District
Local government areas called
districts are used, or have been used, in several countries.
Main article: Districts of Austria
In
Austria, a district is an administrative subdivision normally encompassing several
municipalities, roughly equivalent to the
Landkreis in
Germany. The administrative office of a district, the
Bezirkshauptmannschaft is headed by the
Bezirkshauptmann. It is in charge of the administration of all matters of federal and state
administrative law and subject to orders from the higher instances, usually the
Landeshauptmann (governor) in matters of federal law and the
Landesregierung (state government) in state law. While there are matters of administrative law of which the municipalities themselves are in charge or where there are special bodies, the district is the basic unit of general administration in Austria.Officials on the district level are not elected, but appointed by the state government.There are also
independent cities in Austria. They are called
Statutarstadt in Austrian administrative law. These
urban districts do have the same tasks as a normal district.
Vienna
Main article: Districts of Vienna
The State of
Vienna, which is at the same time a municipality, is also subdivided in 23 districts, which, however, have a somewhat different function than in the rest of the country. Legally, the
Magistratisches Bezirksamt (district office) is a local offices of the municipality's administration. However, representatives (
Bezirksräte) on the district level are elected, and they in turn elect the head of the district, the
Bezirksvorsteher. Those representative bodies are supposed to serve as immediate contacts for the locals on the political and administrative level. In practice, they have some power, e.g. concerning matters of traffic.
The
Belgian city of
Antwerp is sub-divided into 9 districts (
Dutch:
districten).
Alberta
In
Alberta, the district (known as municipal districts) acts like a county or a city but not like the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and British Columbia, all districts and
counties are part of
census subdivisions of their respective
census divisions.
British Columbia
In
British Columbia has two types of districts. The first type of district is a municipality which the district acts like a city, town, or a village(probably deliverated from pre-consolidation of Philadelphia County, Philadelphia). Also British Columbia has some districts called
Regional Districts, which the district acts like a county and like any counties in the U.S. (except in Connecticut and Rhode Island) and Canada (except in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Newfoundland), it compromise the district seat, the numbers of municipalities, and unincorporated areas.
Ontario
In
Ontario, a district is a statutory subdivision of the province, but, unlike a
county, a district is not incorporated. Most districts are comprised of unincorporated lands, mostly
Crown land. Originally present-day
Southern Ontario (then part of the
Province of Quebec and after
1791,
Upper Canada) was divided into districts in
1788[
1]. Districts continued to operation until 1849 when they were replaced by counties by the
Province of Canada.
The current Ontario districts such as
Algoma and
Nipissing were first created by the Province of Canada in
1858 prior to
Confederation for the delivery of judicial and provincial government services to sparsely populated areas from the
district seat (e.g.
Sault Ste. Marie). Some districts may have District Social Service Administration Boards, which are designed to provide certain social services. The boundaries of a federal
census division may correspond to those of a district.
Northwest Territories
In western and northern
Canada, the federal government created
districts as subdivisions of the
Northwest Territories 1870-1905, partly on the model of the districts created in the
Province of Canada. The first district created was the
District of Keewatin in 1876 followed by four more districts in 1882. Gradually, these districts became separate territories (such as
Yukon Territory, separate provinces (such as
Alberta and
Saskatchewan) or were absorbed into other provinces.
In
China, the
district or
qū (市辖区,
pinyin:
shì xiá qū) is a subdivision of any of various city administrative units, including
municipalities,
sub-provincial cities and
prefecture-level cities. Districts have
county level status.
Modern districts are a recent innovation. In the context of
pre-modern China, the English translation "district" is typically associated with
xian, another Chinese administrative division. The
xian is translated as "
county" in the context of modern China.
Main article: Districts of England
Districts are the most recognisable form of
local government in large parts of
England. For those areas which retain two-tier
local government, districts usually form the lower tier of that arrangement, with
counties forming the upper tier. Districts tend to have responsibility for a number of areas including:
*
tax collection (
Council Tax &
Non-Domestic Rates)
*Leisure Services
*Refuse collection
*Housing
*Planning
*Arts & Entertainment
*Environmental Health
Each district raises taxes from residents on behalf of itself, and the upper tier authority through the
Council Tax. It also raises income from business through the
Non-Domestic Rates system, which is co-ordinated nationally.
* In Germany, a
district (
"Kreis") is an administrative unit between the
"Länder" (
German federal states) and the local / municipal levels (
Gemeinden). Most of the 439 German districts are
"Landkreise", rural districts. 116 larger cities (usually with more than 100,000 inhabitants) do not belong to a district are considered as urban districts (
"Kreisfreie Städte" or
"Stadtkreise") themselves.
See also: Districts of Germany.
* In some states, there is additional level of administration between the
Länder and the
Landkreise called
Regierungsbezirk (
government district).
*
District (
Bezirk) was also the name of administrative subdivisions of the
German Democratic Republic since
1952. See
Subdivisions of East Germany.
Hong Kong is divided into 18 districts, each with a district council.
See also Districts of Hong Kong:
Main Article :
Districts of PakistanPakistan's
districts are local administrative units inherited from the
British Raj. Districts were generally grouped into administrative Divisions, which in turn formed
Provinces. Pakistan has 130 districts (including 7 in
Azad Jammu and Kashmir). They comprise of villages, towns and cities. A District is headed by a District Nazim (Mayor), who is an elected official and the local controller of the district level officers of all the departments under provincial government. The District Nazim heads an elected District Council which is comprised to councilors, who represent various district level constituencies. The councils have a constitutional requirement to be comprised of a minimum of 33% women, there is no upper limit to that; so women can comprise 100% of these councils but men cannot.
India's districts (; /zilɑː/ or /ɟənpəd/) are local administrative units inherited from the
British Raj. They generally form the tier of
local government immediately below that of
India's
subnational States and Territories. Where warranted, Districts may further be grouped into administrative Divisions, which form an intermediate level between the District and the
subnational State (or
union territory).
A District is headed by a
Deputy Commissioner in most cases, responsible for the overall administration and the maintenance of law and order. The office of
District Collector is also defined, who is the local controller of the district-level administrative staff officers (i.e., the "
Public Service") of all the local departments under state government. The district collector is a person who belongs to IAS (
Indian Administrative Services). Other key responsibilities include the collection of , and for the
Judiciary of the
district and sessional courts. The roles of Deputy Commissioner and District Collector may be combined.
Districts are most frequently further sub-divided into smaller administrative units, called either
tehsils or
talukas, depending on the region. These units have specific local responsibilities, including in particular coordinating revenue collection.
An intermediate level (the Sub-Division) between District and tehsil/taluka may be formed by grouping these units under the oversight of
Assistant Commissioners. Each district has well-defined boundaries, and includes one or two cities (or large towns), a few smaller towns and dozens of villages. Most of the Indian districts have the same name as the main town/city that it contains.
As of October 2005, a total of 602 Districts are defined in India.
A
district (
gun in
Japanese) is a local administrative unit comprising
towns and
villages but not
cities. See
districts of Japan for more complete discription. In 1923, its administrative role was abolished although it is still in use for addressing purposes.
District is also a translation for
chiku defined by Japan's planning law.
In
Kenya, a
district (
Wilaya) is a subdivision of a
Province and is headed by a District Officer (DO).
Main article: Subdivisions of South Korea
A
district (
Gu) is a subdivision of larger cities in South Korea. Smaller cities have no districts, whereas districts in
Seoul and six
Metropolitan Cities are treated as a city in its own right.
In
Malaysia, a
district is a division of a
state.
The
districts of Nauru are the only subdivisions of the whole state.
Main article: Territorial Authorities of New Zealand
In New Zealand a
district is a territorial authority (second-tier local government unit) that has not gained the distinction of being proclaimed a city. Districts tend to be less urbanised, tend to cover more than one population centre and a larger amount of rural area, and tend to have a smaller population than cities. While cities and districts are generally considered to be two different types of territorial authority, the area covered by a city is often known as its district—for example the term
district plan is used equally in districts and cities. The
Chatham Islands Territory is neither a district nor a city.
A district is not always a simple division of a
region, some districts straddle regional boundaries.
Third level subdivisions of Peru. See:
Districts of PeruDistricts (Portuguese:
distritos) are administrative divisions of
Portugal. They do not have an elected government; they are governed by a "civil governor" appointed by the central government. See
Districts of Portugal.
Main article:
Regions and districts of Scotland''
In
Scotland local government districts were use from 1975 to 1996.
Serbia is divided into 29
districts (
okrug) and the city of
Belgrade, each of which is further divided into
municipalities (
opština), see
Districts of Serbia.
In Slovakia, a district ("okres") is a local administrative unit. See
districts of Slovakia and
okres.
|
Districts of South Africa |
Main article: Districts of South Africa
In
South Africa, the
district municipality forms the layer of government below the
provinces. A district municipality is in turn divided into several
local municipalities. This structure varies in the six largest urban areas (
Cape Town,
Durban,
East Rand,
Johannesburg,
Port Elizabeth and
Pretoria), where a
metropolitan municipality is both a district and a local municipality.
For purposes of local government, the country of
Sri Lanka is divided into 9
Provinces:
Western,
Central,
Southern,
Northern,
Eastern,
North Western,
North Central,
Uva and
Sabaragamuwa. (The Northern and Eastern Provinces, however, have been technically jointly administered since 1988.) The
Provinces are subdivided into a total of 25 administrative
Districts. [
2]
The 25 Administrative
Districts are
Colombo 642 km²,
Gampaha 1,393 km² and
Kalutara 1,606 km² in the
Western Province,
Kandy 2,365 km²,
Matale 1,987 km² and
Nuwara Eliya 1,228 km² in the
Central Province,
Galle 1,673 km²,
Matara 1,246 km², and
Hambantota 2,593 km² in the
Southern Province,
Jaffna 1,114 km²,
Mannar 1,963 km²,
Mullaitivu 1,580 km²,
Vavuniya 2,642 km². and
Kilinochchi 1,171 km² in the
Northern Province,
Batticaloa 2,463 km²,
Trincomalee 2,616 km² and
Ampara 2,984 km² in the
Eastern Province,
Kurunegala 4,771 km² and
Puttalam 2,976 km² in the
North Western Province,
Anuradhapura 7,128 km² and
Polonnaruwa 3,403 km² in the
North Central Province,
Badulla 2,818 km² and
Moneragala 7,133 km² in the
Uva Province, and
Ratnapura 3,237 km² and
Kegalle 1,663 km² in the
Sabaragamuwa Province. [
3]
In
Switzerland some
cantons organise themselves into districts, while others dispense with districts and govern themselves at the
Wahlkreise (
Constituency or electoral district) level. See
Districts of Switzerland.
A
district ("
amphoe") is a subdivision of a
Province ("changwat") in
Thailand. Some provinces also contain sub-districts ("king amphoe"), which are smaller than the average district.
Districts are a form of
local government in several countries.
|
Satellite photograph of the District of Columbia |
There are several types of
districts in the
United States.
A constituency with a representative in
Congress is a
congressional district. Each state is organized into one or more such districts; the exact number within each state is based on the
most recent census. Only voters within each district are allowed to vote in the
election for the member of the
House from that district. Overall, there are 435 congressional districts in the United States; each has roughly 630,000 people, with some variance.
A constituency with a representative in a state legislature is a
legislative district; the territory over which a federal court has jurisdiction is a
federal judicial district.
The
District of Columbia is the only part of the United States, excluding
territories, that is not a located within any of the fifty
states.
The United States also has many types of
special-purpose districts with limited powers of local government.
School districts are the most common, but other types of districts include
college districts, hospital districts, utility districts, irrigation districts, port districts, and public transit districts.
Many cities in the late 20th century adopted names for
non-governmental districts as a way of increasing recognition and identity of these distinct areas. In New York City, for example, there is the theatre district, the garment district, and districts with names like
SoHo and
TriBeCa.
Until 1854, the pre-consolidation of
Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania had some districts acting like cities or towns.
*
Lists of unofficial regions by country*
Municipality*
Traditional districts of Norway*
Chennai IQ - List of Districts in TamilNadu, INDIA
