Manchester is a city in North West England. The metropolitan borough of Manchester, which has city status, has a population of 441,200, making it the most populous district of the Greater Manchester metropolitan county. The Greater Manchester Urban Area has a population of 2,240,230, making Manchester and its surrounding area the United Kingdom's third largest conurbation.
Being the largest city in the north of England, Manchester is often described as the "Capital of the North", and forming part of the English Core Cities Group, Manchester today is a centre of the arts, the media, higher education and commerce and is often considered to be England's second city. It is the third most visited city in the United Kingdom by foreign visitors, after London and Edinburgh. Manchester is also well known for its sporting connections, being associated with two major Premier League football teams, Manchester United and Manchester City, and internationally renowned as a centre of sporting excellence having hosted the XVII Commonwealth Games in 2002.
In January 2007, Manchester was briefly awarded the licence to build the only supercasino allowed in the UK, but in March 2007 the House of Lords rejected the decision by three votes rendering the House of Commons acceptance meaningless. This leaves the supercasino and the other fourteen smaller sites in parliamentary limbo.
Manchester constructed scores of tower blocks, however, many were short and very few were of any significant or notable size. Large areas were also developed into housing estates.