A district is an area within a larger place that has been marked off for a specific purpose. Cities divide themselves into districts to organize different activities: a business district contains offices and shops, a residential district is where people live, and a theater district clusters playhouses and performance venues together.

Schools create districts too. A school district covers a particular geographic area, and all the schools within those boundaries work together under the same administration and follow the same rules. If you move to a new neighborhood, you might find yourself attending a different school because you've entered a new district.

Today, we use districts for elections (voting districts), courts (judicial districts), and even parks (park districts). Each district has clear boundaries, like invisible lines on a map that determine which area is which.

When you hear someone mention the historic district of a town, they mean the section where old buildings are protected and preserved. Districts help organize complicated places into manageable pieces, making it easier to govern, plan, and provide services to everyone who lives there.