Satellite cities

A satellite town or satellite city is a concept in urban planning that refers essentially to smaller metropolitan areas which are located somewhat near to, but are mostly independent of larger metropolitan areas.

Satellite cities are small or medium-sized cities near a large metropolis, that:

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.

Satellite cities are different from and are sometimes confused with the following related patterns of development.

Satellite cities differ from suburbs in that they have distinct employment bases, commutersheds, and cultural offerings from the central metropolis, as well as an independent municipal government. Satellite cities are not bedroom communities.

Satellite cities differ from edge cities, which are suburbs with large employment bases and cultural offerings, in that satellite cities must have a true historic downtown, a distinct independent municipal government, existed as a city prior to becoming interconnected with the larger metropolitan core, and are surrounded by both their own family of bedroom communities and a belt of rural land between themselves and the central city.

Conceptually, both satellite cities and some types of edge city could be (and once were) self-sufficient communities outside of their larger metropolitan areas, but have become interconnected due to the suburban expansion of the larger metropolis. However, while edge cities may have their own government and share many characteristics with satellite cities, they are much more physically integrated with the core city and would not exist in anything like their present form if not for the suburban expansion of their larger neighbor. Edge cities are activity nodes within a metro area, not miniature metro areas themselves.

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