Urban Council

For other uses, see Urban Council (disambiguation).

Urban Council

市政局
Logo
Emblem of Urban Council
Type
Type
History
Established18 April 1883
Disbanded31 December 1999
Elections
First-past-the-post
Last election
7 March 1995
Meeting place
City Hall Lower Block, Edinburgh Place
Urban Council
Chinese市政局
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinShìzhèng Jú
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanizationsíh jing guhk
Jyutpingsi5 zing3 guk6
The armorial bearings granted by the College of Arms, appointed by the British Sovereign, a part of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom.
The Urban Council's service area (in pink).
The Urban Council ran numerous public services including public libraries. Shown here is the logo of the Urban Council Public Library Reading Programme, a reading programme in the 1990s which provided gifts as incentives for children to read, based on the number of books they borrowed and read.
The Hong Kong Park was jointly built by the Urban Council and the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club

The Urban Council (UrbCo) was a municipal council in Hong Kong responsible for municipal services on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon (including New Kowloon). These services were provided by the council's executive arm, the Urban Services Department. Later, the equivalent body for the New Territories was the Regional Council.

The council was founded as the Sanitary Board in 1883. It was renamed the Urban Council when new legislation was passed in 1936 expanding its mandate. In 1973 the council was reorganised under non-government control and became financially autonomous. Originally composed mainly of ex-officio and appointed members, by the time the Urban Council was disbanded following the Handover it was composed entirely of members elected by universal suffrage.[clarification needed]