Do you own the city? :P

My city < Yeah, sounds like you're the Mayor or Govenor of the city. Our city < Still unusual to say... but it might be said by a group of people representing a city at a big meeting about the city maybe... "What can we do to help our city?" The city < This feels negative. People use "the city" when talking about serious issues, political things or change within a cities boarders. "The city is building a new ..." Sounds like a news anchor informing everyone on the state / condition of the city. If you are talking about a city, the most common thing is to simply use the name of the city preceded by "The city of _______" or just use the name of the city. For example. The city of Detroit is suffering from lack of economic growth. New York City is the 12th most populated city in the world. -----------------------BUT I know this is coming from your essay. And in your essay you wanted to talk about the city that you are from. Keep it simple and just say that. > Then city where I'm from (then put the name of the city here), is a beautiful place. (Name of city here) is surrounded by mountains that can be seen from anywhere in the city. (Name of city here) was founded in 1845 and has a population of 300,000. --------------------- ... but remember, if you NEED to call it MY city --- don't forget to share it with everyone else! Ha ha...

If you are talking about yourself, then you can say "my city". If you are talking about yourself and some other people, you can say "our city".