The municipal arrondissement (French: arrondissement municipal, pronounced /aʀɔ̃dismɑ̃ mynisipal/), more simply referred to as arrondissement, is a level of administrative division in France lower than the commune. Thus, it could be regarded as the lowest level of administrative division in France. However, municipal arrondissements exist only within three communes: Paris, Lyon, and Marseille; therefore, arrondissements must be regarded as a special case of administrative division, the commune being the basic lowest level of administrative division. // Metropolitan France As of January 1, 2004, metropolitan France is divided into: 22 régions (although strictly speaking Corsica is in fact a territorial collectivity, not a région, but is referred to as a région in common speech) the régions are divided into 96 départements the... France is divided into 26 régions: 21 of these are in the continental part of metropolitan France, one is Corse on the island of Corsica (although strictly speaking Corse is in fact a territorial collectivity, not a région, but is referred to as a région in common... Région doutre-mer, or Overseas regions, is a recent designation given to the départements doutre-mer which have similar powers to those of the régions of metropolitan France. ... Template:France divisions levels, Junkyard Willie The départements (or departments) are administrative units of France and many former French colonies, roughly analogous to British counties. ... Under the 1946 Constitution of the Fourth Republic, the French colonies of Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana in the Caribbean and Réunion in the Indian Ocean became départements doutre-mer (Overseas departments) or DOMs. ... The 100 French départements are divided into 342 arrondissements. ... The canton is an administrative division of France. ... A communauté urbaine (urban community in English) is the higher degree of intercommunal cooperation in France. ... A communauté dagglomération is a metropolitan government structure in France, created by the Loi Chevénement in 1999. ... A Communauté de communes is a federation of several municipalities in France. ... The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. ... A collectivité doutre-mer (in English Overseas Community) or COM, is an administrative division of France. ... Map of New Caledonia New Caledonia (French: Nouvelle-Calédonie; popular names: Kanaky, Le caillou) is a French territory of 18,575 km² (7,172 sq. ... Pays doutre-mer (POM, French for overseas country) is the particular designation the collectivité doutre-mer (COM) of French Polynesia. ... A Territoire doutre-mer (TOM, French for Overseas territory) is an administrative division of France. ... The Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean (French: ÃŽles Éparses or ÃŽles éparses de locéan indien) comprise four small coral islands and an atoll in the Indian Ocean. ... The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. ... The Eiffel Tower, the international symbol of the city, with the skyscrapers of La Défense business district 3 miles behind. ... City motto: Avant, avant, Lion le melhor. ... City motto: Actibus immensis urbs fulget Massiliensis. ...

Municipal arrondissements should not be confused with the arrondissements, which are a level of administrative division below the département. The 100 French départements are divided into 342 arrondissements. ... The départements (or departments) are administrative units of France, roughly analogous to British counties. ...

General characteristics

There are 45 municipal arrondissements in France: 20 in Paris (see: Arrondissements of Paris), 9 in Lyon, and 16 in Marseille. However, a law in 1987 assigned the 16 arrondissements of Marseille to 8 secteurs ("areas"), 2 arrondissements by secteur. Thus, in effect, Marseille can be more properly described as being divided into 8 secteurs, the 16 arrondissements having been made hollow units. The city of Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements municipaux (“municipal boroughs,” approximately, in English), more simply referred to as arrondissements (pronounced ). These are not to be confused with departmental arrondissements, which subdivide the 100 French départements. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

• Area:
  • The largest arrondissement is the 9th arrondissement of Marseille: 63.21 km² (24.4 sq. miles, or 15,620 acres), which is 26% of the size of the city of Marseille, and 60% of the size of the city of Paris (including the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes). It contains the Luminy Park, which is a protected park and the calanques of Marseille.
  • The smallest arrondissement is the 2nd arrondissement of Paris: 0.992 km² (0.383 sq. miles, or 245 acres).

• Population:
  • The most populous arrondissement is the 15th arrondissement of Paris, with 225,362 inhabitants at the 1999 census. If the 15th arrondissement of Paris was a commune, it would be the ninth most populated commune of France, above cities (communes) like Bordeaux, Lille, or Grenoble.
  • The least populous arrondissement is the 16th arrondissement of Marseille, with only 16,574 inhabitants. However, the 16th arrondissement is part of the 8th secteur of Marseille (87,714 inhabitants), and is not really administered by itself as explained above. Thus, the least populated arrondissement in France is in fact the 1st arrondissement of Paris, with 16,888 inhabitants at the 1999 census.

The 20 arrondissements of Paris

• Density:
  • The arrondissement with the highest population density is the 11th arrondissement of Paris, with 40,672 inh. per km² (105,339 inh. per sq. miles) in 1999.
  • The arrondissement with the lowest population density is the 9th arrondissement of Marseille, with 1,151 inh. per km² (2,981 inh. per sq. miles) in 1999.

Municipal arrondissements do not have names, they have only numbers (except in Paris where they also have names, but nobody use those names, not even the Paris administration). In Paris, people are well used to the arrondissements, and when asked where they live they will answer with the number of their arrondissement. In Lyon, three arrondissements - Vieux Lyon (5th), la Croix Rousse (4th) and the Presqu'île (2nd) - are generally referred to by name, while the others are referred to by number. In Marseille, it is common for people to refer to the names of the neighborhoods, such as Ste. Anne or Mazargues, but also to the number of the arrondissements. Edouard Manet: Racecourse in the Bois de Boulogne (1864) Inside the Jardin dAcclimatation The Bois de Boulogne is a park located along the western edge of the 16ème arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt. ... The Bois de Vincennes is a park in the English landscape manner to the east of Paris. ... Calanques de Sugiton in the 9th district of Marseille A calanque or calanche as they are known in Corsican is a geologic formation in the form of a deep valley with steep sides and a part submerged by the sea. ... The 2e arrondissement is one of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, France. ... The 15e arrondissement is one of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, France. ... City motto: Lilia sola regunt lunam undas castra leonem. ... City motto: – City proper (commune) Région Nord-Pas de Calais Département Nord (59) Mayor Martine Aubry (PS) (since 2001) Area 39. ... Location within France Grenoble (Occitan: Grasanòbol) is a city and commune in south-east France, situated at the foot of the Alps, at the confluence of the Drac into the Isère River. ... The 1er arrondissement is one of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, France. ... Image File history File links Par_Arr. ... Image File history File links Par_Arr. ... The 11e arrondissement is the most crowded of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, France. ...

The 16 arrondissements and 8 secteurs of Marseille

Municipal arrondissements are used in the 5-digit postal codes (ZIP Codes) of France. The first two digits are the number of the département in which the address is located (75 for Paris; 69 for Rhône in which Lyon is located; 13 for Bouches-du-Rhône in which Marseille is located), then the last three digits are the number of the arrondissement. So the postal code of a person living in the 5th arrondissement of Paris will be "75005 Paris", and for a person living in the 14th arrondissement of Marseille it will be "13014 Marseille". The only exception is the 16th arrondissement of Paris, which is divided between two postal codes: "75016 Paris" in the south of the arrondissement, and "75116 Paris" in the north of the arrondissement. Image File history File links Mars_Arr. ... Image File history File links Mars_Arr. ... A postal code is a series of letters and/or digits appended to a postal address for the purpose of sorting mail. ... Rhône is a French département located in the central Eastern région of Rhône-Alpes. ... Bouches-du-Rhône is a département in the south of France named after the mouth of the Rhône River. ... The 5e arrondissement is one of the central arrondissements of Paris, France, located on the Left Bank. ... The 16e arrondissement is one of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, France, located on the western part of the city. ...

The arrondissements of Paris form a clockwise spiral or snail pattern beginning from the 1st in the centre. Those of Marseille, however, form a meandering path from the 1st down through the Southwest, to the Southeast, Northeast and finally to the Northwest. However, the arrondisements of Lyon do not form any discernable pattern at all, and only two pairs of consecutive numbers - the 1st and 2nd, and the 7th and 8th - touch each other.

Some other large cities of France are also divided between several postal codes, although there the postal codes do not correspond to arrondissements.

History

The first municipal arrondissements were created on August 22, 1795 when the city (commune) of Paris was split into twelve arrondissements. At the time, the National Convention was wary of the municipalities in big cities because of their revolutionary moods (Paris) or because of their counter-revolutionary leanings (Lyon and many other cities in the provinces), and so the Convention decided to split the large cities (communes) of France into smaller communes. Paris, unlike the other large cities, was not split into smaller communes, but into arrondissements, a newly created category, and the central municipality was abolished. August 22 is the 234th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (235th in leap years), with 131 days remaining. ... 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... This article is about a legislative body and constitutional convention during the French Revolution. ...

The 12 former arrondissements of Paris

In 1805 Napoleon reunited all the large cities of France, but Paris was left divided. Eventually, in 1834, the city (commune) of Paris was reunited, with a municipal council for the whole city, but without a mayor, the municipality being ruled by the préfet of the Seine département and by the préfet de police. The twelve arrondissements were preserved, being needed for the local administration of people in such a large and populous city as Paris. Image File history File links Par_Arr1. ... Image File history File links Par_Arr1. ... 1805 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation). ... 1834 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... In France and many other French-speaking countries, a préfet (English: prefect) is the States representative in a département or région (in the later case, he is called a préfet de région). ... Seine was a département of France encompassing Paris and its immediate suburbs. ... The Préfet de Police is an official of the Government of France who supervises police and emergency services to Paris and the surrounding eight departments of Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Seine-et-Marne, Val-de-Marne, Essonne, Yvelines and Val dOise, and has other security duties...

On December 31, 1859 the central government enlarged the city of Paris, annexing the suburban communes surrounding Paris, and the arrondissements were reorganized due to the enlargement. Twenty arrondissements with new boundaries were set up, and they are still the arrondissements found today in Paris. December 31 is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1859 is a common year starting on Saturday. ...

In the case of Lyon, in 1852, after more than fifty years of hesitations, the central government finally allowed Lyon to annex its immediate suburbs, which had become extremely populous with the Industrial Revolution. The commune of Lyon annexed the communes of Croix-Rousse, La Guillotière, and Vaise. Wary of the new size of the city and the power held by the municipality, the central government decided to divide Lyon into five arrondissements, and the office of mayor of Lyon was abolished. The préfet of the Rhône département was left to rule the municipality. 1852 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... A Watt steam engine in Madrid. ...

The 9 arrondissements of Lyon

In 1881, the office of mayor of Lyon was re-established, and the commune of Lyon reverted to the standard status of French communes. However, the arrondissements were maintained, again being needed in such a populous city as Lyon. New arrondissements were created in Lyon in 1867, 1912, and 1957 by splitting the 3rd and 7th arrondissements. In 1963 Lyon annexed the commune of Saint-Rambert-l'Île-Barbe, and in 1964 the 9th arrondissement of Lyon was created as a result of the annexation, thus reaching a total of nine arrondissements, which are still the arrondissements found in Lyon today. Image File history File links Lyon_Arr. ... Image File history File links Lyon_Arr. ... 1881 (MDCCCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 1867 (MDCCCLXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Template:C20YearInnTopic 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... For the Nintendo 64 emulator, see 1964 (Emulator). ...

In 1977 the office of mayor of Paris was re-established, after almost 183 years of abolition, but the arrondissements were left untouched. For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ...

The most important moment in the history of the municipal arrondissements was in 1982. The Socialists won the French general elections in 1981, and in 1982 they passed several key laws redefining the powers of the régions, départements, and communes, with the clear objective of ushering into a less centralized France. On December 31, 1982 was passed the so-called "PML Law" (Loi PML), where PML stands for Paris Marseille Lyon. These three communes were given a special status, derogatory to the general status of communes, and the three communes were officially divided into arrondissements. Where arrondissements already existed such as in Paris or Lyon, the law preserved the boundaries of these already existing arrondissements. In Marseille, where apparently there were no arrondissements before 1982, 16 arrondissements were set up. 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste or PS), founded in 1969, is the main opposition party in France. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... France is divided into 26 régions: 21 of these are in the continental part of metropolitan France, one is Corse on the island of Corsica (although strictly speaking Corse is in fact a territorial collectivity, not a région, but is referred to as a région in common... December 31 is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The municipal arrondissements were given an official status by the law, with each their town hall (mairie d'arrondissement), and each their mayor (maire d'arrondissement). For the first time in history, arrondissement councils (conseils d'arrondissement) were created in the arrondissements, directly elected by the inhabitants of the arrondissements. The three city halls (mairies) of Paris, Marseille, and Lyon were preserved above the mairies d'arrondissement, with a mayor (maire) for each city above the maires d'arrondissement.

In these three cities the arrondissements were made the administrative unit dealing with citizens. For birth or marriage recordings, for all necessary queries and official business, citizens go to the mairie d'arrondissement, while the city hall (mairie centrale) does not have contacts with the citizens and is in charge of only larger matters such as economic development or local taxation. It was felt that the arrondissements would be closer to citizens, who would have an easier access to the local arrondissement town hall rather than to a centralized city hall.

The law was largely welcomed, but some wondered why it was applied only to Paris, Lyon, and Marseille. These three cities are the largest in France (with 2,125,246 inhabitants in Paris, 798,430 inhabitants in Marseille, and 445,452 inhabitants in Lyon) and the law was meant to have the local administration closer to citizens in so populated cities. However, many thought the law could have been applied to other cities, in particular to the fourth largest city of France, Toulouse (390,350 inhabitants), and the fifth largest city, Nice (342,738 inhabitants); both cities where the central city halls also have to deal with an enormous amount of citizens. Nonetheless, to this day only Paris, Lyon, and Marseille are divided into arrondissements.

In 1987, a new law assigned the 16 arrondissements of Marseille to 8 secteurs, 2 arrondissements by secteur, as explained above; and in Marseille there are now only 8 mairies d'arrondissement, each one administering the 2 arrondissements of each secteur.

Status

The PML Law of 1982 governs the status of the municipal arrondissements.

Unlike French communes, municipal arrondissements have no legal "personality", they are not considered legal entities and have no legal capacity; also, they have no budget of their own.

The three communes of Paris, Lyon, and Marseille are ruled by a municipal council and a mayor. In Paris the municipal council is called Paris council (conseil de Paris). Each arrondissement (or secteur in Marseille) has an arrondissement council (conseil d'arrondissement) and an arrondissement mayor. The arrondissement council is made up for one-third of members of the municipal council elected at the commune level above the arrondissements, and for two-thirds of councilors elected inside the arrondissement. The arrondissement mayor is elected by the arrondissement council. He must be a member of the municipal council of the commune.

The law of February 27, 2002 on local or "proximity" democracy increased the powers of the arrondissement councils and of the arrondissement mayors. February 27 is the 58th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... For the Cusco album, see 2002 (album). ...

Rights and duties of the arrondissement council and mayor:

• The arrondissement council manages local community facilities (child care centers and public nurseries, sport centers and stadiums, local parks, etc.), but it must obtain authorization from the municipal council before building new facilities.
• The arrondissement council is asked for advice by the municipal council in any project whose completion will take place on the territory of the arrondissement. In particular, the arrondissement council gives an opinion on matters regarding local non-profit associations and on modifications of local zoning (Plan Local d'Urbanisme).
• Arrondissements also have a say in social housing: dwellings part of social housing (council flats) which are located on the territory of the arrondissement are partly allocated by the arrondissement mayor (half of the social dwellings), while the other half is allocated by the mayor of the commune.
• The arrondissement mayor and his deputies are in charge of registering births, deaths, and marriages in the arrondissement.
• The arrondissement council can submit written questions to the mayor of the commune on any matter regarding the arrondissement. It can also ask the municipal council to debate over any matter regarding the arrondissement.
• The municipal council and the mayor of the commune can delegate certain powers to the arrondissement councils and mayors.
• The arrondissement council can create neighborhood committees (conseils de quartier). These neighborhood committees have people in a given neighborhood meet regularly and draft proposals concerning life in their neighborhood.

A typical zoning map; this one identifies the zones, or development districts, in the city of Ontario, California Zoning is a North American term for a system of land-use regulation. ...

See also

• Arrondissements of Paris
• Arrondissement in France (departmental arrondissements)
• Arrondissement