City TLDs

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This page discusses top level domain names for cities: city-TLDs. It examines the effectiveness of exisiting "city-TLDs" used by Hong Kong, Singapore, the Vatican, and LosAngeles and tracks the process and progress of new city-TLDs sought by the likes of .berlin and .nyc.

The focus is on the impact of city-TLDs on individuals, society, regional and global environments, businesses, and the Internet.

Cities’ relative standing in the world-system of places is thus
increasingly likely to reflect their importance as nodes
for world commerce and business rather than reflecting the
geopolitical status of the nation in which they are situated. (1)

[edit] Existing "city-TLDs"

While no TLDs have been explicitly authorized for cities, several entities one might reasonably perceive as cities have been issued TLDs: Hong Kong, Singapore, the Vatican, and, through slight-of-forethought, Lao/LosAngeles.

The following presents the results of Google domain searchs of these TLDs. However, with the Vatican search reporting 947,000 hits but only 6 links, these must be considered as very rough numbers. More primary research results are needed.

.HK - Hong Kong: A Google site search of all .HK domains on January 22, 2006 returned 9,690,000 hits. And according the HKIRC, there were 99,230 2nd and 3rd level domains as of December 1, 2005.
.SG - Singapore: A Google site search of all .SG domains on January 22, 2006 returned 9,260,000 hits. And according the SGNIC there were 57,883 2nd and 3rd level domains as of December 1, 2005.
.VA - Vatican: A Google site search of all .VA domains on January 22, 2006 returned 947,000 hits.
.LA - Lao/LosAngeles: A Google site search of all .LA domains on January 22, 2006 returned 853,000 hits.
.RO - Romania/Rosenheim (Germany): A Google site search of all .RO domains on January 22, 2006 returned 15,900,000 hits.

See the recent article by Dirk Krishenowski for a thorough review of city-TLD usage.

[edit] city TLD and geo TLD Workspaces

FAQs on City TLDs

Silly FAQs on City TLDs

Common Principles of City TLDs

Existing TLD Size Guidelines

2004 ICANN Sponsored TLD Evaluation

GeoTLDs - .αθήνα | .cat | .中国 | .berlin | .上海 | .cym | تونس. | .nyc - Diversity, Multilingualism and Local Content - Publication of a substantive contribution paper to the Internet Governance Forum IGF in Athens

[edit] Resources

[Towards City-TLDs in the Public Interest - A White Paper] by Thomas Lowenhaupt and Michael Gurstein
From Crowd to Network: The .NYC Opportunity by Thomas Lowenhaupt
Toward a City-Friendly Internet by Thomas Lowenhaupt
Internet Empowerment Resolution - New York City Community Board 3's 2001 resolution calling for the .nyc TLD.
Urban Identity by City Top-Level-Domains by Dirk Krischenowski (.berlin/dotBERLIN)
Detailed article on experience with city-TLDs "City Identifiers on the Net: A Closer Look" by Dirk Krischenowski
Website for the .berlin proposal

Making Choices: Thoughts on Implementing a Permanent gTLD Allocation Process - Posits that there are public policy concerns that cannot be addressed by the GNSO as part of the new gTLD allocation policy development process without input from the GAC.

[edit] City TLD Applicant Group

New York City was the first to express an interest in utilizing a TLD to organize its resources for the 21st century. Beginning in 2005 the .berlin group took the lead in the campaign to make TLDs available for city organization and development.

.BERLIN - Enabling the Identity for Berlin's Community on the Internet
.NYC - Creating a Space for New York City on the Internet
.PARIS - pointPARIS, Un TLD pour les Parisiens et les amoureux de Paris
.LONDON - Draft, discussion in London are ongoing
.HAMBURG - dotHAMBURG initiative
.LIMA
.BAIRES (Buenos Aires)
.SEOUL

More information on www.citytld.com.

[edit] Notes

(1) The World-System’s City System: A Research Agenda (2004), Jeffrey Kentor, University of Utah, David Smith, University of California, Irvine, Michael Timberlake, University of Utah, 7/8 Feb 2004 University California, Riverside.