Municipal arrondissements of France in the context of "Communes in France"

A commune (French pronunciation: [kɔmyn] ) is a level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are analogous to civil townships and incorporated municipalities, and particularly to the New England towns, in Canada and the United States; Gemeinden in Germany; comuni in Italy; municipios in Spain; or civil parishes in the United Kingdom. Communes are based on historical geographic communities or villages and are vested with significant powers to manage the populations and land of the geographic area covered. The communes are the fourth-level administrative divisions of France.

Communes vary widely in size and area, from large sprawling cities with millions of inhabitants like Paris, to small hamlets with only a handful of inhabitants. Communes typically are based on pre-existing villages and facilitate local governance. All communes have names, but not all named geographic areas or groups of people residing together are communes (lieu dit or bourg), the difference residing in the lack of administrative powers. Except for the municipal arrondissements of its largest cities, the communes are the lowest level of administrative division in France and are governed by elected officials including a mayor (maire) and a municipal council (conseil municipal). They have extensive autonomous powers to implement national policy.

The City of Paris is divided into twenty arrondissements municipaux, administrative districts, referred to as arrondissements (French: [aʁɔ̃dismɑ̃] ). These are not to be confused with departmental arrondissements, which subdivide the larger French departments.

The number of the arrondissement is indicated by the last two digits in most Parisian postal codes, 75001 up to 75020. In addition to their number, each arrondissement has a name, often for a local monument. For example, the 5th arrondissement is also called "Panthéon" in reference to the eponymous building. The first four arrondissements have a shared administration, called Paris Centre.

The arrondissements of Lyon (French: Arrondissements de Lyon) are the nine administrative divisions (arrondissements) of the City of Lyon. Together with Paris and Marseille, it is one of three communes in France to have municipal arrondissements.

Each arrondissement is governed by a council (conseil d'arrondissement) and mayor, both elected for six years; the arrondissements return a number of councillors to the municipal council of Lyon, proportionally to their population, for city matters.