Editing Tbilisi (section)

==Politics and administration==
[[File:Tbilisi City Council, Tbilisi, Georgia.jpg|thumb|City Council building overlooking [[Freedom Square, Tbilisi|Freedom Square]]]]
{{See also|List of mayors of Tbilisi|Tbilisi City Assembly }}
The status of Tbilisi, as the nation's capital, is defined by Article 10 of the [[Constitution of Georgia (country)|Constitution of Georgia]] (1995) and the ''Law on Georgia's Capital&nbsp;– Tbilisi'' (20 February 1998).<ref>{{in lang|ka}} [http://www.parliament.ge/index.php?lang_id=GEO&sec_id=69&kan_det=det&kan_id=140 საქართველოს დედაქალაქის – თბილისის შესახებ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106012551/http://www.parliament.ge/index.php?lang_id=GEO&sec_id=69&kan_det=det&kan_id=140 |date=6 November 2013 }}. The [[Parliament of Georgia]]. Retrieved 22 May 2007.</ref>

Tbilisi is governed by the [[Tbilisi City Assembly]] (Sakrebulo) and the [[Tbilisi City Hall]] (Meria). The City Assembly and mayor are elected once every four years by direct elections. The [[Mayor of Tbilisi]] is [[Kakha Kaladze]] and the Chairman of the Tbilisi city Assembly is Giorgi Alibegashvili.

[[File:Tbilisi-Aghmashenebeli-08-113-2019-gje.jpg|thumb|right|A police station on [[David Agmashenebeli Avenue|Agmashenebeli Avenue]]]]
Administratively, the city is divided into [[raion]]s (districts), which have their own units of central and local government with jurisdiction over a limited scope of affairs. This subdivision was established under Soviet rule in the 1930s, following the general [[Subdivisions of the Soviet Union|subdivision of the Soviet Union]]. After Georgia regained independence, the raion system was modified and reshuffled. According to the latest revision, Tbilisi raions include:
* '''[[Mtatsminda District]]''', including neighborhoods: [[Mtatsminda (Neighborhood)|Mtatsminda]], [[Sololaki]], [[Vera, Tbilisi|Vera]], [[Kiketi]], [[Kojori]], [[Shindisi, Tbilisi|Shindisi]], [[Tsavkisi]], [[Tabakhmela]], [[Okrokana]]
* '''[[Vake District]]''', including neighborhoods: [[Vake, Tbilisi|Vake]], [[Bagebi]], Upper [[Saburtalo (Neighborhood)|Saburtalo]], [[Nutsubidze Plateau]], [[Tskneti]]
* '''[[Saburtalo District]]''', including neighborhoods: Lower [[Saburtalo (Neighborhood)|Saburtalo]], [[Vedzisi]], [[Vashlijvari]], [[Didi Dighomi]], [[Patara Dighomi]], [[Zurgovana]]
* '''[[Krtsanisi District]]''', including neighborhoods: [[Abanotubani]], [[Kala, Tbilisi|Kala]], [[Ortachala]], [[Ponichala]]
* '''[[Isani District]]''', including neighborhoods: [[Avlabari]], [[Isani]], [[Navtlughi]], [[Metromsheni]], [[Vazisubani, Tbilisi|Vazisubani]]
* '''[[Samgori District]]''', including neighborhoods: [[Varketili]], [[Orkhevi]], [[Dampalo]], [[Lilo, Tbilisi|Lilo]], [[Lower Samgori]], [[Africa, Tbilisi|Africa]]
* '''[[Chughureti District]]''', including neighborhoods: [[Chughureti]], [[Ivertubani]], [[Kukia, Tbilisi|Kukia]], [[Svanetisubani]]
* '''[[Didube District]]''', including neighborhoods: [[Didube, Tbilisi|Didube]], [[Dighomi Massive]]
* '''[[Nadzaladevi District]]''', including neighborhoods: [[Nadzaladevi]], [[Sanzona]], [[Temka]], [[Lotkini]]
* '''[[Gldani District]]''', including neighborhoods: [[Gldani Massive|Gldani]], [[Avchala]], [[Mukhiani]], [[Gldanula]]
{|class="wikitable" style="float:left; text-align:right; font-size:85%; margin:1em;"
|-
|colspan="3" bgcolor=""|{{center|'''Overview of Tbilisi districts'''}}
|- style="text-align:center; color:#fff; background:#305066;"
|'''District Name'''
|'''Population''' (2017)<ref name="Population">{{cite web |url=http://www.geostat.ge/cms/site_images/_files/english/census/2014/01_Number%20of%20population%20by%20administrative-territorial%20units%20and%20sex.xls |title=Number of population by administrative-territorial units and sex|work=geostat.ge|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803010309/http://www.geostat.ge/cms/site_images/_files/english/census/2014/01_Number%20of%20population%20by%20administrative-territorial%20units%20and%20sex.xls|archive-date=2017-08-03|access-date=2021-06-27}}</ref>
|'''Area''' ( Km<sup>2</sup>)<ref name="Area">[https://tbilisi.gov.ge/img/original/2018/6/12/tbilisiinfigures.pdf Tbilisi in figures 2018] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814193826/https://tbilisi.gov.ge/img/original/2018/6/12/tbilisiinfigures.pdf |date=14 August 2021 }} tbilisi.gov.ge</ref>
|-
|[[Mtatsminda District]]||49,052||73
|-
|[[Vake District]]||111,903||61.7
|-
|[[Saburtalo District]]||138,493||75.5
|-
|[[Krtsanisi District]]||39,286||31.7
|-
|[[Isani District]]||125,610||16.7
|-
|[[Samgori District]]||177,844||128.4
|-
|[[Chughureti District]]||65,230||14.3
|-
|[[Didube District]]||70,018||8.4
|-
|[[Nadzaladevi District]]||154,067||42
|-
|[[Gldani District]]||177,214||50.3
|- style="background:#ccc;" 
|{{center| [[File:Seal of Tbilisi, Georgia.svg|21px]]  '''City of Tbilisi'''}}||'''1,108,717'''||'''502'''
|- style= "text-align:center;"
|colspan="3"|''Source: [[National Statistics Office of Georgia|Geostat]],<ref name="Population" /> [[Tbilisi City Hall]]<ref name="Area" />''
|}
Most of the raions are named after historic quarters of the city. The citizens of Tbilisi widely recognize an informal system of smaller historic neighborhoods. Such neighborhoods are several, however, constituting a kind of hierarchy, because most of them have lost their distinctive topographic limits. The natural first level of subdivision of the city is into the right and left banks of the Mtkvari river.

The names of the oldest neighborhoods go back to the early Middle Ages and sometimes pose a great linguistic interest. The newest whole-built developments bear chiefly residential marketing names.

In 19th-century Tbilisi, the Georgian quarter was confined to the southeastern part of the city; Baedeker describes the layout succinctly:

{{blockquote|In the north part of the town, on the left bank of the Kurá and to the south of the railway station, stretches the clean German Quarter, formerly occupied by German immigrants from Württemberg (1818). To the south is the Gruzinian or Georgian Quarter (Avlabár). On the right bank of the Kurá is the Russian Quarter, the seat of the officials and of the larger business firms. This is adjoined on the south by the Armenian and Persian Bazaars.|Karl Baedeker, ''Russia: A Handbook for Travelers''<ref>Karl Baedeker, ''Russia: A Handbook for Travelers'' (Arno Press, 1971, reprint of 1914 ed.), p. 467.</ref>}}