<p>Effective District Metered Area (DMA) design is essential for pressure management, leakage reduction, and water quality improvement in water distribution networks. This study develops an integrated optimization framework for DMA partitioning and boundary component placement, aiming to achieve balanced pressure distribution while maintaining hydraulic reliability. The study simulates a municipal water distribution network in northern China. Pressure minimization and leakage reduction are formulated as dual objectives, using a Genetic Algorithm (GA) to optimize an initial manual partitioning scheme under different numbers of DMAs. The optimal partition count is identified by comparing pressure uniformity, leakage performance, and hydraulic reliability among alternative solutions. Based on the selected partition scheme, a multi-objective optimization model is then developed to determine the optimal placement of boundary valves and flow meters. This model integrates nodal pressure variability and a comprehensive water age index as objective functions, subject to hydraulic and operational constraints, and is solved using a multi-objective Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm. The results show that the optimized DMA configuration achieves a 23.2% reduction in the average standard deviation of nodal pressure compared with the original system, while also improving hydraulic stability and water age performance. The proposed framework provides practical decision support for water utility managers by enabling systematic DMA planning, optimized placement of valves and meters, and more effective pressure management. This can be adapted to other urban water distribution systems with similar operating conditions.</p>