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Anadministrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or acounty seat ortown, or the place where the central administration of acommune or equivalent subdivision, is located.
In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and many African countries, achef-lieu (French pronunciation:[ʃɛfljø],pl. chefs-lieux,lit. 'chief place' or'main place') is a town or city that is important from an administrative perspective.
The capitals ofAlgerian provinces,districts, andcommunes are calledchefs-lieux.
Thechef-lieu in Belgium is the administrative centre of each of the tenprovinces of Belgium. Three of these cities also give their name to their province (Antwerp,Liège andNamur).
Thechef-lieu of a Frenchdepartment is known as theprefecture (préfecture). This is the town or city where theprefect of the department (and all services under their control) are situated, in a building also known as theprefecture. In everyFrench region, one of the departments has preeminence over the others, and the prefect carries the title ofpréfet de la région (lit. 'Prefect of the Region') orpréfet du département (lit. 'Prefect of the Department') and the city where the regional prefect is found is known as thechef-lieu of the region. The services are, however, controlled by the prefecture of the department.
Thechef-lieu of anarrondissement, commonly known as thesous-préfecture is the city or town where the sub-prefect of the arrondissement (and the services directly under their control) are situated, in a building called thesub-prefecture. The arrondissement where the department prefecture is located does not normally have a sub-prefect or sub-prefecture, the administration being devolved usually to the secretary-general of the departmental prefecture, who functions as sub-prefect for the arrondissement.
Thechef-lieu of acanton is usually the biggest city or town within the canton, but has only a nominal role. No specific services are controlled by it. In past decades, there was always agendarmerie, a treasurer and a justice of the peace.
Thechef-lieu indicates the principal city of the provinces of New Caledonia. SoNouméa is the chef-lieu of South Province. But the chef-lieu can also mean the principal area within a town. SoWé is part of the town ofLifou, but is the chef-lieu of Lifou. In theLoyalty Islands and the other islands, the name of the chef-lieu differs from that of the name of the town. For the towns of the mainland, the chef-lieu has the same name as the town. Nouméa is a town composed only of Nouméa.
Many of the West African states which gained independence fromFrance in the mid-20th century also inherited the French administrative structure of departments and communes, headed by achef-lieu. States still usingchef-lieu to identify the administrative headquarters of a government subdivision includeSenegal,Burkina Faso,Benin,Mali, andNiger.[1]
TakingNiger andMali as examples, the administrative subdivisions down to the commune level each have a formal place of administrative headquarters, titled thechef-lieu. The larger portion of the terminology of administrative division is inherited from colonial rule as part ofFrench West Africa, and has survived and been somewhat modified over time. In both nations there have been remarkably parallel histories.[2] Since decentralization began in both nations in the 1990s, thechef-lieu transitioned from the location of the governor, commandant, or prefect and their staff to the location of the commune,cercle,department, and regional councils and a variety of decentralized bodies.[3][4] Thechef-lieu of a region, cercle or department is usually also a communalchef-lieu. Both nations also established a supreme council of local government authorities (Haut conseil des collectivités territoriales) seated at the nation's capital. Smaller subdivisions in Mali's communes (villages, tribal councils, and quarters) are administered from aplace (lit. 'site'), so thechef-lieu is literally the 'chief-place' even at the lowest level.[5][6]
InJordan, the administrative centres are known as chief towns ornahias.[7] Nahias may be in charge of a sub-district (qda), a district (liwa), or agovernorate (muhafazah).
Luxembourg is divided into fourelectoral constituencies, twelvecantons, as well as 100communes (Luxembourgish:Gemengen). Cantons have each achef-lieu and are named after it. The same is true for each commune which is composed of more than one town or village. Usually, with a few exceptions, the commune is named after the communalchef-lieu.
InRussia, several million-plus cities infederal districts have the official status of an administrative centre:Moscow (as the main city of theCentral Federal District),Vladivostok,Volgograd,Yekaterinburg,Nizhny Novgorod,Novosibirsk,Pyatigorsk,Rostov-on-Don andSt. Petersburg. The main cities of regions and municipal districts are also called unofficially the administrative centre or simply the centre. The only exception to this rule is therepublics, for which the term "capital" is used to refer to the seat of government. The capital of Russia is also an entity to which the term "administrative centre" does not apply.
InSweden there are two levels of administrative centre; the localmunicipal and the regionalcounty.
Central locality (Swedish:centralort) is a term commonly ascribed to the settlement that serves as a municipal administrative centre. This level handles the local administrative and political tasks of the surrounding settlements. Sincecentral place theory was the guiding principle during the 1962–1977 municipal reform, most municipalities were dominated by a larger urban area where the political seat was located. Most municipalities are named for their central locality, but there are several exceptions.
There are many deviations from the central locality principle. Some municipalities are dominated by two or more towns of similar size, and sometimes they share the municipal administration, with the municipality having its official address in one of the towns. For example, bothSkillingaryd andVaggeryd are central localities ofVaggeryd Municipality. Conversely, there are municipalities withinmetropolitan areas. For example, there are twenty-six municipalities within theStockholm metropolitan area. The term "central locality" has no legal meaning and it is unclear how it should be applied to these municipalities. Some municipalities appointing one or several localities to be the central locality.
A residence city (Swedish:residensstad) is the town or city which is thepolitical and administrative seat of the county. This level handles the more regional political and administrative tasks of the county, such as healthcare andpublic transport. The name comes from these towns or cities being where the governor (landshövding) resides.
The termchef-lieu is applied to the capital of eachSwiss canton. In 16 of the 26 cantons, the territory is subdivided into districts. Every district's capital is also termed achef-lieu and each has a prefect.
The termchef-lieu is used to designate the capital of eachgovernorate ofTunisia. Each of the 24 governorates is subdivided intodelegations which each have a central city as thechef-lieu of the delegation.
In theUnited Kingdom, an administrative centre is the centre of alocal authority, which is distinct from thecounty town of ahistoric county. For example, the administrative centre where the county council ofLancashire sits is Preston, even though the county town is Lancaster.
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