1. Introduction
Despite the lengthy tradition of research beginning with Max Weber and Georg Simmel, there is still no consensus on what constitutes a town or city in Europe. Given the hyperabundance of settlement forms across the world, the task is simply impossible outside Europe [2]. There is much sense, however, in following Jürgen Osterhammel’s minimal definition: “A ‘town’ is a way of organizing space as a society” [3. 355].
Towns and citi…