Government In Metropolitan Areas Research Articles

North American Metropolitan Planning: Canadian and U.S. Perspectives

Abstract This article presents the results of a comparative study of Canadian and American metropolitan planning and management systems in some of the largest urban regions in both countries: Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Edmonton in Canada; and Chicago, Boston, San Francisco Bay Area, Houston, and Minneapolis-St. Paul in the U.S. While our study confirms the view that Canadian metropolitan areas generally have more highly developed regional governance systems than their American counterparts, we also detected a growing unwillingness of more senior levels of government (province or state) to grant the additional authority needed for the regional institutions to keep pace with rapidly expanding development. Consequently, the development patterns and governance of metropolitan areas in the two countries seem to be converging. The article closes with a discussion of the implications of our findings for metropolitan governance systems in other industrialized nations.

International handbook of local and regional government: a comparative analysis of advanced democracies

This major new reference work is an authoritative, detailed guide to subnational systems of government in advanced democracies. The Handbook offers a comparative analysis of local and regional government in a wide range of countries, discussing their histories, traditions, national and internal institutional structures, financing, competences and functions. Inter-governmental relationships, electoral systems and public participation in local administration and the governance of metropolitan areas, are also reviewed extensively. The book draws upon a wide range of official and academic sources in several languages, published and unpublished, many of which are not otherwise available in English. The first part surveys principal aspects of the subject through a cross-national comparison of Western Europe, English and French-speaking North America, Japan and Australasia. Later chapters examine individually the cases of France, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Great Britain, the USA, Canada and Japan. In order to facilitate comparison within a global perspective the contents of each of these chapters are organised under the same headings as those in the first part. Offering an unparalleled history of western systems of local democracy and the concepts and values that sustain them, the Handbook will be an aid to constructive thinking for politicians and administrators, as well as a comprehensive reference source for teachers, students and researchers.

Expenditure Patterns and Interactions among Local Governments in Metropolitan Areas

The purpose of this study is to compare expenditure patterns of central-city, county, and suburban-city governments in metropolitan areas and to explore service-and-expenditure interactions among these local governments. An analysis of expenditures of local governments in 52 of the largest metropolitan areas indicates that the determinants of expenditures by central-city, county, and suburban-city governments are different and that some degree of service-and-expenditure interactions among these governments exists. For example, in solid-waste and police policy areas, local governments spend more if their neighboring governments spend more, whereas in welfare policy areas, they spend less if their neighboring governments spend more.

Killing a Cog: The Death and Reincarnation of the Baltimore Regional Councii of Governments

: On June 30, 1992, the Baltimore Regional Council of Governments (BRCOG) was abolished. This paper endeavors to explain why it was killed. There are at least four reasons why a regional organization may cease to exist: the impact of national political decisions, the effects of the autonomy of local governments in metropolitan areas, the failure of regional organizations to adapt to changing times, and as a consequence of unique local political circumstances. The author found that BRCOG died because of local politics. He explores the factors that impede the development of strong regional governance structures in the United States.

Exploring the links between political structure and metropolitan growth

Abstract Considerable scholarship documents a causal link between metropolitan growth and the resultant number and arrangement of local governments in metropolitan areas. Only scant research explores the reverse phenomena, that patterns of local government structure influence metropolitan population growth. Yet ample social science theory and case study evidence suggest support for such a causal link. This study examines empirically the influence of levels and changes in political structure on metropolitan population growth for 129 large US metropolitan areas between 1962 and 1982. The analysis extends previous research in two ways: first, by replacing aggregate measures of political fragmentation with a more sophisticated set of variables that capture different aspects of the multifaceted concept of political structure; and second, by examining the dynamic association between change in political structure and metropolitan growth. The results reveal mixed support for theories linking political structure to metropolitan growth. Of methodological importance is the finding that different dimensions of political structure interact differentially with metropolitan growth, suggesting that traditional aggregate measures of political structure obscure more than they reveal.

Progrowth Politics: Change and Governance in Houston. By Robert D. Thomas and Richard W. Murray. Franklin K. Lane Series on Governance in Metropolitan Areas, Vol. 9. Berkeley: Institute of Governmental Studies Press, 1991. 428p. $19.95 paper.

Progrowth Politics: Change and Governance in Houston. By Robert D. Thomas and Richard W. Murray. Franklin K. Lane Series on Governance in Metropolitan Areas, Vol. 9. Berkeley: Institute of Governmental Studies Press, 1991. 428p. $19.95 paper.

Citizen Voice and Public Entrepreneurship: The Organizational Dynamic of a Complex Metropolitan County

Recent empirical research points toward a reassessment of the effects of complex patterns of local government in metropolitan areas. As research increasingly discloses positive relationships between (1) indicators of jurisdictional fragmentation and complexity and (2) indicators of efficiency in service provision and production, it becomes more important to explain, in a functional sense, how a complex metropolitan order is able to produce relatively good results. This article first considers two broad approaches to understanding metropolitan complexityexit and voice-and argues that citizen voice must be the principal mechanism of complex metropolitan governance. A case study of St. Louis County, Missouri, is then used to explore the various processes by which citizen voice may contribute to the organization and governance of a metropolitan county. Citizen voice is linked to public entrepreneurship and, thereby, to various efficiency-inducing properties that emerge within a complex metropolitan order.

Expenditure effects of metropolitan tax base sharing: A public choice analysis

This research explores probable budgetary consequences from the introduction of an institutional change which requires communities in metropolitan areas to pool any growth in the commercial-industrial tax base so that all cities benefit from new development irrespective of where the development occurs. Sharing of the tax base has been suggested as a means to overcome fiscal disparities among local governments in metropolitan areas and to reduce competition for new industrial development, thus, promoting ‘orderly development’ of the urban area. An alternative view of the institutional change focuses on the consequences of removing the tax base from the control of the local unit of government and suggests that based upon existing studies of government size and the cost of public services, government managers will be less responsive to the wishes of the citizen/taxpayer after the introduction of tax base sharing. The efficiency aspects of local government finance are examined and based upon data for the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area, the expenditure effects are estimated. The empirical evidence suggests that while revenue flows are altered in the metropolitan areas, the primary impact of tax base sharing has been to expand the level of government expenditures, not equalize interjurisdictional tax rates.

The Politics of Functional Realignment: Consolidating Wastewater Management in an Urban County

One possible solution to the fiscal problems confronting many American cities is structural reform-changing the patterns of responsibility for delivering urban services. This research assesses the possibilities of functional realignment through transferring responsibility from city governments in metropolitan areas to county governments. Based on findings in Pima County. Arizona, we conclude that functional realignment in metropolitan areas is a consequence of political bargaining.

Areawide Government and Multiple Jurisdictions: An Examination of Selected Counties in Maryland

Much of the literature on America's metropolitan areas examines them from the point of view of the multiplicity of governments located within these areas. The diverse governmental structure is characterized as fragmented and often is identified as the root cause of the urban crisis. Fragmentation of metropolitan areas is seen as the prime explanation for factors such as, the disparity of financial resources among neighboring jurisdictions; the inability of some metropolitan jurisdictions to provide necessary services; their inability to agree upon the delivery of essential areawide services; and the waste, duplication, and poor utilization of economic and human resources by governments in metropolitan areas. The critics of fragmentation conclude that the existence of numerous small governments in metropolitan areas leads to a general weakening of the democratic process because of the severe problems that citizens have in fixing responsibility among the various units responsible for public activities. Urban reformers have campaigned for resolution of the effects of fragmentation through annexation, cooperation, or the creation of special districts. Most of the polemicists agree, however, that the only real solution to the problem lies in some form of areawide government.1 Thus far, the

Toward a Theory of Policy Implementation: An Organizational Perspective

John Wiley & Sons, 1958), pp. 26-27. 14. Harold Guetzkow, Interagency Committee Usage, Public Administration Review, Vol. 10, No. 3, Summer 1950, p. 190. 15. Gulick and Urwick, op. cit. 16. program is described in some detail in Allen Barton, et al., Decentralizing City Government (Lexington, Mass.: D.C. Heath/Lexington Books, 1977). 17. John Lindsay, Program for the Decentralized Administration of Municipal Services in New York City Communities, Office of the Mayor, December 1971. 18. Community schools and elementary schools are not truly separate field services, but their relationship is more complex than different levels of the same field service. elementary school principal reports to the community school superintendent, who is responsible to both the Board of Education and the local Community School Board. This relationship does not affect our findings because only one response category was used for public schools. 19. number of factors extracted from a factor analysis is normally determined by the minimum eigenvalue specification. Following accepted conventions, only factors with an eigenvalue of 1.0 or greater were extracted. 20. Tom Burns and G. M. Stalker, Management of Innovation (London: Tavistock Publications, 1966), pp. 5-6. 21. For an application of this approach to administrative duplication, see: Martin Landau, Redundancy, Rationality, and the Problem of Duplication and Overlap, Public Administration Review, Vol. 29, No. 4, July/August 1969, pp. 346-358. 22. seminal article suggesting that the multiplicity of political units may be necessary to satisfy a multiplicity of different interests is: Vincent Ostrom, Charles Tiebout and Robert Warren, The Organization of Government in Metropolitan Areas: A Theoretical Inquiry, American Political Science Review, Vol. 60, No. 4, December 1961, pp. 831-842.

Solving Transportation Problems in the Federal System: Is There a Role for State and Local Governments?

National highway and mass transportation policy in recent years has sought to restructure the governance of metropolitan areas. The keystone of this policy, originally mandated in the Federal Highway Act of 1962, is that metropolitan areas with populations exceeding 50,000 persons must have continuous, comprehensive, and cooperative planning for transportation development. This process, commonly called the 3-C process, represents an important commitment by the federal government to organize metropolitan agencies to plan and to regulate transportation investments.

Computers, Local Governments, and the Litany to EDP

The demands and problems facing local governments in metropolitan areas have increased so dramatically since 1960 that the notion of an is commonplace. In most urban and suburban jurisdictions, the scope and cost of goods and services provided by local governments have risen enormously while there has been no corresponding increase in fiscal capacity. And the greater complexity and interdependence of problems has vastly increased the decision makers' cognitive costs in gathering information, searching for solutions, and implementing and monitoring policies. Under these crisis conditions, the longing for some deus ex machina is strong. To this point, the prime candidate for this role is the computer and the use of electronic data processing (EDP). City and county governments are currently spending more than $1 billion per year on EDP. With the broad capabilities of third generation hardware and with the development of sophisticated software, the computer's potential for aiding local government seems great. Moreover, the success or at least the promised success of the use of EDP for particular activities in particular city or county governments has been well publicized. A body of largely promotional information has been transmitted by the literature in the computer field and in the fields of local government professionals. As a result, the perceptions and expectations about the benefits of EDP are generally high among local government officials. This article will suggest that a to EDP has developed. The article is meant to stimulate critical thinking and research about the by presenting controversial observations which merit systematic analysis. Only recently has empirical * Given the serious problems facing urban/suburban local governments, the search for a deus ex machina solution has centered upon the extensive use of computers and electronic data processing (EDP). For a variety of information-processing tasks, the contributions of EDP have been substantial. However, there has developed among many local government actors a litany to EDP. This consists of certain canons about the beneficial impacts of computers on local government operations. This article on the basis of case study analysis in 12 cities and counties, identifies major components of the to EDP. These include the beliefs that EDP is staff-reducing and cost-reducing, that EDP provides better information for decision makers, that EDP increases the superordinate's ability to monitor subordinates, and so on. The evidence suggests that the is often misleading and occasionally incorrect. The article presents generalized findings meant to temper the uncritical acceptance of the to EDP.

Organizational Logic for Concurrent Government in Metropolitan Areas

In an urban environment of high diversity, governmental structure should be open and multinucleated to meet the performance criteria of efficiency and effectiveness. A case study of the Lakewood Plan illustrates that governmental structure is contingent upon environmental factors in the specific metropolitan area. The traditional “one best way” recommendation for consolidation assumes an oversimplification of the urban public economy.

Organizational Logic for Concurrent Government in Metropolitan Areas.

In an urban environment of high diversity, governmental structure should be open and multinucleated to meet the performance criteria of efficiency and effectiveness. A case study of the Lakewood Plan illustrates that governmental structure is contingent upon environmental factors in the specific metropolitan area. The traditional “one best way” recommendation for consolidation assumes an oversimplification of the urban public economy.

Competition, Monopoly, and the Organization of Government in Metropolitan Areas

often suggested that governments, by virtue of their being democratic, can be treated as if they were perfectly competitive suppliers of public output. By contrast, there are other strands of thought suggesting that governments are captured by and operated for the benefit of self-interested bureaucrats, and are more appropriately viewed as monopolistic suppliers of public output, or at least as potential monopolists.' This paper examines these alternative perspectives on government, using as a vehicle an examination of the budgetary consequences of certain types of changes in the organization of government in metropolitan areas. There are two primary structural features of the organization of government in metropolitan areas. One is the fragmentation of governments, and the other is the overlapping of governments. The fragmentation of governments refers to the provision of the same service or services by a multitude of governments. Fragmentation means that such services as police, fire, and recreation will normally be provided by a large number of mutually exclusive municipal corporations. Similarly, educational services will normally be provided by a large number of school districts.2 Governmental fragmentation would seem to be substantial. For instance, over one-half of the metropolitan areas with population exceeding 250,000 according to the 1967 Census of Governments contained more than 100 units of government. The overlapping of governments refers to the independent supply of separate components of public output by different units of government. Hence,

Competition, Monopoly, and the Organization of Government in Metropolitan Areas: Comment

Previous articleNext article No AccessCompetition, Monopoly, and the Organization of Government in Metropolitan Areas: CommentJerome RothenbergJerome Rothenberg Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Law and Economics Volume 18, Number 3Dec., 1975Economic Analysis of Political Behavior Sponsored by The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and The University of Chicago Law School Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/466832 Views: 2Total views on this site Citations: 2Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1976 The University of Chicago Law SchoolPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Ji Hyung Park Does Citizen Participation Matter to Performance-Based Budgeting?, Public Performance & Management Review 42, no.22 (Mar 2018): 280–304.https://doi.org/10.1080/15309576.2018.1437050Gaines H. Liner Institutional constraints, annexation and municipal efficiency in the 1960s, Public Choice 79, no.3-43-4 (Jun 1994): 305–323.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01047775

Competition, Monopoly, and the Organization of Government in Metropolitan Areas: Comment

Competition, Monopoly, and the Organization of Government in Metropolitan Areas: Comment

A Modest Proposal for the Governance of America's Metropolitan Areas

Abstract The prospect of restructured governance in metropolitan areas remans an interesting, if illusive, option on the American urban scene. Four elements are suggested as necessary to a restructured metro government: authority, multifunctional capacity, a geographic scope approximating the urban area, and taxing powers. These four elements are seen as present to some degree in a small number of restructured metro areas. The experience of these areas is seen as leading to a model of metro governance which would be based on the following building blocks: local units of government able to make those decisions concerning the character and responsiveness of public services; areawide special purpose districts; metropolitan governing councils having authority to constrain local governments and special districts, with policy makers responsive to state government; and state government able to serve as an arbiter between local government and areawide governments. No matter what the efficiency of this model of metro governance, its test of utility must be its apparent relationship to relative achievement amongst a series of “quality of life” indicators pertinent to issues which are seen as responsive to areawide decision making.

Separate and Unequal: Governmental Inequality in the Metropolis

The political incorporation and municipal segregation of classes and status groups in the metropolis tend to divorce fiscal resources from public needs and to create and perpetuate inequality among urban residents in the United States. An investigation of data collected for a large number of metropolitan areas in 1960 reveals a number of variables associated with inequality in the distribution of fiscal resources among municipalities in metropolitan areas. The level of income inequality among municipal governments in metropolitan areas varies directly with: location in the South; age, size and density of the metropolis; nonwhite concentration; family income inequality; residential segregation among social classes; housing segregation by quality; and governmental fragmentation. The data provide support for the argument that governmental inequality occupies a central position in the urban stratification system.