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Municipality

Municipality 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 Municipality rather than just read about it. In short: A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term municipality may also mean the governing body of a given municipality.

Municipality — main illustration
Municipality — illustration

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term municipality may also mean the governing body of a given municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district. The English word is derived from French municipalité, which in turn derives from the Latin municipalis, based on the word for social contract (municipium), referring originally to the Latin communities that supplied Rome with troops in exchange for their own incorporation into the Roman state (granting Roman citizenship to the inhabitants) while permitting the communities to retain their own local governments (a limited autonomy). A municipality can be any political jurisdiction, from a sovereign state such as the Principality of Monaco, to a small village such as West Hampton Dunes, New York. The territory over which a municipality has jurisdiction may encompass:

only one populated place such as a city, town, or village several such places (e.g., early jurisdictions in the U.S. state of New Jersey (1798–1899) as townships governing several villages, municipalities of Mexico, municipalities of Colombia) only parts of such places, sometimes boroughs of a city, such as the 34 municipalities of Santiago, Chile.

Political powers

Powers of municipalities range from virtual autonomy to complete subordination to the state. Municipalities may have the right to tax individuals and corporations with income tax, property tax, and corporate income tax, but may also receive substantial funding from the state. In some European countries, such as Germany, municipalities have the constitutional right to supply public services through municipally owned public utility companies.

Terms in various countries

Municipality Terms cognate with "municipality", mostly referring to territory or political structure, are Spanish municipio (Spain) and municipalidad (Chile), Catalan municipi, Portuguese município.

In Brazil, a município is the local government, recognized by the Brazilian Federal Constitution and established through state constitutions. It is the smallest territorial division holding executive and legislative powers. Since the Constitution of 1988, all municípios are members of the federation. Colloquially, the local population uses the terms municipality and city interchangeably, although the constitution defines "city" as the seat of the municipality.

Commune In many countries, terms cognate with "commune" are used, referring to the community living in the area and the common interest. These include terms:

in Romance languages, such as in French commune (France, French-speaking Belgium and Switzerland, French-speaking Africa, e.g. Benin), in Italian comune (Italy, Italian-speaking Switzerland, e.g. Ticino), in Portuguese comuna (Angola), in Romanian comună (Romania), and in Spanish comuna (Chile); in Nordic languages such as in Danish and Norwegian kommune (Denmark, Norway), in Faroese kommuna (Faroe Islands), and in Swedish kommun (Sweden, Finland); in West Germanic languages such as in Dutch gemeente (Netherlands, Dutch-speaking areas of Belgium), Luxembourgish Gemeng (Luxembourg) and German Gemeinde (Austria, Germany); in Finnish kunta (Finland); in Ukrainian hromada (Ukraine); and in Polish gmina (Poland). The same terms "Gemeente" (Dutch) or "Gemeinde" (German) may be used for church congregations or parishes, for example, in the German and Dutch Protestant churches.

Other terms In Greece, the word Δήμος (demos) is used, also meaning 'community'; the word is known in English from the compound democracy (rule of the people). In some countries, the Spanish term ayuntamiento, referring to a municipality's administration building, is extended via synecdoche to denote the municipality itself. In Moldova and Romania, both municipalities (municipiu; urban administrative units) and communes (comună; rural units) exist, and a commune may be part of a municipality. In many countries, comparable entities may exist with various names.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Municipality: New York City's composite five boroughs are all counties containing historical municipalities. .mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{}  1. Manhattan   2. Brooklyn   3. Queens   4. The Bronx   5. Staten Island In 1898, all of the municipalities within the five boroughs were merged into one municipality, and the five counties became boroughs of the new New York City municipality. The five boroughs still have statuses as counties, through.
New York City's composite five boroughs are all counties containing historical municipalities. .mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{}  1. Manhattan   2. Brooklyn   3. Queens   4. The Bronx   5. Staten Island In 1898, all of the municipalities within the five boroughs were merged into one municipality, and the five counties became boroughs of the new New York City municipality. The five boroughs still have statuses as counties, through.
Municipality: City or town municipalities (red-colored) with other non-town municipalities in Finland (2020)
City or town municipalities (red-colored) with other non-town municipalities in Finland (2020)
Municipality: In Norway, both the first-level administrative divisions and the second-level administrative divisions are municipalities. Norway has 15 first-level municipalities (which are shown in this image). They're called fylkeskommuner (county municipalities) and share borders with the country's counties. They're further divided into 357 second-level municipalities called primærkommuner (primary municipalities) or just kommuner (municipalities).
In Norway, both the first-level administrative divisions and the second-level administrative divisions are municipalities. Norway has 15 first-level municipalities (which are shown in this image). They're called fylkeskommuner (county municipalities) and share borders with the country's counties. They're further divided into 357 second-level municipalities called primærkommuner (primary municipalities) or just kommuner (municipalities).

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Municipality

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Municipality 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 Municipality 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 Municipality 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 Municipality

In research
Municipality 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 Municipality 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
Municipality is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Municipalities, Types of administrative division, Types of populated places, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Municipality 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 Municipality in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Municipality in simple terms?

A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term municipality may also mean the governing body of a given municipality.

Why does Municipality 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 Municipality?

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 Municipality.

Tags

  • Municipalities
  • Types of administrative division
  • Types of populated places

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