Independent city

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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. commonwealth 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.

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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. Independent cities should not be confused with consolidated city-counties, such as Denver, Colorado, the City and County of San Francisco, California or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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Virginia

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

In the Commonwealth of Virginia, all municipalities incorporated as "cities" have also been "independent cities," also called "free 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.

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List of Virginia's independent cities

The independent cities in Virginia are (as of January 2006):

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Notes
  • Only consolidations and mergers of localities since 1950 are specifically noted above. Most independent cities also grew through earlier consolidations, mergers and annexations.
  • 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 to the east from the capital city.
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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. It consists solely of areas ceded to the Federal Government to form Washington D.C. in the late 18th century, and retroceded to Virginia in 1846.

See also Alexandria County, D.C.

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Former cities

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

Former independent cities now extinct that were long extant in Virginia include:

Two other independent cities existed only for a short time:

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Other states

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

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Other entities similar to independent cities

An independent city is not the same as:

  • Washington, D.C., which, like the capitals of many other countries (see below), 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. When founded, the District was in fact divided into two counties and two independent cities. Alexandria County (which now forms Arlington County and a portion of the independent city of Alexandria) was given back to Virginia in 1846, while the three remaining entities (the City of Washington, Georgetown City and Washington County) were merged into a consolidated government by an act of Congress in 1871 and Georgetown was formally abolished as a city entity by another act in 1895. 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, although technically, it does not meet the legal definition of one.
  • Cities and towns in New England traditionally have very strong governments while counties have correspondingly less importance. Today, most counties in southern New England (Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts) 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 southern New England still have a nominal existence, and so no city or town in those three states 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.
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Canada

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

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Europe

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Austria

In Austria, a similar concept is the Statutarstadt.

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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:

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Hungary

See also: List of towns in Hungary

In Hungary 23 of the cities are "cities with county rights", these cities have equal rights with the 19 counties of Hungary.

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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. The standard for such a right is typically based on whether the entity has a cathedral.

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Republic of China

Under the administrative division system of the Republic of China (effectively controlling Taiwan and islands since 1949), some cities are directly administered by the Executive Yuan, some are administered by provinces, and some are subordinate to counties. The centrally-adminsitered and province-administered ones are like independent cities under this definition.

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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, as is the capital of Romania, Bucharest. The capital of the United States is not within any of the 50 states.

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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:

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See also

et:Kreisivaba linn ko:독립시 nl:Stadsdistrict ja:独立市 pt:Cidade independente ru:Городской округ

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