City and municipality are terms used to refer to urban settlements in various countries around the world. Different countries use different names for the systems of local governance that have developed over time or through trial and error. There are numerous similarities between cities and municipalities that can cause confusion. However, there are also several differences between the two, which will be discussed in this article.
What is a City?
Nearly half of the world’s population today lives in places that can be considered urban settlements. These places are distinct from rural areas, the countryside, and villages, which are quieter and less polluted than cities. The Industrial Revolution led to the establishment of cities with planned residential and commercial areas, and industries set up on the outskirts of these urban settlements. The lifestyle and better opportunities in these cities attracted rural populations that migrated from villages and the countryside to work as laborers in city industries. In general, a city is a permanent urban settlement with a large population, and it is more planned and systematic than rural areas.
Key Takeaways
- Municipality is an administrative division that may be a city, town, or a grouping of towns.
- A city is an urban settlement that is planned and has a large population.
- While cities are divisions of a state or province, municipalities are divisions of a place that are so divided for local self-governance.
What is a Municipality?
Municipality is a general term that has different meanings in different places or countries around the world. However, there is a consensus that a municipality is an administrative body with some degree of control over a geographic area. It is a body that operates in an urban settlement, whether it is a city, town, or a grouping consisting of several units. A municipality is a civic body with an elected mayor and councilors, with the political party holding the majority of seats in the council running the affairs of the body. Thus, a municipality is a democratically elected governing body with the power to levy taxes on the people living within it and to spend it on the development of the area. Municipalities come in various sizes and population densities, with Greenland and Canada having municipalities larger than even some countries of the world.
What is the difference between City and Municipality?
- Municipality is an administrative division that may be a city, town, or a grouping of towns.
- A city is an urban settlement that is planned and has a large population.
- In different countries, the word municipality has different meanings.
- While cities are divisions of a state or province, municipalities are divisions of a place that are so divided for local self-governance.
- There are different criteria set for municipalities and cities in different countries.
- Some countries have municipalities larger than even some countries of the world.
- Civic administration and provision of better facilities is the responsibility of the municipality, and it also has the power to collect taxes from the population.
- A municipality can be a clear-cut geographic division inside a city.
