Lably
Skip to content

Metropolitan municipality

Type of municipality established in some countries to serve a metropolitan area

  • 2 min read
  • 4 chapters

Related on Lably

Through Municipality, Berlin and Nepal

Lab · Class 11Big Bang & CosmologyLab · Class 11Earth Through Time

Canada

In generic terms and in practical application within Canada, a metropolitan municipality is an urban local government with partial or complete consolidation of city and county services. The former Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, 1954-1998, was created by partial amalgamation of the City of Toronto with neighbouring towns and townships in southerly York County, from which the metropolitan municipality was then extracted. Each jurisdiction retained a degree of local autonomy, like the City of London and the boroughs in Greater London, while the Metropolitan government replaced the old county government and supervised metro-wide services, such as police, fire and ambulance.

Conversely, a rural area (or a suburban area flanked mostly by rural areas) in which county and municipal functions are wholly or partially consolidated is a regional municipality rather than a metropolitan municipality. As with metropolitan municipalities, sub-regional communities - cities, villages, townships - within the regional municipality retain a degree of local autonomy, with the regional government focusing mostly on shared public services (police, drinking water, etc.).

Sign in to keep reading

3 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

More in Cities

Washington, D.C.Capital city of the United StatesBerlinCapital and largest city of GermanyChicagoMost populous city in Illinois, USViennaCapital and largest city of AustriaPhiladelphiaMost populous city in Pennsylvania, USBostonCapital and largest city in Massachusetts, United States