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A quarter is a section of an urban settlement.
A quarter can be administratively defined and its borders officially designated, and it may have its own administrative structure (subordinate to that of the city, town or other urban area). Such a division is particularly common in countries like Italy (Quartiere), France (Quartier), Romania (Cartier), Georgia (კვარტალი, k'vart'ali), Serbia (четврт / četvrt), Croatia (četvrt). It may be denoted as a borough (in English-speaking countries), Spain (barrio), Portugal/Brazil (bairro); or some other term (e.g. Poland (dzielnica), Germany (Stadtteil), and Cambodia (Sangkat).
Quarter can also refer to a non-administrative but distinct neighbourhood with its own character: for example, a slum quarter. It is often used for a district connected with a particular group of people: for instance, some cities are said to have Jewish quarters, diplomatic quarters or Bohemian quarters.
Most Roman cities were divided to four parts, called Quarters, by their two main avenues: the Cardo and the Decumanus Maximus.
The Old City of Jerusalem currently has four quarters: the Muslim Quarter, Christian Quarter, Jewish Quarter and Armenian Quarter (it used to have a Moroccan Quarter). A Christian quarter also exists in Damascus.
See also
- Bairro
- Barrio
- Borough
- Township
- Municipality
- French Quarter
- German Quarter
- Irish Quarter
- Jewellery Quarter
- Latin Quarter
- European Quarter
References
- Oxford English Dictionary (1989)