Municipality
Encyclopedia : M : MU : MUN : Municipality
A municipality or "general-purpose district" (compare with: "special-purpose district") is an administrative local area generally composed of a clearly defined territory and commonly referring to a city, town,regional municipality or village government.
Municipalities are not necessarily the same as townships.
In most countries, this is the smallest administrative subdivision to have its own democratically elected representative leadership. In several European countries, municipalities as second-level entities are referred to as communes.
Municipalities as second-level entities
- In Algeria, a municipality (commune) is part of a daïra, wich is part of a wilaya
- In Australia, a municipality is a city or shire and is a subdivision of a state
- In Austria, a municipality (Gemeinde) is part of a district (Bezirk), which is in turn part of a state (Bundesland).
- In Belgium, a municipality (gemeente/commune) is either part of a province (provincie/province) or of the Brussels Capital Region
- In Bosnia and Herzegovina, a municipality (općina or opština) is
- * part of a canton (kanton)
- * a subdivision (grouped in regions)
- In Brazil, a municipality (município) is part of a state (estado)
- In Canada, a municipality is a city, town, township, county, or regional municipality which has been incorporated by statute by the legislatures of the Provinces and territories of Canada. It is also a specific designation for certain municipalities in Quebec and Ontario. Certain areas of Saskatchewan and Manitoba are designated as rural municipalities, while equivalent areas in Alberta are designated as municipal districts.
- In Chile, a municipality (comuna) is part of a province (provincia)
- In Colombia, a municipality (municipio) is part of a department (departamento). It also subdivided into Corregimientos and Veredas.
- In Croatia, a municipality (općina) is part of a county (županija)
- In Denmark, a municipality (kommune) is part of a county (amt)
- In Finland, a municipality (kunta) co-operates with municipalities nearby in a sub-region (seutukunta) and region (maakunta); a region belongs to a province (lääni) of the state. A municipality can freely call itself a "city" (kaupunki).
- In France, a municipality (commune) is part of a department (département) which is part of a region (région)
- In Germany, a municipality (Gemeinde) is part of a district (Kreis). Larger entities of the same level are called towns (Stadt).
- In Greece, a municipality is either an urban demoi or rural koinotetes which is then part of a prefecture (nomos) and then a larger region known as a periphery.
- In Hungary, a municipality (kistérség) is part of a county (megye).
- In Italy, a municipality (comune) is part of a province (provincia) which is part of a region (regione).
- In Japan, a municipality is the sphere of government within the prefectures, the sub-division of the state.
- In Jersey, a municipality refers to the honorary officials elected to run each of the 12 Parishes into which it is subdivided.
- In Mexico, a municipality (municipio) is a subdivision of a state (estado) and a borogh (delegación) is a subdivision of the Federal District (see municipalities of Mexico and Boroughs of the Mexican Federal District).
- In the Netherlands, a municipality (gemeente) is part of a province (provincie).
- Every part of mainland New Zealand is part of either a "city" (mostly urban) or a "district" (mostly rural). The term "municipality" has become rare in New Zealand since about 1979 and has no legal status.
- In Norway, a municipality (kommune) is part of a county (fylke)
- In the Philippines, a municipality (bayan) is part of a province (lalawigan) and is composed of barangays.
- In Poland, a municipality (gmina) is a part of a county (powiat).
- In Portugal, a municipality (município) is subdivision of a district (distritos).
- In Puerto Rico, a municipality (municipio) is a city. Each municipality has an elected mayor.
- In Romania, a municipality (municipiu) is a town or a city ranked by law at this level. See Municipality in Romania for more information.
- In Serbia, a municipality (opština) is part of a county (okrug)
- In South Africa, district municipalities and metropolitan municipalities are subdivisions of the provinces, and local municipalities are subdivisions of district municipalities.
- In Sweden, a municipality (kommun) is part of a county (län).
- In Switzerland, a municipality (commune/Gemeinde/comune) is part of a canton (canton/Kanton/cantone) and defined by cantonal law.
- In the United States, the entities that have status as a municipality vary from state to state. Cities, towns, boroughs, or villages are common terms for municipalities. Townships, counties, and parishes are not generally considered to be municipalities, although there are exceptions. In some states, towns have a non-municipal status similar to townships.
- In Venezuela, a municipality (municipio) is part of a state, as well as a subdivison of the Capital District (estado).
First-level entities and other forms of municipalities
- In the People's Republic of China, a direct-controlled municipality (直辖市 in pinyin: zhíxiáshì) is a city with equal status to a province: Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing (see Municipality of China)
- In the Republic of China on Taiwan, a municipality (直轄市 in Wade-Giles: chi-hsia-shih) is a city with equal status to a province: Taipei and Kaohsiung. (see Municipality of China)
- In Macedonia, 84 municipalities (opštini; singular: opština) were established in 2004, reduced from 123 created in 1996.
- In Portugal, a municipality (município/concelho) is the primary local administrative unit. Although it is a part of a district (distrito) for certain national administrative purposes, the municipality is not subordinate to the district and decentralization is doing away with the districts. A municipality contains one or more freguesias.
- In Puerto Rico, there are no first order administrative divisions, and the municipalities (municipio) serves as second-order, but first level, administrative divisions.
- In Montenegro, a municipality (opština) is the topmost regional division
- Municipalities of Libya, some very large.
- In Slovenia, a municipality (občina) is the primary local administrative unit. There are 193 of them, 11 of which have a special "Urban" status with additional autonomy.
- In Spain, a municipality (municipio) is the primary local administrative unit. It is a part of a province (provincia) for all national administrative purposes. A municipality contains one or more parroquias. In the Galicia region, the municipalities are called concellos.
See also
- (with lists for countries)
- Administrative division
- Council-manager government
- Mayor
- Mayor-council government
- Muni
- Municipal government
- Municipal services
- Political science
- Special-purpose district
- [Full list of European Municipalities]
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