science

Local government area

Local government area is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Local government area rather than just read about it. In short: A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a division, province, state, or territory.

Key takeaways

Local government area belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Local government area to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Local government area from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a division, province, state, or territory.

Australia

The term is particularly common in Australia where it provides a general term for shires, municipalities, or cities. Local government authorities across the country have similar functions and powers, but have different official designations in different states, and according to whether they are urban or rural. Most urban LGAs in all states are "cities". Many in Western Australia are officially "towns", even within the Perth metropolitan area. Many rural areas in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia are "shires", while rural areas in South Australia have "district councils", and those in Tasmania officially use the title "municipality". Due to the Australian Capital Territory's small size it has no local government and is instead overseen by the ACT Legislative Assembly.

It is largely for this reason that the term "local government area", or simply "LGA", is favoured over the term "municipality", the use of which could easily lead to confusion. In recent years changes to the structures of local government have given rise to new official designations, while other terms have fallen out of favour. In the mid-1990s the state government of Victoria amalgamated almost all municipalities, abolishing many cities and shires, all towns and all but one borough. Queenscliff, south of Melbourne, is now the only place in Australia that is officially a borough. Meanwhile, many "rural cities" were formed in largely rural areas where the core town is large enough, in terms of population, to be considered a city. In many such cases that town had previously been governed by a now defunct city council. Restructuring of local government in New South Wales and Queensland in the following decade gave rise to the municipal designations of "region" and "area", for example, the Sunshine Coast of Queensland was formerly divided into several shires, but is now governed by a single Sunshine Coast Regional Council. The least densely populated areas of Australia's largest states have no local government, and are referred to as unincorporated areas.

The Gambia "Local government area" is an official designation for eight administrative subdivisions of the Gambia.

Nigeria

"Local government area" is also an official designation in Nigeria.

United Kingdom

The phrase is used as a generalised description in the United Kingdom to refer to a variety of political divisions such as boroughs, counties, unitary authorities, and cities, all of which have a council or similar body exercising a degree of self-government. Each of the United Kingdom's four constituent countries has its own structure of local government, for example Northern Ireland has local districts; Many parts of England have non-metropolitan counties consisting of rural districts; London and many other urban areas have boroughs; there are three island councils off the coast of Scotland; while the rest of Scotland and all of Wales are divided into unitary authority counties, some of which are officially designated as cities. As such the term local government area is a convenient generic label referring to all of these authorities and the areas within their control.

See also Municipal corporation Municipal council Shire Town council

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Local government area

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Local government area claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Local government area before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Local government area ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Local government area

In research: Local government area appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Local government area in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Local government area is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Local government, Types of administrative division, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Local government area outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Local government area in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Local government area means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Local government area out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Local government area in simple terms?

Why does Local government area matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Local government area?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Local government area.