Differences between 町, 都市 and 都会


Please help me understand the differences between these 3 words meaning
"city": [町]{まち}, 都市 and 都会.

According to [this article](https://tadasiikeigo.com/machi/) hosted by
tadasiikeigo.com, 都市 is for big cities:

> 「都市」は、町以上に人口が密集していて栄えている場所です。

But the [都市 wikipedia page](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%83%BD%E5%B8%82)
states that size is not relevant for the word 都市:

> 「都市」と呼んだ場合には、規模の大小を問わない




They are difficult to summarize in a few words because they have to be
discussed from both the perspective of population and the perspective of
formality level.

In the perspective of population, roughly speaking:

  * (大都会: >1,000,000 people)
  * 都会: >100,000 people
  * 都市: >10,000 people
  * 町: >500 people

In the perspective of formality, 都会 and 町 are relatively informal words that
are commonly used in casual conversations and song lyrics. On the other hand,
都市 is a relatively formal and/or academic word typically used in news articles
and academic contexts. We say 町に行こう (referring to any populous district
nearby) but almost never say 都市に行こう. We say 都市開発 ("city/town development") or
都市計画 but never say 都会開発. When I hear the word 都市開発, I think of large cranes
and railway, whereas when I hear the word 町作り, I think of something more human
like flea markets, flower gardens and local _matsuri_.




They are difficult to summarize in a few words because they have to be
discussed from both the perspective of population and the perspective of
formality level.

In the perspective of population, roughly speaking:

  * (大都会: >1,000,000 people)
  * 都会: >100,000 people
  * 都市: >10,000 people
  * 町: >500 people

In the perspective of formality, 都会 and 町 are relatively informal words that
are commonly used in casual conversations and song lyrics. On the other hand,
都市 is a relatively formal and/or academic word typically used in news articles
and academic contexts. We say 町に行こう (referring to any populous district
nearby) but almost never say 都市に行こう. We say 都市開発 ("city/town development") or
都市計画 but never say 都会開発. When I hear the word 都市開発, I think of large cranes
and railway, whereas when I hear the word 町作り, I think of something more human
like flea markets, flower gardens and local _matsuri_.

