Administrative divisions of Kojo

This article aims to give a comprehensive overview over all official administrative subdivisions in The Republic of Kojo.

Types of divisions

	adm. level	description	number	political autonomy
Kojo	2	The country	1	most
Iki	4	Regions	13	none, prefect executes orders from central government, Hibus and Surs coordinate their work
Sur	6	cities > 100.000 inh.	XXX	local elections for mayor and city council
Hibu	6	districts	XXX	local elections for Hibu-mayor and Hibu-council
Dengshō	8	boroughs, intermediate subdivision of some large Surs	XXX	none, some in Pyingshum and Finkyáse
Pang (urban)	9	neighbourhood in a Sur	XXX	none
Pang (free)	9	town in a Hibu	XXX	shares least amount of duties with Hibu
Pang (rural)	9	small town in a Hibu	XXX	shares some duties with Hibu
Pang (dependent)	9	small villages in Hibu	XXX	have their administrative work taken over by a larger Pang in the same Hibu
Jūwaéi	10	varying by Pang either small city quarter, small neighbourhood or single village. Used as basic unit in surveying or elections	XXX	none

Iki

The 13 regions of Kojo are called Ikis. Ikis are used to subdivide the national government's services such as police, regional planning or conservatism into more effective local units. However Ikis themselves don't hold any sovereign power, there are no regional elections and a prefect is appointed by the national government, just as other nationally allocated administrative personnel and funds. At the same time, the Surs and Hibus coordinate their work on the Iki-level, for example by voluntarily delegating some of their functions to regional institutions commonly controlled by the municipalities, or by advancing their interest to the national government with a unified voice. Ikis form an important link between the national government on one side and local cities and district on the other side. On the Iki level, the two meet and need to strike a balance in areas of (narrowly defined) shared competencies.

The "city state" Rō is both an Iki and a Sur at the same time. The -iki suffix is spelled with a lower case "i".

Sur and Hibu

Sur translates to "city". Every municipality that is larger than 100,000 inhabitants for 3 consecutive years automatically attains this status. The remaining areas of an Iki are organised in Hibus ("district"). While a Sur is just one single city, a Hibu integrates all other settlements from tiny villages to towns of up to 99,999 inhabitants. In a Sur, citizens elect a city council as well as a mayor. The Sur is responsible for all matters that municipalities are entrusted with under the Kojolese constitution. On the other hand, in rural areas citizens elect both a local council and mayor for their municipality (Pang), as well as a Hibu-council and Hibu-chief. Depending on the capability of the municipality, some duties are performed and controlled on the Hibu-level, and the others are dealt with in the local communities. Generally, Surs and Hibus (and in the latter case to some degree the constituent municipalities) are the only administrative subdivisions in Kojo with a constitutionally granted degree of sovereignty and therefore hold local elections.

Both Surs and Hibus are divided into Pangs, however these subdivisions are alike only by name, and not by form or function. The -sur and the -hibu suffix are spelled with a lower case.

Dengshō

Dengshōs are used to divide larger Surs. These Dengshōs (roughly equivalent to "borough") are then subdivided into neighbourhoods, the Pangs.

In Pyingshum and Finkyáse, the Dengshōs serve as "cities inside the cities", with their own locally elected borough-boards, which in turn elect a borough-mayor, and an independent budget. They have some competencies in the area of road construction, amenities, ordinances, building permits etc. In other cities with Dengshōs, such borough-boards are either advisory bodies nominated by the city council based on the local election results of the last municipal election, or do not exist at all.

The -Dengshō suffix is spelled with a upper case "D".

Pang

The word Pang describes a number of different types of territories:

• Urban Pangs are neighbourhoods of Surs. They don't have local elections or hold any sovereignty, but are frequently used to allocate city services, for local identification or as the lowest subdivision for political parties, other clubs etc.
• Free Pangs ("towns") are municipalities inside of a Hibu which are large enough to take on every duty that does not imperatively need to be dealt with on Hibu-level. For example, public transportation by law has to be organised by the Hibus (and in fact in most regions the Hibus in turn even delegate that to a shared regional service), while the construction and maintenance of otherwise Hibu-level roads can and has to be taken on by Free Pangs. Like all other Pangs that are part of a hibu, even if it might contain more than one continuous area of settlement, it acts as one municipality with different settlements being regarded as "neighbourhoods". Its citizens elect a town council and a mayor.
• Rural Pangs are the most common type of municipality in Kojo. These usually are villages or small towns that are responsible for most municipal functions, however some (such as secondary schooling) are delegated to the Hibu-level. Like Free Pangs, they have local elections for a town council and a mayor.
• Dependent Pangs are on the other side of the spectrum: they are usually so sparsely populated that they voluntarily delegate all their administrative functions to another, larger Pang nearby. They only elect a mayor who acts as a spokesperson of the Pang's interest. They are free to redeem their duties from the entrusted Pang, but then need to come up with the respective financial means to fund that independent administration.

The -Pang suffix is spelled with an upper case "P".

Jūwaéi

A "Jūwaéi" either encompasses a small city quarter or block in an urban Pang, or a neighbourhood or small village in a free, dependent or rural Pang. Jūwaéis are the smallest contiguous units for forming electoral districts or other official boundaries. They also pose as the smallest statistical unit in official publicised data and are the basis for land surveying.

Jūwaéis are not mapped nor mentioned in the listing below.

Addresses

Name, (c.o. etc.)
Street name, Number, (add. info)
Pang (when urban or free Pang) OR Jūwaéi (when rural or dependent Pang)
city or township (Sur/Hibu), 4 digit postal code
Kojo