Independent city

From Freepedia

An independent city is a city that does not form part of another local government entity.

As a formal term it is mainly used in the U.S. state of Virginia, however there are equivalent entities in a number of other jurisdictions throughout the world.

Independent cities should not be confused with city-states (such as Singapore), which are fully sovereign cities that are not part of any other nation-state.

Contents

United States

In the United States, an independent city is a city that does not belong to any particular county. Because counties have historically been a strong institution in local government in most of the United States, independent cities are relatively rare outside of Virginia (see below), whose state constitution makes them a special case. The U.S. Census Bureau uses counties as its base unit for presentation of statistical information, and treats independent cities as county equivalents for those purposes.

An independent city should not be confused with a consolidated city-county (such as San Francisco), in which both city and county government has been merged.

The City of New York is likewise not an independent city, but rather a sui generis jurisdiction: the city is made up of five boroughs, each of which is territorially contiguous with a county.

Of the 43 or so independent cities in the United States, 39 are in Virginia.

Virginia

In the Commonwealth of Virginia, all municipalities incorporated as "cities" have also been "independent cities" since 1871. Other municipalities, even though they may be more populous than some existing independent cities, are incorporated as "towns", and as such form part of a county. An independent city in Virginia may serve as the county seat of an adjacent county, even though the city by definition is not part of that county.

Several Virginia counties, whose origins go back to the original eight shires of the colony formed in 1634, have the word city in their names; however, politically they are counties. Examples are Charles City County and James City County.

List of Virginia's independent cities

The independent cities in Virginia are (as of December, 2004):

Note that while most counties and cities in Virginia with similar names are contiguous, the independent city of Richmond is located nowhere near Richmond County. The latter is located in the state's Northern Neck region, about 50 miles distant from the city.

Arlington County

Arlington County, commonly referred to as just "Arlington", is not an independent city. However, it is often thought of as a city because it is fully urbanized, is close in size to other independent cities in the state, and includes no municipalities within its borders.

Former cities

See also: Lost Counties, Cities and Towns of Virginia.

Former independent cities that were long extant in Virginia include:

Two other independent cities existed for a short time:

Other states

Some states have created independent cities in order to cater for the special requirements of governing their largest cities and/or capitals:

New England

In New England, cities and towns traditionally have very strong governments, with counties having correspondingly lesser importance; today, most New England counties have almost no governmental institutions or roles associated with them (aside from serving as a basis for court districts). However, somewhat like the ceremonial counties of England, counties in New England still have a nominal existence, and so no city or town in New England is truly separate from a county. The U.S. Census Bureau still uses counties, and not cities or towns, as its base unit of statistical measurement in New England.

Washington, D.C.

Like the capitals of many other countries (see below), Washington, D.C. has a special status. It is not part of any state; instead, it comprises the entirety of the District of Columbia, which, in accordance with Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress. District residents have no voting representation in the Congress, electing a sole, non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives.

Congress has established a home rule government for the city, although city laws can be overridden by Congress. This is fairly rare, however, and so in practice the city operates much like other independent cities in the United States.

Germany

See also: List of German urban districts.

In Germany, different states have either the Stadtkreis ("Urban District") or Kreisfreie Stadt (literally, "District-Free City").

Examples of German independent cities are:

United Kingdom

Some cities in the United Kingdom are a unitary authority, and could be considered to be independent cities. In the UK, however, "city" has no inherent status; city status depends on a grant from the monarch and merely confers on the place so-designated the right to call itself a city.

Canada

In the Canadian province of Ontario, the same type of city is referred to as a single-tier municipality.

Austria

In Austria, a similar concept is the Statutarstadt.

National capitals

A number of countries have made their national capitals into separate entities. For example Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, is outside of the country's system of counties.

Federal capitals

In countries with a federal structure, the federal capital is usually separate from other jurisdictions in the country, and frequently has a unique system of government.

Examples include:

See also

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