History Main / LandOfOneCity

** Subverted for the North. The only major city and seaport in the North is White Harbor (population of several tens of thousands), which is ruled by House Manderly, who are sworn to the Starks. The rest of the settlements in the North are mostly small villages and the occasional town, holdfasts, and castles... across a vast territory the size of the other six kingdoms of Westeros put together. (Basically, the North=Russia, but also Scotland, White Harbor=Glasgow but also Edinburgh, Moscow, and St. Petersburg). The capital is Winterfell, which while large enough in population to count as a city by medieval standards[[note]]Wintertown has a population of about 15,000 for half the year, and Winterfell itself, as the ''de facto'' citadel of a city, adds around a thousand to that (there are two hundred permanent guardsmen, and each one should be matched by several other retainers and servants).[[/note]] is dwarfed by White Harbor. The only other known city is Barrowton, the second largest settlement in the North, and also much smaller and poorer than White Harbor.

* UsefulNotes/{{Monaco}} and UsefulNotes/{{Singapore}} are RealLife examples, while [[UsefulNotes/VaticanCity the Vatican]] is an enclave ''within'' the city of UsefulNotes/{{Rome}} making it, tecnically, a Land of One ''City Block''.

** UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC, the capital of the United States, is this trope but has a complicated history. Formed in the border region between the North and South, the District of Columbia used to be composed of two counties--Washington (land from the state of Maryland) and Alexandria (land from Virginia)--that both contained several towns, but Alexandria was eventually given back to Virginia, while the remaining county of Washington was consolidated into a single city, meaning Washington, DC is at once a city, county, ''and'' federal district. Most Americans just think of it as a city and call it a day. However, there have been numerous votes over the years for DC to become a full-fledged state due to its limited representation in Congress, especially since it's more populous than two ''actual'' states. The White House and National Mall area would remain a federal district, while the rest of DC would become "New Columbia", and the only state in the US to be composed of a single city. Despite Washingtonians voting overwhelmingly for this change every time it appears on the ballot, Congress has final approval of admitting new states, and the current political impediments (DC is 90% Democrat, but thanks to the filibuster admitting a new state effectively requires 60 votes in the Senate, and there's little chance of a 60-vote Democratic Senate majority...basically ever) makes this unlikely in the foreseeable future.
*** Nearby is a non-capitol city example of UsefulNotes/Baltimore, which is not part of any County in the State of Maryland, and has county like government authority unto itself, unlike every other city within the State. There is a Baltimore County which borders Baltimore City to the north. More confusing the County Seat (a capitol of the county) for Baltimore County is Towson, which is right on the boarder with Baltimore City and is a suburb of the city proper.
** Brasilia is another notable example. It was purpose-built to be a city independent of regional politics because it became clear that would just not be possible if the government stayed in Rio De Janeiro.
** UsefulNotes/{{Seoul}} is an explicit example, as it is the only "Special City" while other major cities are just called metropolitan cities. In fact, [[UsefulNotes/{{South Korea}} Koreans]] make fun of this by using a self-deprecating meme like "Republic of Seoul" which criticizes capital-centric behavior.

When a country is a city-state, i.e. the city is the country, or the other way around: the country has only one city.

* UsefulNotes/{{Monaco}} and UsefulNotes/{{Singapore}} are RealLife examples, while [[UsefulNotes/VaticanCity the Vatican]] is an enclave ''within'' the city of UsefulNotes/{{Rome}} (making it what, a Land of Less Than One City? Land of One City Block?). That makes this trope TruthInTelevision.

* While it may look big, UsefulNotes/{{Mongolia}} is actually almost entirely devoid of human settlement, being [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_population_density one of the most sparsely-populated countries on earth]]. The exception is the capital, Ulaanbaatar, which holds about 50% of the country's population and nearly ''70%'' of its GDP and by extension pretty much everything of relevance. This includes the government, the sole military academy, almost all of the universities, most of the airport capacity, some 90% of its power plant production, and the central node of the country's sparse rail and road networks. Needless to say, Mongolia is a ''de facto'' city-state.
** To put this in perspective, according to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Mongolia the other wiki]], Ulaanbaatar had a population of approximately 1.15 million people as of the 2010 census. The second-largest city, Erdenet, reported a population of just over 83,000 people at that time.
* UsefulNotes/{{Djibouti}} is another modern example: 70% of the population lives in the capital (which shares the name of the country, natch), with the rest scattered in the sparse countryside. The second-largest city is Ali Sabieh with 40,000 inhabitants; Djibouti [the city] has 600,000.
* UsefulNotes/{{Qatar}}. 80% of the population lives in the capital city of Doha.
* UsefulNotes/{{Kuwait}} is pretty much just Kuwait City and some empty desert.

* Similarly, UsefulNotes/HongKong and UsefulNotes/{{Macau}} are not exactly states, but they're self-governed enough to be considered as such.

* The UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire once controlled roughly half of Europe, but by [[UsefulNotes/TheFallOfConstantinople its fall]] in the fifteenth century, it was [[VestigialEmpire little more than one, depopulated city]] and a few enclaves within the [[UsefulNOtes/{{Turkey}} Ottoman Empire]].

* There are numerous first-order administrative divisions worldwide (states, provinces, counties, or what have you) that are made up of a single city. They all qualify for this trope to whatever extent the central government permits them to handle their own affairs. Berlin and St. Petersburg are good examples, while others might be in doubt.
** Capitals are often "city-states" or non-state entities of their country, due to fears that if the federal capital were within a state/province, that state would be given preferential treatment. Ottawa, the capital of UsefulNotes/{{Canada}}, is perhaps the most famous exception to this rule, due to it being located explicitly within Ontario [[note]]It helps that Canadians are more likely to blame Toronto for Ontario's preferential treatment in Canadian culture and politics[[/note]].

* UsefulNotes/{{Iceland}} has one designated city (the capital Reykjavík), which alone holds a ''third'' of the country's population. Together with the neighboring towns, which mostly form a continuous area of settlement, the Capital Region accounts for over ''two thirds'' of the population. Much of Iceland is entirely devoid of permanent habitation and effectively inaccessible during the winter.
[[/folder]]

* ''Literature/MaridAudran'' takes place in one moderately sized Middle Eastern city based on New Orleans. Hell most of the stories set in the city is set in one neighborhood, the Budayeen (think an Arabic {{red light district}})

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': While Equestria is depicted as a fairly large country containing multiple distinct cities, all other species live within isolated self-governing settlements. The changelings and yaks are the most straightforward examples, being single large settlements with its own rulership, with the caveat that the former live in a giant hive and the latter in just a village; the Crystal Empire is that in name only, as it otherwise conists of a single city in the middle of a frozen waste; the griffons lack a formal government, but most live in the run-down city of Griffonstone; and the hippogriffs/seaponies technicaly have two cities, Mount Aris and the UnderwaterCity of Seaquestria in the flooded caves below it, but these function as two halves of a single city and share their government and most of their population.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': While Equestria is depicted as a fairly large country containing multiple distinct cities, all other species live within isolated self-governing settlements. The changelings and yaks are the most straightforward examples, being single large settlements with its own rulership, with the caveat that the former live in a giant hive and the latter in just a village; the griffons lack a formal government, but most live in the run-down city of Griffonstone; and the hippogriffs/seaponies technicaly have two cities, Mount Aris and the UnderwaterCity of Seaquestria in the flooded caves below it, but these function as two halves of a single city and share their government and most of their population.

Note that the area with one city DOES NOT have to be a country, it can be a [[{{Planetville}} planet]] or county or etc... And also be aware that the lines blur if the nation has one city, but it's a ''really'' [[MegaCity big]] [[CityPlanet city]].

* The entire ''Marîd Audran'' mystery/crime series takes place in one moderately sized Middle Eastern city based on New Orleans. Hell most of the stories set in the city is set in one neighborhood, the Budayeen (think an Arabic {{red light district}})
* Melniboné is one of these, by the time the events of Literature/TheElricSaga begin. It used to be the capital of a vast conquered empire but now it's just an insular little city-state in the middle of the sea.
** Melniboné itself is a fairly large island which at one time contained several large metropolises: by the time Elric ascended to its throne, its society had grown so decandant and its nobility so apathetic that all of the island apart from its capital was abandoned and reverted to wilderness, while Imrryr (the aforementioned capital) itself is still by far the largest city in the world, although half of its buildings are empty.
* The Nine Free Cities of Essos in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', based on the real-life Italian city-states, except much larger. Initially they were colonies of Valyria's empire, who were forced to become autonomous after the Doom destroyed Valyria. However, they may also be something of a subversion; it's remarked that the Free Cities are more or less the same country in all but name, "hiring the same soldiers to fight the same wars for the same rulers".
** Subverted for the North. The only major city and seaport in the North is White Harbor (population of several tens of thousands), which is ruled by House Manderly, who are sworn to the Starks. The rest of the settlements in the North are mostly small villages and the occasional town, holdfasts, and castles...across a vast territory the size of the other six kingdoms of Westeros put together. (Basically, the North=Russia, but also Scotland, White Harbor=Glasgow but also Edinburgh, Moscow, and St. Petersburg). The capital is Winterfell, which while large enough in population to count as a city by medieval standards[[note]]Wintertown has a population of about 15,000 for half the year, and Winterfell itself, as the ''de facto'' citadel of a city, adds around a thousand to that (there are two hundred permanent guardsmen, and each one should be matched by several other retainers and servants).[[/note]] is dwarfed by White Harbor. The only other known city is Barrowton, the second largest settlement in the North, and also much smaller and poorer than White Harbor.
** Slaver's Bay is a straight example: there are three large independent cities (Astapor, Yunkai, and Meereen) each surrounded by farming hamlets and not much else.
** The Crownlands are dominated by the massive city of King's Landing (population: over half a million, larger than any city in medieval Europe).
* The city-state of Tharios from the ''Literature/CircleOfMagic'' book ''Literature/{{Shatterglass}}''.
* In Creator/SergeyLukyanenko's ''Literature/RoughDraft'' duology, one of the [[AlternateUniverse parallel Earths]] is a {{Steam Punk}}ish world called Veroz (or Earth 3). One of the notable things about it is its complete lack of nation-states. All cities are independent.
* In Creator/VladimirVasilyev's ''The Big Kiev Technician'', the world of 300,000 years in the future (with ModernStasis in full effect) is made up of [[{{Megacity}} country-sized cities]], usually the most well-known RealLife city in a country having grown and absorbed the other settlements, now being called with the "Big" prefix. The titular Big Kiev is about the size of modern-day Ukraine with Big Moscow being even larger. Other "Big" cities are mentioned as well (e.g. Big Berlin, Big London, Big New York).
* In the legend of [[Myth/SaintGeorge St. George and the Dragon]], the ruler of the city that is harassed by a dragon goes by the name of king, and yet he rules only this one city.
* ''Literature/GreenglassHouse'' is set in Nagspeake, a port city that is also home to smugglers and other outside-the-law types, which is implied to be a sovereign state somewhere between the U.S. and Canada.
* ''Literature/TheBelgariad'': Riva is a remote island nation with one CitadelCity built on the only bit of coast that isn't inaccessible cliff. {{Justified|Trope}} since it was colonized for the specific purpose of guarding a CosmicKeystone, so the entire country was planned out with defensibility in mind.
* In ''Literature/SuperSalesOnSuperHeroes'', after a supervillain named Skipper captures a city and renames it "[[{{Egopolis}} Skippercity]]", it becomes an independent city-state within the (unnamed but US-like) country. The League of Superheroes makes several attempts to retake the city, but they all end in a failure as, [[spoiler:Skipper's power is to see possible futures, thus allowing her to counter any move made by her enemies]]. Surprisingly, Skippercity becomes a pretty decent place to live, as the citizens no longer need to pay federal or state taxes. Skipper also institutes universal health care and legalizes most crimes, including slavery, although income from those crimes is still taxable. Any remaining superheroes in the city are hunted down and either killed or sold in slave auctions. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, one city isn't enough for Skipper, and she invades Tilen, the nearby state capital, in book 2. By book 3, five years later, Skippercity is a smoking radioactive ruin, and Tilen isn't much better.]]
* ''Literature/TheReluctantKing'': The states of Novaria are all these. The protagonist Jorian is from one, Kortoli, and becomes king of another, Xylar. They all have different government structures, and twelve exist in all.
* ''Literature/GuardiansOfTheFlame'': There are many of these in the region where the books are set. Pandathaway has the most power, as a {{merchant city}} which is the hub of all regional commerce.
* ''Literature/BazilBroketail'': Argonath includes nine city states in a federation. Marneri is the one the stories mostly focus on.
* ''Literature/TheUnwillingWarlord'': Semma is one castle and its environs, while several nearby port city-states also exist.
* ''Literature/SwansBraidAndOtherTalesOfTerizan'': Oreen, the city where all these stories take place, is a city-state.

* ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'': Corinth is this, thanks to Venjix causing [[ApocalypseHow the end of human civilization]]. The only other city we see is abandoned in the wastelands.

** Lookshy, a relatively small city-state, is capable of fielding military forces comparable to [[TheEmpire the Realm]] (which on its own is an island the size of the continental United States or Asia and recieves tribute from across the world), through a combination of an extremely militant society and huge stockpiles of artifact weaponry. Lookshy is comparably disadvantaged in that it doesn't have nearly the same power projection as the Realm (they can protect themselves and their neighbours, but are unable to be as expansive).

** The Dwarfholds are the purest version of this trope possible. For thousands of years they've depended on trade with humans for food in exchange for minerals, machinery, and crafts, allowing the Dwarfs to live an almost entirely urban existence. The Dwarfholds nominally swear loyalty to their High King (for most of them that's the King of Karaz-a-Karak) but each one is left to their own devices unless there's an extreme crisis and they're largely autonomous, and wars between holds is not unheard of. Each Dwarfhold leader is given the title of King to reflect this.

* In ''VideoGame/BattleBrothers'', the ''Blazing Deserts'' DLC adds in the southernmost desert three [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Arabia/Persia inspired]] city-states which are the only settlement belonging to their respective faction.

** ''Civilization V'' introduced "city-states", which can eventually expand their borders to control as much territory as any player city, but which will never found a second city (though in rare cases they may conquer and puppet one if they get drawn into a war). They more or less serve as "minor" civs compared to the major playable empires, representing real-life city-states like Vatican City and Monaco, or the best-known cities of nations that didn't make the cut, like in the cases of Hanoi, M'banza-Kongo, Kabul, or Cahokia. Happily, some city-states like Stockholm, Seoul, and Toronto ended up PromotedToPlayable empires in later expansions and installments of the series.

* In the aftermath of the Fourth Corporate War and the Unification War, Night City of ''VideoGame/{{Cyberpunk 2077}}'' has become a free city. There is plenty of tension between Night City and the rest of the [[DividedStatesOfAmerica New United States of America]], and it's implied that Night City's independence is primarily due to the influence of [[MegaCorp Arasaka]].
* As revealed in ''[[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry1 Donkey Kong Land]]'', Donkey Kong Island has one city: Big Ape City.
* In the ''Franchise/DragonAge'' games and expanded media, the Free Marches are a region of 11 independent city-states in eastern Thedas. They trade amongst each other and are able to form a joint military when necessary, but each city operates as its own entity, meaning they all fall under this trope. The southernmost city, Kirkwall, is the setting of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII''.
* The entire continent of Gransys in ''VideoGame/DragonsDogma'' has only one city (Gran Soren) and one small fishing village. Lots of vast, wide-open tracts of land, though.

* {{Implied|Trope}} in the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series: the [[AllThereInTheManual Codex]] mentions that the asari homeworld, Thessia, was divided into loose confederacies of republican cities, similar to Earth's ancient Mediterranean city-states, for much of the asari's pre-spaceflight history. These city-states only started to truly grow close in the asari Information Age.

* The [[RetCon now-destroyed]] Zendar from ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade''.
* Averted in the earlier ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}'' games, which had numerous small towns as well as the capitals, but this ended up achieving little besides making the Shares system [[GuideDangIt unnecessarily byzantine]]. Later games reduce Planeptune, Lastation, Leanbox, and Lowee to only having the capitals visible, with the understanding that the PlayerParty being composed of those nations' leaders means they're [[LawOfConservationOfDetail only interested in]] the industrial and political centers of each nation anyway.

** In ''VideoGame/CrusaderKings'', the basic political entities in the game are counties, which consist of a city, a castle (the capital in the prevailing government of the era), and a temple - it's possible to have more holdings built in a county, but it's expensive. There's a large number of "petty kingdoms" and independent states that consist of just a single county, and most [[MerchantCity Merchant Republics]] are this by default.
** In ''VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis'', states that only control one province are commonly referred to as "'One Province Minors." In a subversion of this trope, they aren't meant to represent just a city in the province, but also the surrounding countryside and villages.
** In ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'', empires with the Life-Seeded civic start on an idyllic Gaia World, [[BlessedWithSuck but their primary species can only colonize other Gaia worlds]], the rarest planet type in the game. Such empires can go on to claim neighboring star systems and build space stations as normal, but won't be able to properly expand onto other worlds until at least the mid-game when advanced {{Terraforming}} technology lets them make their own Gaia Worlds, or advanced gene-editing lets them change their core species' planetary preference. Since by then regular empires will have settled upwards of a dozen planets, Life-Seeded empires will have a challenge keeping pace with their rivals.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Ravenmark}}'', the Commonwealth of Esotre seems to consist of the large city of Silvergate and the surrounding areas, largely consisting of farmland and mines. Similarly, the East Isle (itself nearly as large as Esotre) is dominated by a single city. Averted with the Empire of Estellion, which has three major cities (the capital Atium and the Twin Cities of Whitewater and Istoni) and a bunch of smaller towns and fortresses, plus the East Isle before it rebelled.
* In ''VideoGame/RavenswordShadowlands'', the starting town is the only town on the island that the game takes place. The only thing that comes even remotely close to being another town is a small miner village [[ThrivingGhostTown consisting of 3 buildings.]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'', the Empire stage starts off with about four or five single-city nations. As you progress through the stage, smaller nations merge to form larger one, subverting this trope.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'', Mario only travels the area in and around a kingdom's most well-known location. The brochures imply there's more to the place, but as far as the game is concerned, it's basically the kingdom itself. To be fair, the regular platformers do a fine job of illustrating just how big ''one'' kingdom is, so limiting Mario's exploration range is probably to ensure he stays on task.
* In ''VideoGame/Stars1995'', possible race builds (known as One-World Wonders) have habitability as narrow as possible, in order to [[Main/MinMaxing allocate points for other advantages]] such as production capacity and research. The result is that very few planets are colonizable, the homeworld holds much of the population, and the rest are available for strip mining from orbit.

* Most political states in the ''Franchise/DragonQuest'' series are limited to a single castle or town and surrounding wilderness; only on rare occasions does more than one settlement appear per region. A particularly egregious example appears in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestXI'', where [[TheEmpire Heliodor]] is capable of pulling off a massive worldwide manhunt and performing GunboatDiplomacy on the city-state of Gondolia when Heliodor itself consists of a single castle, the encircling large town, and a single church on the outskirts.
* The Last City from the ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}'' series is ''the center of all human civilization''. This is, however, justified by the game being set AfterTheEnd (there really ''aren't'' any other cities or countries anymore and the only people living outside the City are tiny sporadic tribes), as well as the City itself being [[MegaCity absolutely massive]]; it very believably looks like the kind of city that could be a nation unto itself.
* The [[UsefulNotes/LasVegas titular city]] in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' has become one [[AfterTheEnd following the nuclear apocalypse]], effectively controlling the whole Mojave Desert while being the only significantly-populated city in the area; every other settlement is a comparatively puny village. Unlike many examples, [[DeconstructedTrope the politics and realities of this trope are actually explored a lot]]; the central plot of the game is driven by Vegas's struggles to remain an independent power and fight off two much larger nations who seek to claim the region for themselves, as the thing that allows Vegas to assert control over the Mojave (the nearby [[BigDamPlot hydroelectric dam]] that provides the city with steady electricity in a world where most people have ''none'') also makes it an incredibly valuable strategic location for anybody looking to expand their borders.
* The nation of Kryta in ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'' has been reduced to the city of Divinity's Reach, some surrounding farmlands and a few villages by the time the game's story begins. Likewise, all that's left of Ascalon is the fortress-city of Ebonhawke.
* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'': Though there are several villages ''around'' the kingdom, it seems Hallownest proper only had one city: the one currently known as the City of Tears.

* The kingdom of Overture in ''VisualNovel/AnOctaveHigher'' is a technologically advanced nation with colonies all over the world, yet the nation itself is just one city.
* The eponymous village of ''Literature/TheQuestportChronicles''.

* Gha'alia in ''VisualNovel/EbonLight''. It's a walled city on an island with limited space and resources, and dangerous beast-like harpies living in the surrounding forest, all of which makes one city a preferable choice over several smaller ones.

* On the ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'', L'Manburg (and to an extent, Manburg)'s territory primarily consisted of the territory encompassed within the walls of the faction. Even after the annexation of Rutabagville (a small, enclosed snowy mountain, which was basically abandoned after the Manburg-Pogtopia War) during the Manburg era and of Pogtopia (an isolated underground ravine where LaResistance against Manburg was based in) during the Tubbo administration, the lands are rarely accessed and are essentially L'Manburgian territory InNameOnly, to the point that they are completely ignored during the Doomsday War and thus stand to this day.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Phantom 2040}}'': Following the Resource Wars, the United States no longer exists as an entity but as a bunch of independently-ruled city-states.

* Spoofed in the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "E. Peterbus Unum", where due to Peter discovering that his house resides in an anomalous spot that isn't technically in American soil, he turns it into the nation of [[{{Egopolis}} Petoria]]. Hijinx ensue surrounding [[SeriousBusiness their legitimate development on the international stage as a "four-bedroom republic"]].

* In ''Manga/{{Appleseed}}'', Olympus, the most powerful country, apparently has only one city.
* Almost all (or maybe all) the "countries" in ''Literature/KinosJourney'' are like this. Even if there are a few that aren't, Kino never stays long enough to find out.
* At the end of ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' (or the first season of ''{{Anime/Robotech}}''), humans have been nearly wiped out by the Zentradi, and have only one city left. Nonetheless, they still field a very powerful military.
* Academy City in ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex''. While located inside Japan, it is its own nation, one of the most powerful influences in the world, and can even declare war.
* {{Exaggerated|Trope}} in ''Anime/CodeGeass R2'', where Zero announces the formation of [[spoiler: the United States of Japan]] by declaring its first territory (and thus "city") to be the very ''room'' he is currently broadcasting from. Everybody reacts just about how you'd expect them to by this point since it's [[RefugeInAudacity Zero]] and all.
* In ''Anime/SDGundamForce'', Neotopia is the only piece of civilization that exists on the Earth-like planet that's the main setting of the first season. Lacroa also appears to be a single city.
* Industria in ''Anime/FutureBoyConan'' was once a full-on country, but in the FloodedFutureWorld is reduced to the largely-nonfunctional Triangle Tower, a shanty town built around it, and a few outposts. They're still the most influential force on the known Earth because everywhere else is so scarcely populated and they're the best-armed.

* The various [[MegaCity Mega-Cities]] in ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' each only have direct authority over their respective urban areas, though MC-1 at least does have some influence over parts of the Cursed Earth, and Brit-Cit technically rules the Caledonian Habitation Zone and treats Murphyville as a client state.
* In the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, Attilan, home of ComicBook/TheInhumans, and Madripoor - which, conveniently enough, is next door to Singapore.
** While the comics and the films are pretty consistent about averting this one, animated adaptations make Wakanda, the tiny, isolated African nation that's home to the ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'' one of these, often depicting it as a city that can contain barely more than a few ''hundred'' people, and some jungle for outsiders to crash into and inevitably get attacked in.
* From Wildstorm (recently transplanted into Franchise/TheDCU) is the small island nation of Gamorra, which is the home base of Kaizen Gamorra.

* The eponymous city of ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' appears be a political entity unto itself, as no authority higher than the mayor is ever suggested and there seems to be little in the surrounding area, as the only other mentioned towns are a good distance away with unclear associations. It is vaguely implied in supplementary materials that there may be other nations out there as well, just insular and xenophobic single-species ones.
* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''. At first it looks as if the entire country is delegated to the castle and the village shown in the film. However, it becomes clear Arendelle is bigger than that once you take into account that it takes characters some while to travel from the castle to, say, the Trolls or Elsa's castle.
* Most other ''Franchise/DisneyPrincess'' play this straight with the kingdom only having one mentioned town or city.

%%CityPlanet is a trope in itself* ''Franchise/StarWars'': Coruscant is a city that has [[CityPlanet grown to cover the entire planet it is on]]. Its name is therefore synonymous with the city and the planet.
* In the live-action ''Film/SuperMarioBros1993'' movie, the parallel world where Koopa resides has only one city, surrounded by endless tracts of desert.
* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:'' Asgard is a tiny planet with one city surrounded by wilderness.
* ''{{Film/Equilibrium}}'': The state of Libria seems to be just one city and its environs.
* ''Film/JudgeDredd'': Mega City One (developed from New York City, since the Statue of Liberty still stands there) is technically a city-state, though it's massive enough to equal many existing countries that are far more extensive.

* ''Film/{{Maleficent}}'' has multiple one town kingdoms within casual walking distance of each other.
** King Stefan's Castle and the surrounding town looks to be about a mile or two from [[LandOfFaerie the Moors]].
** ''Film/MaleficentMistressOfEvil'' has the kingdom of Ulstead across a river from the Moors and Queen Ingrith mentions her father's kingdom also bordered the Moors.
** The novelization outright says that Ulstead's castle is bigger than Aurora's entire kingdom.
* Justified in ''Film/TheNutcrackerAndTheFourRealms'' in that The Realms' inhabitants are all toys and ornaments magically animated by one person who probably wouldn't have bothered to fill more than one town.
* ''Film/BlackAdam2022:'' Apparently the nation of Khandaq consists of one city, and some valleys just outside it. This may explain why Intergang was successfully able to take over the place.

* Quite a few locations in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' are city-states. Of particular note is Ankh-Morpork, wherein most of the books are set, and which is also surrounded by other city-states, such as Quirm and Pseudopolis. Each is a [[FantasyCounterpartCulture stand-in for a real-world country]]. At one point these were all part of a single Ankh-Morpork empire but said empire [[VestigialEmpire went into decline]] and its wider surroundings are now largely autonomous. However, Ankh-Morpork is still the economic powerhouse of not just the region but the entire continent, and thus has significant political influence over these.

* Grantville in ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'' is effectively this (for the first book -- they end up joining/helping to form a new state at the end of the first book, and a couple of books later they're one of the major cities of a powerful confederation). Interestingly there were a number of independent cities like that at the time. Unfortunately they didn't possess repeating rifles.
* ''Literature/PerdidoStreetStation'' and ''Literature/IronCouncil'' feature New Crobuzon, which in the latter book is at war with the city-state of Tesh. ''Literature/TheScar'' also features a city-state made of pirate ships stuck together.
* The crumbling city of Literature/{{Gormenghast}} appears to be the only city in the world. In fact, it seems to ''be'' the world. (Until the third book, "Titus Alone" when the titular hero runs away from Gormenghast and ventures out into the world.)
* The Queens in ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'' rule only over the Castle.

* Almost all (or maybe all) the "countries" in ''LightNovel/KinosJourney'' are like this. Even if there are a few that aren't, Kino never stays long enough to find out.

* Academy City in ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex''. While located inside Japan, it is its own nation, one of the most powerful influences in the world, and can even declare war.

* ''Series/PowerRangersRPM: Corinth is this, thanks to Venjix causing [[ApocalypseHow the end of human civilization]]. The only other city we see is abandoned in the wastelands.

* ''Series/PowerRangersRPM: Corinth is this, thanks to Venjix causing [[ApocalypseHow the end of human civlization]]. The only other city we see is abandoned in the wastelands.

* ''Literature/PerdidoStreetStation'' and ''Literature/IronCouncil'' feature New Crobuzon, which in the latter book is at war with the city-state of Tesh. TheScar also features a city-state made of pirate ships stuck together.

* In the live-action ''Film/SuperMarioBros'' movie, the parallel world where Koopas reside had only one city, surrounded by endless tracts of desert.

* The Last City from the ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}'' series takes it UpToEleven by being ''the center of all human civilization''. This is, however, justified by the game being set AfterTheEnd (there really ''aren't'' any other cities or countries anymore and the only people living outside the City are tiny sporadic tribes), as well as the City itself being [[MegaCity absolutely massive]]; it very believably looks like the kind of city that could be a nation unto itself.

* UsefulNotes/{{Monaco}} and UsefulNotes/{{Singapore}} are RealLife examples, while [[UsefulNotes/VaticanCity the Vatican]] takes it UpToEleven by being an enclave ''within'' the city of UsefulNotes/{{Rome}} (making it what, a Land of Less Than One City? Land of One City Block?). That makes this trope TruthInTelevision.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogyakarta_Sultanate Yogyakarta Sultanate]], a monarchy ''within'' UsefulNotes/{{Indonesia}}, only has one city, Yogyakarta, which also serves as the administrative capital of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Region_of_Yogyakarta Special Region of Yogyakarta]], the only region in Indonesia that is still governed by a pre-colonial monarch, the Sultan of Yogyakarta, who serves as the hereditary leader of the region. [[UpToEleven To top it off]], there's also one Principality/Duchy ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakualaman Pakualaman]]) within the Sultanate itself that rules a municipality within the city of Yogyakarta.[[note]]The Sultan of Yogyakarta also serves as (hereditary) Governor of Yogyakarta while the Prince/Duke (''Adipati'', also hereditary) serves as Vice-Governor of Yogyakarta.[[/note]]