Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

is governed as a

unitary state A unitary state is a sovereign state governed as a single entity in which the central government is the supreme authority. The central government may create (or abolish) administrative divisions (sub-national units). Such units exercise only th ...

without

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

s or states. However, for the purposes of administration and urban planning, it has been subdivided in various ways throughout its history. As of 2022, Singapore has a total land area of about , not including its sea area.

History

Historically, these subdivisions have been based on postal districts, especially during the colonial era. When local elections necessitated the setting up of electoral districts, however, it began to supplement postal districts as an alternative form of local governance, since each electoral district is headed by a member of parliament who represents and speaks for the respective electorates.

Administrative and Electoral Divisions

Community Development Council Districts

Established in 1997 by the PA Act, there were 9 districts formerly, governed by 9 different Community Development Councils (CDCs). In 2001, the 9 districts and CDCs were then reformed into 5, namely the North East CDC,

North West CDC The North West Community Development Council is one of five Community Development Councils (CDCs) set up across the Republic of Singapore to aid in local administration of governmental policies and schemes. They are funded in part by the govern ...

, South East CDC, South West CDC and

Central Singapore CDC The Central Singapore Community Development Council is one of five Community Development Councils (CDCs) set up across the Republic of Singapore to aid in local administration of governmental policies and schemes. Constituencies As of March 2020, ...

. Each district is then further divided into electoral constituencies and

town councils A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

. The council boundaries follow that of the existing political divisions, with each handling between four and six GRCs and SMCs and roughly dividing the country's population into equal parts. Each CDC is managed by a Council, which in turn is headed by a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

and has between 12 and 80 members. The members are appointed by the Chairman or Deputy Chairman of the

People's Association The People's Association (PA) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) of the Government of Singapore that oversees neighbourhood grassroots communities and social organisations. Established in 1960, it wa ...

. The role of the CDCs is to initiate, plan and manage community programmes to promote community bonding and social cohesion within local communities. The electoral boundaries of Singapore are relatively fluid, and are reviewed prior to each general election. The districts are composed of the constituencies and electoral districts (the latter as of the 2015 General Elections). There are currently five CDCs, namely the *

Central Singapore Community Development Council The Central Singapore Community Development Council is one of five Community Development Councils (CDCs) set up across the Republic of Singapore to aid in local administration of governmental policies and schemes. Constituencies As of March 2020, ...

North East Community Development Council The North East Community Development Council is one of five Community Development Councils (CDCs) set up across the Republic of Singapore to aid in local administration of governmental policies and schemes. They are funded in part by the governme ...

North West Community Development Council The North West Community Development Council is one of five Community Development Councils (CDCs) set up across the Republic of Singapore to aid in local administration of governmental policies and schemes. They are funded in part by the governm ...

South East Community Development Council The South East Community Development Council is one of five Community Development Councils (CDCs) set up across the Republic of Singapore to aid in local administration of governmental policies and schemes. They are funded in part by the governm ...

South West Community Development Council The South West Community Development Council is one of five Community Development Councils (CDCs) set up across the Republic of Singapore to aid in local administration of governmental policies and schemes. They are funded in part by the govern ...

Town councils

The first town councils were set up in September 1986 by the Town Councils Act, with the main purpose of

estate management Property management is the operation, control, maintenance, and oversight of real estate and physical property. This can include residential, commercial, and land real estate. Management indicates the need for real estate to be cared for and monit ...

. Prior to the introduction of town councils, housing estates were managed by the

Housing Development Board The Housing & Development Board (HDB) (; ms, Lembaga Perumahan dan Pembangunan; ta, வீடமைப்பு வளர்ச்சிக் கழகம்) or often referred to as the Housing Board, is a statutory board under the M ...

.Ngoo, I., et al. (7 April 1987)
My kind of town.
The Straits Times, Retrieved from NewspaperSG; Koh, T., et al. As the estates were centrally managed, the standardised rules that the board had set for all housing estates made HDB towns monotonous in appearance and problems faced by residents in the different estates were not addressed fast enough. Town councils boundaries are drawn based on electoral district boundaries. A town council area can consist of a Group Representation Constituency (GRC), a Single Member Constituency (SMC), or a collection of neighbouring GRCs and SMCs controlled by the same political party. The Members of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

head the town councils of their constituencies. Town councils boundaries do not correspond to

new town New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

boundaries; different parts of the same HDB town may be managed by different town councils. Town Councils map of Singapore 2020

There are currently 17 town councils as of 2020:

Constituencies

Electoral_boundaries_during_the_Singapore_general_elections_2020

Town councils are then further subdivided into different constituencies, which are classified as either Single Member Constituencies (SMCs) or Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs). The boundaries of the electoral constituencies are decided by the Elections Department, which is under the control of the Prime Minister's Office.

Other administrative subdivisions

URA Master Plan boundaries

Regions

The regions are groupings of the planning areas.

Planning Areas

Regions are further subdivided into planning areas. In the 1990s, the

Urban Redevelopment Authority The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is the national urban planning authority of Singapore, and a statutory board under the Ministry of National Development of the Government of Singapore. Mission The authority was established on 1 Apri ...

carved up the country into 55 of these planning areas. The Singapore Department of Statistics adopted these boundaries for the latest 2000 nationwide population census, and the

Singapore Police Force The Singapore Police Force (SPF) is the national and principal law enforcement agency responsible for the prevention of crime and law enforcement in the Republic of Singapore. It is the country's lead agency against organised crime; human, wea ...

uses them as an approximate guide when demarcating boundaries for its

Neighbourhood Police Centre A neighbourhood police centre (NPC) is a small to mid-sized police station commonly found in Singapore. It was first introduced during the mid-1990s to replace the Singapore Police Force's Neighbourhood Police Post (NPP) system. Its concept of co ...

Survey Districts

Singapore is divided into 64 survey districts, of which 34 are

mukim A mukim is a type of administrative division used in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. The word ''mukim'' is a loanword in English. However, it was also originally a loanword in Malay from the Arabic word: (meaning ''resident''). The clo ...

s (originally, rural districts) and 30 are town subdivisions.

Postal Districts

Postal districts were numbered from 01 to 83 under the new system implemented on 1 September 1995. Census data and most forms of internal boundaries had been based on postal districts until the introduction of new planning boundaries in the 1990s.

References

External links

CDC Districts

{{Articles on first-level administrative divisions of Asian countries

Singapore geography-related lists

Urban planning in Singapore