Metropolitan Regions, Planning and Governance

Does Governance Matter? The Dynamics of Metropolitan Governance and Competitiveness

Metropolitan areas are governed by a patchwork of governmental units that contribute to the dispersion of people and the diffusion of local power. These effects are visible in nearly every metropolitan region whether they are growing or shrinking. The policy debate has focused on questions of efficiency, rather than the developmental impacts of these choices. Analysis must be structured to capt...

When Creativity Meets Metropolitan Governance

scapes or metropolitan regions. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) defines governance today as “the organization and administration of regional authorities and institutions on the most varied levels as well as the corresponding processes of decision-making, cooperation, and exertion of influence” (OECD 2001). But, as most observers of politico-institutional develop...

Comparing metropolitan regions

Making comparisons between metropolitan regions around the world is fashionable. Newman and Kenworthy's Cities and automobile dependency (1989) was one of the first attempts to collect data from cities around the world and make systematic comparisons (although highly criticized: see, for example, Gomez-Ibanez, 1991). Recent books (Simmond and Hack, 2000; Susteren, 2005) and even a summer 2007 e...

Metropolitan Governance Structure and Income Growth

There has long been debate on the extent to which the structure of government in metropolitan areas helps or hinders income growth. Polycentrists contend that numerous local governments lead to competition that streamlines government, produces services at least cost, and leads to higher incomes. Centrists argue that large, multiple service governments have scale economies leading to more effici...

The Planning and Governance