08/02/2019 Independent city - Wikipedia

In Taiwan Area under the administrative division system of the Republic of China, some cities are directly
administered by the Executive Yuan, some are administered by provinces (the province of Taiwan is nominal), and
some are subordinate to counties. The centrally-administered (Taipei City, Kaohsiung City, New Taipei City, Taichung
City, Tainan City, and Taoyuan City) and province-administered ones are like independent cities under this definition.

South Korea
In addition to its nine provinces, South Korea has seven province-level "metropolitan cities." By far the largest among
these in terms of population is the capital, Seoul, called a teukbyeol-si (특별시; literally, special city), which is home to
more than 20% of the entire population of the country. The remaining six independent cities are called gwangyeok-si
(광역시; literally, large city) whose names are: Busan, Daegu, Daejeon, Incheon, Gwangju, and Ulsan.

Historically, these independent cities have been carved from the province that surrounds them. Consequently, they
typically share a strong regional and cultural identity with the adjoining province(s). For instance, Gwangju, located at
the center of Jeolla region, is heavily associated with the region. Seoul and Incheon are said to make up the National
Capital Area along with the densely populated Gyeonggi that almost completely encompasses them.

One interesting relic of the newer independent cities is that, in some cases, the government administrative buildings
(docheong) of the provinces they were once a part of are still located within city boundaries, meaning that these
provinces have capitals that are not within their borders.

On July 1, 2012, Yeongi-gun, Chungcheongnam-do absorbed parts of Cheonan, Gongju and Cheongju, and became
independent from Chungcheongnam-do as Sejong Special Self-governing City under the Special Act on the Installation
of Sejong City. Currently, the population of Sejong Special Self-governing City is lower than that of the aforementioned
metropolitan cities, but the population is increasing with the construction of a mixed-use administrative city.In 2006,
the ruling party floated a proposal to completely eliminate all current province and independent-city borders. This plan
would divide the entire republic into fifty or sixty city- or county-level administrations, similar to the system in Japan.
The plan was intended to help reduce regional discrimination and animosity by eliminating provincial identity.

Philippines
Many major cities in the Philippines are independent cities, classified as either "highly urbanized" or "independent
component" cities. These cities are administratively and legally not subject to a province, and thus do not share their
tax revenues with any province. In practise, most cities are often still grouped with provinces that they were partitioned
from for the sake of convenience and simplicity. The national government and its agencies serve these cities through
sub-offices for each region, to which the cities are indirectly subject. There are 38 such cities, with 16 being located in
Metro Manila (including the City of Manila, the national capital); eight in the rest of Luzon and its surrounding
islands; seven in the Visayas island group; and seven in Mindanao and its surrounding islands.

Vietnam
Vietnam has 5 municipalities that are not part of any of the Vietnam's provinces. This includes Hanoi, the capital of
Vietnam; and Ho Chi Minh City, the most populous city of Vietnam.

Europe

Austria
In Austria, a similar concept is the statutory city.

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Bosnia and Herzegovina

The city of Brčko has the status of a "district", (not to be confused with Brčko District). It is independent of both
Entities that constitute Bosnia and Herzegovina (Republika Srpska and Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina). All
other cities and municipalities are under the jurisdiction of the Entity (in Republika Srpska) or under the jurisdiction
of cantons (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina). The Dayton Peace Agreement afforded the special designation as a
district, while also creating the Office of the High Representative that currently oversees the district of Brčko .

Bulgaria
The capital city of Sofia has the status of oblast (region).

Croatia
The capital city of Zagreb has the status equal to županija (county), whereas all other cities and municipalities are
under a county jurisdiction.

Historically, Croatian cities became independent by being named a "royal free city".

France
The city of Paris is both a département and a commune; it is the only French city with this status. The Council of Paris
(Conseil de Paris) exercises functions similar to those of a departmental council (conseil général) and a city council
(conseil municipal). However, Paris and the départements closest to it are part of the Île-de-France région.

Germany
In Germany most of the federal states are subdivided into administrative districts called Kreise, each of which normally
includes several towns or cities. However, a number of the more important cities are not part of a Kreis, but are instead
themselves each equivalent in status and functions to a Kreis. Such cities are known as Kreisfreie Städte (literally,
"district-free cities") – or, in the case of Baden-Württemberg, Stadtkreise ("urban districts").

There are currently 110 Kreisfreie Städte (or equivalents). Of these, the 20 largest are:

Berlin [a]
Hamburg [a]
Munich (München)
Cologne (Köln)
Frankfurt (Frankfurt am Main)
Stuttgart
Düsseldorf
Dortmund
Essen
Bremen [a]
Leipzig
Dresden
Hanover (Hannover) [b]
Nuremberg (Nürnberg)
Duisburg
Bochum
Wuppertal
Bonn
Bielefeld

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