Template:Regions of Kazakhstan is part of WikiProject Central Asia, a project to improve all Central Asia-related articles. This includes but is not limited to Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Tibet, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang and Central Asian portions of Iran, Pakistan and Russia, region-specific topics, and anything else related to Central Asia. If you would like to help improve this and other Central Asia-related articles, please join the project. All interested editors are welcome.Central AsiaWikipedia:WikiProject Central AsiaTemplate:WikiProject Central AsiaCentral Asia articles
This template is within the scope of WikiProject Geography, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of geography on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.GeographyWikipedia:WikiProject GeographyTemplate:WikiProject Geographygeography articles
I have removed Shymkent from the metro areas as it does not seem to have any metro area. The article makes no mention of it. This OECD publication said Shymkent metro area in 2009 included Lenger and Koksaek, and had a population of 679,000. But the city has since expanded, absorbing the adjacent towns, to a population of 858,147, effectively eating up the metro area. Batternut (talk) 10:31, 21 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]
While noting your recent and valuable updates to Shymkent, I still see no evidence of it having a significant commuter belt, ie having a metro area. Batternut (talk) 19:39, 21 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Whether or not it has a commuter belt is irrelevant. Kazakhstan, similarly to other Post-Soviet states, has as the first level of administrative divisions two possible units - regions or cities with the spacial status. These cities with the special status are typically surrounded by regions (Almaty by Almaty Region, Astana by Akmola Region, and now Shymkent by Turkistan Region), however, they are not subordinated to these regions (like for example Kyzylorda is subordinated to Kyzylorda Region) but are subordinated to the central government. They can contain localities outside the city boundaries, but this does not change the status, which is determined by the government.--Ymblanter (talk) 19:53, 21 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]
OK, so it's a terminology issue. Rather than listing them as "metropolitan cities", perhaps a label of "special status cities", or maybe "extra-regional cities" would be better. Astana does mention being a "city with special status" (without any clarification or source though), Almaty doesn't. Batternut (talk) 21:57, 21 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]