What determines how a place is designated as a town or city or village etc...?

Answer 1

As a rule it is population, but the numbers may vary from country to country

Answer 2

Usually, it is the law(s) of the country.
For a time in Europe, cities had extra powers that towns did not have. For example, cities could trade directly with other countries without having to go through the central government. Cities could have their own laws (on commerce, on immigration, etc.).

There are many places where the word "city" no longer has any legal meaning (a city does not have any more legal rights than a town).

In Canada, the legislation for that is at the provincial level (provinces define what is a city, a town, a village...; and they define what rights their leaders have for municipal law-making, for taxation, etc.).

In some Canadian provinces, there are no such things as "cities" because the old definitions, imported from Europe (mostly France and England) gave cities the right to change the way some provincial or national legislation could apply on the city's territory.

People still use the word "city" when talking about larger places (e.g., the City of Montreal, Quebec City) but if you look into the legal papers that define these entities, they are clearly "towns".

Answer 3

In the UK in the past, a cathedral meant that it was a city, so you get really small places like Wells and St. Davids which are technically cities.

Answer 4

The size of the land, the populations, the economic development in that specific area, and future chance of the area to be further developed further.

Answer 5

Population and size in square miles.