Urbanists distinguish urban areas from rural areas by their higher population density. They maintain that the difference in population entails a difference in the social and political order as well. Initially, some scholars[citation needed] denied the social and political differences between rural and urban areas, and insisted that there was no point in a specifically ‘urban studies’; but this debate has been largely resolved in favor of urban studies, and it is now widely accepted [1] that cities need to be studied separately from the country.

Urbanism is the study of cities, their geographic, economic, political, social and cultural environment, and the impact of all these forces on the built environment. Urbanism is also a species of urban planning, focusing on the creation of communities for living, work, and play.