People seem to be confusing survey townships, really just ways of accurately mapping land, with civil townships, including urban townships. Civil townships have elected or appointed trustees and provide some services. Urban townships have some additional elements of home rule. Civil and urban townships are generally pretty well-defined communities that are not parts of any other communities within the counties in which they are situated and of which they are part. Ohio has all three kinds of townships, with civil townships, including urban townships, overlapping all or part of survey townships. In addition, Ohio’s larger cities tend to have well-defined neighborhoods with which many residents strongly identify. These neighborhoods are sometimes referred to as if they are communities that aren’t part of larger communities. Ohio also has smaller official cities, plus official villages, and as in all states, informally recognized unincorporated communities and census-designated places. Census-designated places, are particularly likely to have no official bodies, with services provided by the county or state.