Arrakeen

Arrakis was settled here first, and the city grew out of that into one of the largest on the planet and its seat of power. It stands near the northern pole on a mass of bedrock which, with the Shield Wall behind it, keeps the sandworms out. Trade with off-world groups runs through the city, and so do the Fremen who prefer a more cultured life than the deep desert offers. Count Hasimir Fenring and his wife Margot lived in the governor's palace, the Arrakeen Residency, before the Atreides arrived. Duke Leto Atreides I chose the city for his seat of government on the plain grounds that it was small, and therefore easier to sterilise and to defend.