The impression given by the outlying villages is only increased when first beholding Poradrin itself, and with good reason, for in many ways it's the same thing except scaled up.
As mentioned, the city is at a river fork; it rests in the narrow angle between the River Hešrin and the Tanal, a major tributary; the city is therefore shaped roughly like an isoceles triangle, with the riverbanks serving as the two long sides and the landward wall as the short one. Roads following each river pierce the wall through gates; these form a V-shape within the city, although they are joined by numerous cross-streets in the narrow dimension. The city is also walled on the sides facing the riverbanks, with two smaller gates on each side, to allow access by boat. (The rivers are wide enough that the xtauh have not yet been able to span them with bridges, and people and goods must be ferried across.)
While geography and economics have some say in the layout of the city, it is, compared to a human or even takma settlement, remarkably decentralized. There is a relative lack of major civic buildings: there is little in the way of government to be housed in a permanent facility, with most “official” city business being conducted in the Forum; there are no great museums or institutions of higher learning; there are no great temples - one can always worship at home, where it's comfy, or go bother a priest if there's a thorny issue, and the city doesn't host any famous relics that would draw an audience. The Forum, and a few other important buildings, are hosted near the Great Commons at the point of the V made by the major roads, for convenience's sake, and some industries are concentrated in certain areas due to demand, to a need for cooperation, or (like the tanners) to offend as few neighbors as possible, but there are few precincts are dominated so thoroughly by one industry that they fail to be within easy reach of others. It is also the case that most neighborhoods are strongly residential. (As in the villages, many occupations are effectively cottage industries.)
The use of “precincts” is of note here, because it is probably the least problematic description of the city's internal organization. If one recalls the way that hamlets and villages were described in the last Tirade, Poradrin is made up entirely of units very much like that: clusters of homes, each surrounded by a wall shared with its neighbors, with its exterior walls joined together to separate the cluster from its surroundings. The precincts differ from the villages partly in that they are no economically self-contained, but more visibly in that their exterior walls are 1) usually higher and stronger, often of brick; and 2) not bounded by countryside. Most usually, the walls face onto major thoroughfares, but are sometimes a shared boundary between two precincts, or may even be the city wall. (In the spaces between the city wall and the river, the river itself serves the function of a precinct wall.)
Internally, too, the individual properties are separated by low brick walls. Each precinct is usually centered around a “courtyard” formed at the intersection of the access streets, which serves as the site of the precinct's well and any neighborhood shrines or displays, and - sometimes in conjunction with an inn - the local gathering place for celebrations, ceremonies, discussions, or other events internal to the precinct, such as team games.
Precincts serve as not only as geographic units, but social and political ones - the local focus of the tribal feelings described several schlaughs earlier. The consensus of the precinct's families, or at least the family heads and property owners, is what determines how the precinct is run. While this can include codes of behavior, these mostly cover either things that would, in a human society, be obviously illegal - like murder - or else particularly prominent public actions. There are generally also maintenance requirements, particularly for the property walls, as well as the courtyard and its contents.
Moving into a precinct generally requires a vetting process by the community. While there is, strictly speaking, nothing preventing an inhabitant from trading or gifting her home to whoever she wants, the new owner will be hounded out if she cannot gain the precinct's approval (and will lose her investment; once the home is unoccupied for too long, the community will distribute it as they see fit). The vetting process depends on the precinct, but in most of them consists of a fairly basic interview, an agreement to abide by the local rules, and a welcoming ceremony.
While in theory this process could create socio-economically exclusive precincts - the equivalent of gated communities - such areas are exceptions rather than rules. This has to do with the close attention xtauh females pay to social hierarchy; a female with a certain amount of pre-existing status often prefers to settle among inferiors and have neighbors that look up to her, rather than among equals or superiors. Social status is somewhat correlated with wealth, but only weakly with political power; a precinct's social queens might have the best houses, but, in theory, no more of a voice than anyone else in community affairs. That said, status does lend an opinion a certain amount of weight, as does generosity with wealth, and the backing of a precinct's elite is a helpful thing to have on one's side.