definition
strict definition
metropolitan area tier
The tier for a city and the municipalities around it that function as one place.
The metropolitan area tier holds an urban core together with the municipalities around it that share its labour market and its daily commuting.
The unit is functional rather than administrative: it is defined by how people move rather than by who governs, which is why a metropolitan area regularly crosses the boundaries of the divisions it lies in and rarely has a government of its own.
Where an authority does exist for such an area, it is recorded on the region as its type. The tier itself claims only that the area is larger than one municipality and smaller than the division holding it.
Related definitions
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1st level district tier
The first level of subdivision inside a municipality, holding the quarters residents name. -
2nd level district tier
The second level of subdivision inside a municipality, below a first-level district. -
3rd level district tier
The third level of subdivision inside a municipality, below a second-level district. -
city block tier
The tier for the smallest built unit, the ground enclosed by streets on every side. -
continent tier
The top of the region hierarchy, holding the seven landmasses everything else sits on. -
country or territory tier
The sovereign level of the hierarchy, holding states and the dependencies administered by them. -
group of countries tier
The tier for sets of countries treated as one unit, sitting under a continent. -
group of primary country divisions tier
The tier for areas that group several first-level divisions of one country into one named unit. -
land parcel tier
The lowest tier, holding the individual plot as the land register records it. -
municipality tier
The tier of local self-government, from the smallest village to the largest city. -
primary country division tier
The first level of subdivision inside a country, whatever that country calls it. -
secondary country division tier
The second level of subdivision inside a country, below the first and above the municipality. -
street tier
The tier holding streets, the reference an address is built on rather than an area of land. -
zone tier
The tier for named areas that cross the hierarchy instead of sitting in it.