Talk:List of cities in Costa Rica
![]() | This redirect does not require a rating on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||
|
Redirect?
editI'm wondering if this list should be redirected to Cantons of Costa Rica. Costa Rica does not have "cities" but has cantons and districts. It's like saying "provinces" for the USA which would surely get redirected to "states" or deleted outright. Also, the list of "cities" is both outdated by almost 20 years and incomplete (since there are no official "list of cities" since there are no official cities, the only source must be OR, or some third party like citypopulations.de). This list runs afoul of WP:OR, since it is an arbitrary list from a 3rd party website. I tried to redirect but was reverted, so I will ask if anyone does not think this list is original research. Mattximus (talk) 16:28, 24 March 2019 (UTC)
- @Mattximus: I agree and will work on that in the future. By the División Territorial Administrativa the head district of each canton is awarded automatically the status of city, irregardless of population density or other factors, which is kind of ridiculous for some districts, but well.... is the official designation, but with the exception of San José canton, where the whole canton except a small section in a district, is identified as a city (I have added that information this week to both English and Spanish wikis, somebody even draw up map limits according to imaginary criteria!). This is something that is seldom known, but that should be included in Wikipedia ASAP. This list of cities is a disaster, seems like an opinionated list by somebody's very personal criteria for city. Roqz (talk) 03:27, 30 April 2020 (UTC)
- @Roqz:That is interesting, and I agree, but would you agree to a redirect to the much better Cantons of Costa Rica, which at the very least is more complete and up to date? It seems like a waste of time to duplicate efforts on this page and the other page. Mattximus (talk) 16:28, 30 April 2020 (UTC)
- @Mattximus: Yes, I agree on that, we can safely redirect this page there and what can be done is to add a column for 'head district (city)' or the like in the main table of that article, and add each district as per the División Territorial Administrativa. Also, I need to check on the current legal status of 'provincial capital', I think those were deprecated in the 1990s when the Gobernador Provincial (province major?) were eliminated, I think that not even for ceremonial purposes there is a capital of the province figure at the moment, but the title still lingers in the collective imagination, I'm not really sure. Nowadays provinces as administrative division are an historic/social-identity relic, it now starts at the canton level, so there is no point in a capital for a province, that would be the logical way to go... I'll ask some lawyer friends about that, the figure might still exist after all. Roqz (talk) 16:59, 30 April 2020 (UTC)
- This juridical opinion document of 2013, on whether the municipalities can ask for a liquor license (hehe!), states that the province capital was where, until 1998 when eliminated, the province governor resided or the canton considered as such due to population, social, economic or historical reasons. No legal framework or designation exists, and therefore the Procuraduría de la República (country general attorney) is in the impossibility to emit criteria on what (or which) a provincial or cantonal capital is. Seems that those figures are just collective opinions after all? Roqz (talk) 17:32, 30 April 2020 (UTC)
- @Mattximus: Yes, I agree on that, we can safely redirect this page there and what can be done is to add a column for 'head district (city)' or the like in the main table of that article, and add each district as per the División Territorial Administrativa. Also, I need to check on the current legal status of 'provincial capital', I think those were deprecated in the 1990s when the Gobernador Provincial (province major?) were eliminated, I think that not even for ceremonial purposes there is a capital of the province figure at the moment, but the title still lingers in the collective imagination, I'm not really sure. Nowadays provinces as administrative division are an historic/social-identity relic, it now starts at the canton level, so there is no point in a capital for a province, that would be the logical way to go... I'll ask some lawyer friends about that, the figure might still exist after all. Roqz (talk) 16:59, 30 April 2020 (UTC)
- @Roqz:That is interesting, and I agree, but would you agree to a redirect to the much better Cantons of Costa Rica, which at the very least is more complete and up to date? It seems like a waste of time to duplicate efforts on this page and the other page. Mattximus (talk) 16:28, 30 April 2020 (UTC)
- Sounds good! Looking at the individual pages, it appears the word "Canton capital" is used instead of "head district (city)", would that be a suitable column header? Mattximus (talk) 17:42, 30 April 2020 (UTC)
- @Mattximus: I'm not sure about using the term canton capital, seems that administrative/head city would be proper term, and each individual page should be updated for that nomenclature/definition as well (That's part of what I was talking about "will be working on that!" hehe). A lawyer friend just replied, that in fact the División Territorial Administrativa (DTA) does still as of 2019 assign a province capital as the "city which is in the first canton of the province". and in the same glossary there is the city definition for Costa Rica, a rough translation: City: Urban area, seat of the more relevant political and administrative authorities, that when by a canton has been created by an approved law, will hold the administrative control of the whole canton territory (Law 4366, Administrative Territorial Division, of 1969). The city title will be awarded only to the administrative centers of the cantons, by means of where the municipality is located, therefore the only requisite to declare a territory as a city, is that this be a political-administrative center with those characteristics. So maybe just adding a 'City' column would be enough? With a proper paragraph and reference to the current DTA law (N°41548-MGP, 28 January 2019). I will have a coffee with my friend to settle this, and then will work toward updating the 82 canton pages with this information. Phew! BTW, you can check the above PDF and look for "Ciudad" in each canton to add to this column and the proper link to the district is in List of districts of Costa Rica, where by postal code maybe each of the codes ending in ---01 would be the head city. But needs to be corroborated with the DTA. Roqz (talk) 18:51, 30 April 2020 (UTC)
- Oh, just noticed that by those legal definitions, the green shaded province capital will need to be the district/head-city in the city column as well! It also works in the special case of San José, that it has its seat city made up by all the districts, I added that link to the column too. I think the shade can be moved there as well. Roqz (talk) 19:07, 30 April 2020 (UTC)
- @Mattximus: I'm not sure about using the term canton capital, seems that administrative/head city would be proper term, and each individual page should be updated for that nomenclature/definition as well (That's part of what I was talking about "will be working on that!" hehe). A lawyer friend just replied, that in fact the División Territorial Administrativa (DTA) does still as of 2019 assign a province capital as the "city which is in the first canton of the province". and in the same glossary there is the city definition for Costa Rica, a rough translation: City: Urban area, seat of the more relevant political and administrative authorities, that when by a canton has been created by an approved law, will hold the administrative control of the whole canton territory (Law 4366, Administrative Territorial Division, of 1969). The city title will be awarded only to the administrative centers of the cantons, by means of where the municipality is located, therefore the only requisite to declare a territory as a city, is that this be a political-administrative center with those characteristics. So maybe just adding a 'City' column would be enough? With a proper paragraph and reference to the current DTA law (N°41548-MGP, 28 January 2019). I will have a coffee with my friend to settle this, and then will work toward updating the 82 canton pages with this information. Phew! BTW, you can check the above PDF and look for "Ciudad" in each canton to add to this column and the proper link to the district is in List of districts of Costa Rica, where by postal code maybe each of the codes ending in ---01 would be the head city. But needs to be corroborated with the DTA. Roqz (talk) 18:51, 30 April 2020 (UTC)
- That sounds good as well. I think we can just directly quote that passage that you wrote about the definition of city in the body of the text to explain. Let's make any changes to the table here, then when we redirect the table will be complete. Mattximus (talk) 13:25, 1 May 2020 (UTC)
@Mattximus: I finished filling up the table, there are four things to take into account:
- Just as San José city that is made up by several districts, Puntarenas city and Cartago city have those conditions, the target articles are not very clear on that, I tried to fix up Puntarenas, but I think a new Puntarenas (district) is required just for the district. Cartago is made up of two districts with different names, so, is already done. I updated Administrative_divisions_of_Costa_Rica#Other_subdivisions with the details.
- In the table, Valverde Vega canton required to be updated to Sarchí, the change in name is recent. Done!
- There are three "cities" that are not whole districts... The DTA assigns the cities to the renown suburban area of the district and not the whole district... My lawyer friend will look into that next week. Our motivation is that we have children of school age in the family and they are submitting completely wrong homework using Wikipedia, I noticed that in a presentation, so, here we are.
- Noticed a few missing diacritics in the list of districts and their pages, will move those to the proper name.
Great work! Roqz (talk) 19:46, 2 May 2020 (UTC)
- Wow, this is great! I was going to finish the list myself but found you had completed it. I think it's safe to move to the main page, then redirect this one. I will copy over this discussion as well. I think you brought up some great points that we should also incorporate into the lead of the article as well. Mattximus (talk) 13:41, 3 May 2020 (UTC)
New Merged Table
editCanton | City[1] | Province | Population (2011)[2] |
Population (2000)[3] |
Change[2][3] | Land area (km²)[4] | Population density | Incorporation date[4] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
San José‡ | San José | San José | 288,054 | 309,672 | −7.0% | 44.62 | 6,455.7/km2 | 1848 |
Escazú | Escazú | San José | 56,509 | 52,372 | +7.9% | 34.49 | 1,638.4/km2 | 1848 |
Desamparados | Desamparados | San José | 208,411 | 193,478 | +7.7% | 118.26 | 1,762.3/km2 | 1862 |
Puriscal | Santiago | San José | 33,004 | 29,407 | +12.2% | 553.66 | 59.6/km2 | 1868 |
Tarrazú | San Marcos | San José | 16,280 | 14,160 | +15.0% | 297.50 | 54.7/km2 | 1868 |
Aserrí | Aserrí | San José | 57,892 | 49,319 | +17.4% | 167.10 | 346.5/km2 | 1882 |
Mora | Ciudad Colón | San José | 26,294 | 21,666 | +21.4% | 162.04 | 162.3/km2 | 1883 |
Goicoechea | Guadalupe | San José | 115,084 | 117,532 | −2.1% | 31.50 | 3,653.5/km2 | 1891 |
Santa Ana | Santa Ana | San José | 49,123 | 34,507 | +42.4% | 61.42 | 799.8/km2 | 1907 |
Alajuelita | Alajuelita | San José | 77,603 | 70,297 | +10.4% | 21.17 | 3,665.7/km2 | 1909 |
Vásquez de Coronado | San Isidro | San José | 60,486 | 55,585 | +8.8% | 222.20 | 272.2/km2 | 1910 |
Acosta | San Ignacio | San José | 20,209 | 18,661 | +8.3% | 342.24 | 59.0/km2 | 1910 |
Tibás | San Juan | San José | 64,842 | 72,074 | −10.0% | 8.15 | 7,956.1/km2 | 1914 |
Moravia | San Vicente | San José | 56,919 | 50,419 | +12.9% | 28.62 | 1,988.8/km2 | 1914 |
Montes de Oca | San Pedro | San José | 49,132 | 50,433 | −2.6% | 15.16 | 3,240.9/km2 | 1915 |
Turrubares | San Pablo | San José | 5,512 | 4,877 | +13.0% | 415.29 | 13.3/km2 | 1920 |
Dota | Santa María | San José | 6,948 | 6,519 | +6.6% | 400.22 | 17.4/km2 | 1925 |
Curridabat | Curridabat | San José | 65,206 | 60,889 | +7.1% | 15.95 | 4,088.2/km2 | 1929 |
Pérez Zeledón | San Isidro de El General | San José | 134,534 | 122,187 | +10.1% | 1,905.51 | 70.6/km2 | 1931 |
León Cortés Castro | San Pablo | San José | 12,200 | 11,696 | +4.3% | 120.80 | 101.0/km2 | 1961 |
Alajuela† | Alajuela | Alajuela | 254,886 | 222,853 | +14.4% | 758.32 | 336.1/km2 | 1848 |
San Ramón | San Ramón | Alajuela | 80,566 | 67,975 | +18.5% | 1,018.64 | 79.1/km2 | 1856 |
Grecia | Grecia | Alajuela | 76,898 | 65,119 | +18.1% | 395.72 | 194.3/km2 | 1848 |
San Mateo | San Mateo | Alajuela | 6,136 | 5,343 | +14.8% | 125.90 | 48.7/km2 | 1868 |
Atenas | Atenas | Alajuela | 25,460 | 22,479 | +13.3% | 127.19 | 200.2/km2 | 1868 |
Naranjo | Naranjo | Alajuela | 42,713 | 37,602 | +13.6% | 126.62 | 337.3/km2 | 1886 |
Palmares | Palmares | Alajuela | 34,716 | 29,766 | +16.6% | 38.06 | 912.1/km2 | 1888 |
Poás | San Pedro | Alajuela | 29,199 | 24,764 | +17.9% | 73.84 | 395.4/km2 | 1901 |
Orotina | Orotina | Alajuela | 20,341 | 15,705 | +29.5% | 141.92 | 143.3/km2 | 1908 |
San Carlos | Quesada | Alajuela | 163,745 | 127,140 | +28.8% | 3,347.98 | 48.9/km2 | 1911 |
Zarcero | Zarcero | Alajuela | 12,205 | 10,845 | +12.5% | 155.13 | 78.7/km2 | 1915 |
Sarchí | Sarchí Norte | Alajuela | 18,085 | 16,239 | +11.4% | 120.25 | 150.4/km2 | 1949 |
Upala | Upala | Alajuela | 43,953 | 37,679 | +16.7% | 1,580.67 | 27.8/km2 | 1970 |
Los Chiles | Los Chiles | Alajuela | 23,735 | 19,732 | +20.3% | 1,358.86 | 17.5/km2 | 1970 |
Guatuso | San Rafael | Alajuela | 15,508 | 13,045 | +18.9% | 758.32 | 20.5/km2 | 1970 |
Río Cuarto | Río Cuarto | Alajuela | 11,074 | 11,074 | 0.0% | 254.20 | 43.6/km2 | 2017 |
Cartago† | Cartago | Cartago | 147,898 | 132,057 | +12.0% | 287.77 | 513.9/km2 | 1848 |
Paraíso | Paraíso | Cartago | 57,743 | 52,393 | +10.2% | 411.91 | 140.2/km2 | 1848 |
La Unión | Tres Ríos | Cartago | 99,399 | 80,279 | +23.8% | 44.83 | 2,217.2/km2 | 1848 |
Jiménez | Juan Viñas | Cartago | 14,669 | 14,046 | +4.4% | 286.43 | 51.2/km2 | 1903 |
Turrialba | Turrialba | Cartago | 69,616 | 68,510 | +1.6% | 1,642.67 | 42.4/km2 | 1903 |
Alvarado | Pacayas | Cartago | 14,312 | 12,290 | +16.5% | 81.06 | 176.6/km2 | 1908 |
Oreamuno | San Rafael | Cartago | 45,473 | 39,032 | +16.5% | 202.31 | 224.8/km2 | 1914 |
El Guarco | El Tejar | Cartago | 41,793 | 33,788 | +23.7% | 167.69 | 249.2/km2 | 1939 |
Heredia† | Heredia | Heredia | 123,616 | 103,894 | +19.0% | 282.60 | 437.4/km2 | 1848 |
Barva | Barva | Heredia | 40,660 | 32,440 | +25.3% | 53.80 | 755.8/km2 | 1848 |
Santo Domingo | Santo Domingo | Heredia | 40,072 | 34,748 | +15.3% | 24.84 | 1,613.2/km2 | 1869 |
Santa Bárbara | Santa Bárbara | Heredia | 36,243 | 29,181 | +24.2% | 53.21 | 681.1/km2 | 1882 |
San Rafael | San Rafael | Heredia | 45,965 | 37,293 | +23.3% | 48.39 | 949.9/km2 | 1885 |
San Isidro | San Isidro | Heredia | 20,633 | 16,056 | +28.5% | 26.96 | 765.3/km2 | 1905 |
Belén | San Antonio | Heredia | 21,633 | 19,834 | +9.1% | 12.15 | 1,780.5/km2 | 1907 |
Flores | San Joaquín | Heredia | 20,037 | 15,038 | +33.2% | 6.96 | 2,878.9/km2 | 1915 |
San Pablo | San Pablo | Heredia | 27,671 | 20,813 | +33.0% | 7.53 | 3,674.8/km2 | 1961 |
Sarapiquí | Puerto Viejo | Heredia | 57,147 | 45,435 | +25.8% | 2,140.54 | 26.7/km2 | 1970 |
Liberia† | Liberia | Guanacaste | 62,987 | 46,703 | +34.9% | 1,436.47 | 43.8/km2 | 1848 |
Nicoya | Nicoya | Guanacaste | 50,825 | 42,189 | +20.5% | 1,333.68 | 38.1/km2 | 1848 |
Santa Cruz | Santa Cruz | Guanacaste | 55,104 | 40,821 | +35.0% | 1,312.27 | 42.0/km2 | 1848 |
Bagaces | Bagaces | Guanacaste | 19,536 | 15,972 | +22.3% | 1,273.49 | 15.3/km2 | 1848 |
Carrillo | Filadelfia | Guanacaste | 37,122 | 27,306 | +35.9% | 577.54 | 64.3/km2 | 1877 |
Cañas | Cañas | Guanacaste | 26,201 | 24,076 | +8.8% | 682.20 | 38.4/km2 | 1878 |
Abangares | Las Juntas | Guanacaste | 18,039 | 16,276 | +10.8% | 675.76 | 26.7/km2 | 1915 |
Tilarán | Tilarán | Guanacaste | 19,640 | 17,871 | +9.9% | 638.39 | 30.8/km2 | 1923 |
Nandayure | Carmona | Guanacaste | 11,121 | 9,985 | +11.4% | 565.59 | 19.7/km2 | 1961 |
La Cruz | La Cruz | Guanacaste | 19,181 | 16,505 | +16.2% | 1,383.90 | 13.9/km2 | 1969 |
Hojancha | Hojancha | Guanacaste | 7,197 | 6,534 | +10.1% | 261.42 | 27.5/km2 | 1971 |
Puntarenas† | Puntarenas | Puntarenas | 115,019 | 102,504 | +12.2% | 1,842.33 | 62.4/km2 | 1862 |
Esparza | Esparza (Espíritu Santo district) | Puntarenas | 28,644 | 23,963 | +19.5% | 216.80 | 132.1/km2 | 1848 |
Buenos Aires | Buenos Aires | Puntarenas | 45,244 | 40,139 | +12.7% | 2,384.22 | 19.0/km2 | 1914 |
Montes de Oro | Miramar | Puntarenas | 12,950 | 11,159 | +16.0% | 244.76 | 52.9/km2 | 1915 |
Osa | Puerto Cortés | Puntarenas | 29,433 | 25,861 | +13.8% | 1,930.24 | 15.2/km2 | 1940 |
Quepos | Quepos | Puntarenas | 26,861 | 20,188 | +33.1% | 543.77 | 49.4/km2 | 1948 |
Golfito | Golfito | Puntarenas | 39,150 | 33,823 | +15.7% | 1,753.96 | 22.3/km2 | 1949 |
Coto Brus | San Vito | Puntarenas | 38,453 | 40,082 | −4.1% | 933.91 | 41.2/km2 | 1965 |
Parrita | Parrita | Puntarenas | 16,115 | 12,112 | +33.0% | 478.79 | 33.7/km2 | 1971 |
Corredores | Ciudad Neily (Corredor district) | Puntarenas | 41,831 | 37,274 | +12.2% | 620.60 | 67.4/km2 | 1973 |
Garabito | Jacó | Puntarenas | 17,229 | 10,378 | +66.0% | 316.31 | 54.5/km2 | 1980 |
Limón† | Limón | Limón | 94,415 | 89,933 | +5.0% | 1,765.79 | 53.5/km2 | 1909 |
Pococí | Guápiles | Limón | 125,962 | 103,121 | +22.1% | 2,403.49 | 52.4/km2 | 1911 |
Siquirres | Siquirres | Limón | 56,786 | 52,409 | +8.4% | 860.19 | 66.0/km2 | 1911 |
Talamanca | Bribrí (Bratsi district) | Limón | 30,712 | 25,857 | +18.8% | 2,809.93 | 10.9/km2 | 1969 |
Matina | Matina | Limón | 37,721 | 33,096 | +14.0% | 772.64 | 48.8/km2 | 1969 |
Guácimo | Guácimo | Limón | 41,266 | 34,879 | +18.3% | 576.48 | 71.6/km2 | 1971 |
Costa Rica | 4,301,712 | 3,810,179 | +12.9% | 51,100 | 84.2/km2 |
- ^ http://www.pgrweb.go.cr/scij/Busqueda/Normativa/Normas/nrm_texto_completo.aspx?param1=NRTC&nValor1=1&nValor2=88416&nValor3=115607&strTipM=TC
- ^ a b "Población total por zona y sexo, según provincia, cantón y distrito" [Total population by area and sex, province, county and district] (in Spanish). Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos. 2011. Archived from the original (XLS) on March 5, 2016. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
- ^ a b "Población total por zona y sexo, según provincia, cantón y distrito" [Total population by area and sex, province, county and district] (in Spanish). Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos. 2000. Archived from the original (XLS) on May 5, 2016. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
admindivisions
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).