City services.
Certain functions must be performed in every city. The most widespread functions today are the environmental and personal health services, including clinics and hospitals; primary, secondary, and further education; water supply, sewage, refuse collection and disposal; construction, maintenance, and lighting of streets; public housing; welfare services for the old, destitute, physically and mentally handicapped, orphans and abandoned children, unemployed and disabled workers, and other categories needing help; cemeteries and crematoriums; markets and abattoirs.
 Today such institutions as museums and art galleries are often part of extensive programs for recreation and culture sponsored by the municipality. Public parks and playgrounds have become part of the comprehensive programs of outdoor recreation organized by the municipality.
A group of public-utility services comprising the supply of gas, electricity, water, and public transport are frequently provided by the city government itself, by a public corporation closely connected with it, or by a commercial company operating under a concession granted by the municipality. Municipal governments can do much to assist industry and commerce by good planning and physical development, by providing for trade fairs and exhibition centres, and by designing and developing roads, public housing, schools, and other municipal services