After London, the UK's largest urban areas include Birmingham (the second-largest city in England), Greater Manchester, Glasgow (the largest city in Scotland), Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield, Bristol and Newcastle upon Tyne. Each is the centre of a wider metropolitan region with a strong regional identity, a major university and significant economic output.
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Cities such as Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds grew rapidly during the Industrial Revolution. Liverpool was Britain's most important Atlantic port; Glasgow was a centre of shipbuilding on the Clyde. More recently, regeneration projects have turned former industrial areas into business and cultural quarters.
The exam may not name every regional city but expects you to know which is the largest city in Scotland (Glasgow) or which area is sometimes called "Greater Manchester".
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