How big is a city's area of influence?i.e-the area influenced by any city,but which is outside the city?

Question

i.e-How many kms/miles around the city does the city affect/influence?

Answer 1

I guess that would depend on alot of factors.

I live on the farthest out reaches of Chicago (Joliet, Il) and we are considered the Far SW Suburbs.  Pretty much anything west of us is considered farm country.  Chicagoland encompasses parts of NW IN and as far north as WIS Border

Answer 2

You cannot realistically put a fixed physical limit on this.It varies between cities and in relation to different aspects of "influence",

The physical extent of a particular city’s  Ã¢Â€Â˜catchment area’ in these terms will in turn depend on a number of factors. The major factor will probably be the size of the city’s local economy – it’s economic influence will then extend to the commuter belt for that city and the satellite towns that host businesses supporting & supported by the economy in the centre. You could work through each of the relevant factors in turn. City “A” will have influence in its own catchment area until you reach the borders of City “B’s” catchment.  

You can define influence in terms of factor such as economic, political , transport/logistics, cultural.

To make an obvious point London has national influence politically and economically.On the other hand whereas Edinburgh is now the political capital of Scotland it does not have a national political signifigance as such but sdoes have major cultural influence.    

Answer 3

That would depend upon lots of factors such as the size and wealth of the city, the size, wealth and distance of other cities, transport connections...  A single answer would be pointless.