This paper looks to understand the definitions of the city to enrich the new reflections, in the current days. The starting point for reflection is the confrontation of positions in the understanding of the urban phenomenon, the city, by Fernand Braudel and Philip Abrams, later to emerge in front of the dilemma posed in the confrontation of these two authors, samplings of the main elaborate theorizing on City. Among the findings, it is emphasized that the names of propositions about the city seeking to account for the dynamic evolution of human settlements: métapole, edge city and tecnocity.