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Wikipedia aside, I respectfully disagree. Even for an international audience, context is important for interpreting "the city." NYT article: "the city" is New York. Economist article: "the city" is the City of London. TechCrunch: "the city" is San Francisco.

There was a TV show called Sex and the City, and that referred to New York.

I'd say either NY or London is fine for an international audience.

SF, not so much - and I hate, hate, hate how that reference shows the promise of the internet as a world without locality has been lost and turned into California, with the rest of the world as an afterthought.

(Australian here, for reference)

Of course, if you study a lot of medieval history, "The City" always means Constantinople (later Istanbul).

Except that was not in English.

Anyone interested in history or the bizarre would love the history of the City Of London Corporation. Business can vote, and their vote strength relates to employee numbers - that alone blew my mind when I learnt of it. Its well worth going down the rabbit hole if you have a spare bit of time. A good starting place for me was http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London_Corporation