There is no shortage of research on the changing nature of cities and the ways the increasing urbanisation is shaping modern life. Yet too often we fail to ask this simple, but fundamental question: What is a city? How do we determine what is, and what is not an urban reality. Of course we know that London is a bustling UK city, and sparsely populated farmland and moorland in Cumbria are not. In South Africa, we are aware that Gauteng province is urban, while Northern Cape province is not. Increasingly, however, geographical areas are emerging that do not so clearly fit inside or outside such a classification. As metropolitan areas evolve, as mid-sized cities reveal characteristics that are both urban and suburban, as cities and rural life are increasingly interconnected, defining just what we mean when we talk about cities becomes crucial.