and varied. They include nearby natural wonders; archeological sites; unique forms of entertainment; sites or events of religious pilgrimage and so on. Some characteristics of a tourist city include: a large number of tourists; businesses and services established to cater for tourists and attractions for tourists and associated industries. Las Vegas, Nevada is an example of a tourist city.
University cities
Another type of specialized city is one where the economic activity is determined by "university life". University life might develop as a result of factors such as history and prestige of an educational center; international access to the educational centre; cooperation between university and the city itself, for example, in technological achievement, architecture, libraries, associated industries and so on; youth and transience of the population; the establishment of services for students; and residents who are academics. For example, Stanford University has a campus in Silicon Valley which cooperates with the computer industry.

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