Central Area

The Central Area (Chinese: 新加坡中區, Malay: Zon Tengah, Tamil: சிங்கப்பூர் மாவட்ட), also called the City of Singapore, Singapore City or simply The City, is a city located in the south-eastern part of the Central Region of Singapore. Despite Singapore being a city-state itself, the Central Area is the approximate area in the country that is virtually defined as a "city", and as such, makes it the Republic's only city. As Singapore is a unitary state ruled by a single centralized government, the Central Area lacks any form of autonomy, with most of the city control being vested in various statutory boards and members of parliament from the Jalan Besar, Mountbatten and Tanjong Pagar constituencies. Unlike most planning areas in Singapore, which are simply divided into subzones, the Central Area uniquely consists of 11 individual districts with notably smaller subzones contained within them. These districts are namely the Downtown Core, Marina East, Marina South, the Museum, Newton, Orchard, Outram, River Valley, Rochor, the Singapore River and Straits View districts. The city mostly surrounds the banks of the Singapore River and Marina Bay where the first settlements on the island were established shortly after the arrival of Raffles in 1819. Surrounding the boundaries of the city are Novena to the north, Kallang to the north and north-east, Tanglin to the north-west and west, Bukit Merah to the south-west and Marine Parade to the east. The south-easternmost limits of the city is enclosed in by Marina Barrage, where the mouth of Marina Bay meets the Singapore Strait.