Local Government Boundaries Research Articles

Polity Size and Local Government Performance: Evidence from India

Developing countries have increasingly decentralized power to local governments. This paper studies the implications of a central element of decentralization (polity size) using population-based discontinuities that determine local government boundaries for over 100,000 Indian villages. Over the short and long run, individuals allocated into local governments with smaller populations have better access to public goods. We provide suggestive evidence that these results are related to heightened civic engagement and stronger political incentives, but not to other mechanisms such as elite capture. (JEL D72, H41, H75, H76, O17, O18, R50)

Dividing Lines: Racial Segregation across Local Government Boundaries

We describe the empirical relationship between local government boundaries and residential segregation in the United States. First, we study recent changes in the distribution of segregation within and between local governments in all metropolitan areas, using census block data on residential demographics over the period 1990–2020. We find that segregation across local government boundaries explains a substantial share of racial stratification, which has changed only little over the last thirty years. Next, we use spatial regression discontinuity methods to distinguish between household sorting due to neighborhood amenities and public goods provided by local governments. The prevalence of demographic discontinuities at local government boundaries suggest that between-jurisdiction segregation patterns cannot be explained solely by proximity to neighborhood amenities. We discuss implications for policy, showing that both between-jurisdiction segregation and jurisdictional discontinuities can partly explain the correlation between total segregation and racial gaps in educational outcomes. (JEL H41, H75, I24, I26, J15, R23)

Mini-Publics as an innovation in spatial governance

Mini-publics—deliberative fora made up of randomly selected, representative groups of citizens—have attracted considerable interest as a means of resolving perceived weaknesses in existing forms of governance. In this paper, we consider the use of a mini-public or citizens’ assembly to constitute an ad hoc governance space based on the Travel to Work Area of Cambridge in the United Kingdom rather than working within the existing local government boundaries within which transport infrastructure is usually governed. Through this case study, we explore the question of embedding mini-publics in the wider processes of policy and decision-making. More specifically this is the question of the extent to which they ought to be permitted to inform and even assume responsibility for local-level transport policy decisions. We argue that, if they are to become more widely used, then it will be necessary to understand the practices associated with such democratic experiments and their potential to transform existing governance networks in contested areas of spatial policy.

Did amalgamation make local government more fit for the future?

AbstractLocal government amalgamations, mostly aimed at improving financial sustainability, remain a strongly contested public policy option. Proponents of amalgamation tend to emphasise the advantages of scale and plan around population size targets. By contrast, some scholars note the importance of understanding the needs and tastes of residents for local public services and stress the dangers of amalgamation dominated by population size considerations alone. In this paper, we conduct a robust empirical investigation of a recent amalgamation program dominated by population size considerations. Our results suggest that local government boundaries constructed principally to secure scale benefits have largely failed to deliver on the pecuniary promise of its public policy proponents. We conclude by offering some central public policy recommendations aimed at ensuring that future amalgamation programs might be more successful.

The gerrymandering of cities and the politics of racial exclusion: Evidence from a spatial typology of municipal boundary changes

ABSTRACT Municipal annexation is the most common means by which local governments in the United States redraw their jurisdictional borders. The highly contentious process often leads to the gerrymandering of city borders. In this study, we use the Python programming language to develop a method for identifying areas that have been annexed by or excluded from cities via the gerrymandering of their jurisdictional borders. Through analyses of all cities in the nation, as well as selected growing cities, we illustrate the extent of municipal gerrymandering and its disproportionate impact on communities of color. Our findings point toward the need for renewed attention to the role of local government boundaries, and in particular the routine expansion of these boundaries via annexation, in the creation and perpetuation of spatial inequality.

Coronavirus disease and local government

Coronavirus disease and local government

Challenges arising from ethnic internal boundary determination in Ethiopia since 1991

Like any other African country, Ethiopia has different ethnic groups with different languages. The Federal Constitution of Ethiopia guarantees all its ethnic groups including ethnic minority the right to self-determination. The constitution has also acknowledged the existence of different ethnic minorities at the regional level. The majority of these regions have also designed the institutions of local government as the primary mechanism of protecting sub-national ethnic minorities. In this article the deduction can be made that though ethnic minority status is guaranteed in the constitution there are still ethnic tensions in the country resulting from the use of ethnicity in determining internal boundaries in Ethiopia. Furthermore, it finds that Ethiopia is sitting on an ethnic time bomb and it must come up with a possible solution. This therefore left open the questions of whether ethnicity is a panacea for curbing ethnic tension and conflict when determining and demarcating municipal boundaries. In answering this question reference is made to Ethiopia where both regional and internal (local government) boundaries were demarcated using ethnicity as a factor. The discussion to follow analyse ethnicity in demarcating boundaries. It also highlights the challenges of demarcating boundaries using ethnicity.

Collecting Community Stories: Local Studies Collections and What They Can Tell You About the Community

Collecting Community Stories: Local Studies Collections and What They Can Tell You About the Community

Local government advocacy in the ‘suburban age’: an institutionalist interpretation of Melbourne’s evolving sub-metropolitan regional structures

ABSTRACT The ‘suburban age’ has been conceptualised as the dominant global urban spatial reality for the 21st Century, yet the politics associated with this heightened expansiveness remain underdeveloped. Of relevance is the potential for suburban discontentment across a myriad of spaces centred upon the under provision of infrastructure and employment. With urban regions often highly fragmented by local government boundaries, bottom-up inter-local government responses assume significance, including sub-regional advocacy given enduring hierarchical government dependencies. In consideration of the evolving strength of sub-regional advocacy, three institutionalist themes are introduced: credibility, coherency and coordination. Empirical insights are presented from chief executive officer (CEO)-based interviews conducted across expansive Melbourne, Australia. In Melbourne, a ‘weak mayor/strong CEO’ local government system predominates beneath a state government with extensive metropolitan responsibilities. Melbourne’s sub-metropolitan regional structures have recently looked to strengthen their external presence through actions illustrative of the identified themes, with local government CEOs playing a key role in directing their evolving character. The global ‘suburban age’ must be associated with heightened sub-regional competition across enlarged urban regions, the management of which will present a growing spatial challenge for political leaders.

Renewing America’s Infrastructure: An Agenda for Federal Transportation and Water Policy

Federal infrastructure investment is receiving a great deal of attention, largely about money: how to finance capital investment, operations, and maintenance. Less discussed but very important is modernizing federal policy to support the mature and urban-centered economy of the United States—rather than the economy it had when most of the terms of federal engagement were set. This article summarizes a RAND Corporation report which addresses recent trends in infrastructure spending and finance and proposes improvements in federal infrastructure policy. We argue for modernizing federal policies related to funding, finance, and project selection. Modernization should recognize the centrality of regional initiatives that transcend local government and state boundaries and should encourage different types of financing—public, private, and public–private partnerships. Poorly targeted investment comes from poorly designed policy. Inadequate maintenance often is a symptom of failure of management and governance. More money will help, but it is not nearly enough.

Definitions of urban areas feasible for examining urban health in the European Union.

As part of the EU-funded project, European Urban Health Indicator System (EURO-URHIS), a definition of urban areas (UAs) and of urban populations was needed to be able to identify comparable UAs in all member states. A literature review on existing definitions, as well as those used by other relevant projects, was performed. A survey of national experts in public health or land planning was also conducted. An algorithm was proposed to find UAs, which were feasible for the focus of EURO-URHIS. No unique general definition of UAs was found. Different fields of research define UAs differently. None of the definitions found were feasible for EURO-URHIS. All of them were found to have critical disadvantages when applied to an urban health project. An ideal definition for this type of project needs to provide a description of the situation without recourse to administrative boundaries yet inform the collection of routine data for urban health monitoring. These requirements were found to contradict each other and were not met in any existing definition. An algorithm was developed for the definition of UAs for the purpose of this study whereby national experts would select regions which are urban as an agglomeration or as a metropolitan area and which are potentially interesting in terms of public health; identify the natural boundaries, where countryside ends and residential or commercial areas of the region begin (e.g. by aerial photos); identify local government boundaries or other official boundaries used for routine data collection purposes which approximate the natural UA as closely as possible and list all administrative areas which are contained in the larger UA. The aggregation of all administrative areas within the original region formed the UA which was used in the project.

Managing Across Local Government Boundaries

Managing Across Local Government Boundaries

Doing space relationally: Exploring the meaningful geographies of local government in Wales

Recent years have seen significant advancements in the theorising of relational space through conceptual frameworks which recognise the polymorphic organisation of sociospatial relations (e.g. Territory, Place, Scale and Network). Less understood, however, are the methodological challenges inherent in ‘thinking space relationally’. In particular, how can such conceptual vocabularies be sustained through the contingent practices of doing research? In this article, we address these concerns empirically through an analysis of the sociospatial responsibilities of local government actors across Wales, as new modes of spatial planning require them to think and act across administrative boundaries and policy areas. We introduce the notion of ‘patch’ as a means for eliciting conceptually open and grounded accounts of relational space as situated within personal/professional interests, cultures and ideologies. We identify different ways in which patch is relationally located, and how understandings of its boundaries and coherences relate to public policy remits. Yet while invoking different kinds of material and imagined spatiality, patch remains largely defined by the responsibilities and resources tied to local government boundaries. Institutional configurations continue to inform the way different spaces are discursively organised and practised. We conclude by reflecting on the need for accounts of relational space to be open to its everyday material groundings in relations of fixity and flow. Gesturing towards recent studies which display complementary concerns, we consider where attentiveness to patch and other ‘meaningful’ spatial frames has the potential to develop geographical analyses in new directions.

OPENING THE FRONTIER: THE GUBBIO–PERUGIA FRONTIER IN THE COURSE OF HISTORY

The frontier between Gubbio (ancient Umbria) and Perugia (ancient Etruria), in the northeast part of the modern region of Umbria, was founded in the late sixth centurybc. The frontier endured in different forms, most notably in the late antique and medieval periods, as well as fleetingly in 1944, and is fossilized today in the local government boundaries. Archaeological, documentary and philological evidence are brought together to investigate different scales of time that vary from millennia to single days in the representation of a frontier that captured a watershed of geological origins. The foundation of the frontier appears to have been a product of the active agency of the Etruscans, who projected new settlements across the Tiber in the course of the sixth centurybc, protected at the outer limit of their territory by the naturally defended farmstead of Col di Marzo. The immediate environs of the ancient abbey of Montelabate have been studied intensively by targeted, systematic and geophysical survey in conjunction with excavation, work that is still in progress. An overview of the development of the frontier is presented here, employing the data currently available.

The Impact of Territorial Re-Organisational Policy Interventions in the Republic of Macedonia

This paper attempts to analyse territorial reorganisation policy interventions in Macedonia, first in 1995 and again in 2004, which overreached their aims and objectives; and where economic viability and institutional reform were trumped by ethnic factors in defining local government boundaries. The core argument is that through territorial reorganisation, opportunities are provided to major ethnic political parties, both Macedonian and Albanian, in order to exercise more power by increasing their ‘market share’ in local governments. This paper argues that this political approach adds to a higher level of segregation among ethnic communities. Further, this paper clearly explains how balancing political, economical and institutional qualifications for the two territorial policy interventions posed challenges in Macedonia due to its citizens perceptions and demographic profile. In understanding the need for territorial re-organisations in Macedonia, one must not ignore historical legacy and developments around the region in the last decade. Immediately after Macedonia became a sovereign and independent state in September 1991, the new Macedonian constitution was drawn up and later adopted in November 1991. This revealed tensions between two major ethnic groups over constitutional nationalism and the principle of democracy. It was not until 2001 when the Ohrid Framework Agreement was signed through mediation of the international community that the country's political leadership recognised the need for a new political discourse in order to bring more social and economic progress to the country.

Applying remote sensing & GIS for the mapping of basic education schools in Adamawa state, Nigeria

One of the major problems hindering the proper planning, monitoring and administering of the numerous basic education schools spread over Adamawa State is the lack of an accurate, up to date map, showing the location of the schools. While convention ground survey could produce such a map, the time, money and drudgery involved makes this option very unattractive. By mapping out the basic education schools in Adamawa State (Nigeria), this paper demonstrates how remote sensing and GIS could be employed to carry out the task with little stress. It also highlights some typical problems that should be anticipated. Satellite images were used to extract and create the base map, while the GPS was used to pick the coordinates of the schools. The map produced was more accurate and cartographically superior to the hand drawn maps. The manner in which local government boundaries are generated and stored, the attitude of stakeholders and the low computer literacy level of end-users are among the problems that should be addressed if digital mapping is to be fully embraced.

BOOK REVIEW: The Theory and Practice of Local Government Reform

Structural reform has been one of the most important and hotly contested features of modern local government. From North America to Europe to Australasia, local government boundaries have been redrawn over the last two decades. In many countries it seems that structural change has been the ‘default’ option to which successive generations of policy makers are irresistibly drawn time and time again. And yet the reasons for the extraordinary popularity of this particular policy instrument and, more importantly, its impacts are under-researched. There is a dearth of rigorous empirical analysis of the costs and benefits and the relative effectiveness of different kinds of structural change and different approaches to implementing them. The Theory and Practice of Local Government Reform, edited by Brian E. Dollery and Lorenzo Robotti, is then a very welcome attempt to address these issues in comprehensive and comparative fashion, which draws upon expert knowledge of recent developments from across an impressive range of different countries and contexts.

Internal boundaries and district administration: a challenge to decentralization and district development in ghana

.Traditional institutions in Africa and their role in a decentralized administrative framework has been the subject of analysis in recent times. However, these discussions have centred largely on political power and local control of resources, to the neglect of the challenges of local government boundary setting and its consequences for local development. Therefore, in countries implementing decentralization with existing strong chiefdoms and traditional areas of jurisdictions, such as Ghana, little consideration has been given to the effects of local government boundaries on community cohesiveness and local development. This article examines the challenges of decentralization in Ghana with particular focus on district administrative boundaries. It argues that the non‐coincidence of the ‘traditional’ ethnic boundaries, namely Traditional Areas, and the ‘formal’ district administrative boundaries of some districts as well as the absence of an integrative system of traditional and modern governance present a challenge to local and district development under the present decentralization process. The article concludes that district boundary setting should be a process of ‘negotiated contract’ between the state and communities of which the boundary is meant to create a local government territorial area of jurisdiction. This process entails that the criteria for boundary setting take into account both cultural and economic factors.

Institutional Barriers to Developing Community Indicators in New Zealand: A Preliminary Assessment

There has been enormous activity in many countries and by international agencies during the last few decades to develop indicators to measure trends in different attributes of the environment, including indicators for community wellbeing and for sustainable development. Identifying appropriate indicators of economic, social, environmental, cultural and democratic progress across local government boundaries, as a basis for a strategy to enhance community governance, and as part of a national system of sustainability indicators, is a challenging task. An important dimension that is implicit rather than explicit in the current literature is the significance of institutional barriers to developing indicators. Informed by recent New Zealand experiences, our objective in this paper is to examine those institutional barriers within the context of achieving the wider objectives of the New Zealand Local Government Act 2002 to strengthen participatory democracy and community governance, and the ‘whole-of-government’ sustainable development paradigm that underpins it. We argue that the significance of undertaking the task of indicator development in a collaborative and participatory as well as technically satisfactory manner should not be under-estimated.

The Congruence of American School Districts with Other Local Government Boundaries: A Google-Earth Exploration

Economists often casually assume that a school district and a city that share the same name also share the same territory, but in fact exactly congruent boundaries are rare. Using the overlap of school district and municipal boundaries available on Google Earth, I find that about two-thirds of medium-to-large American cities have boundaries that substantially overlap those of a single school district. The degree of overlap, however, varies greatly by region and state, ranging from nearly perfect congruence in New England, New Jersey, and Virginia, to hardly any in Illinois, Texas, and Florida. Larger and older municipalities tend to have boundaries that closely match those of a single school district. The latter sections of the paper attempt to explain why school districts diverge from municipal boundaries and why they sometimes ended up with county boundaries. Modern school districts are the product of consolidations of one-room school districts from 1900 to 1970. Contrary to much historical scholarship, I argue that, outside the South, these consolidations were consented to by local voters. They preferred districts whose boundaries conformed to their everyday interactions rather than formal units of government. The South ended up with county-based school districts because segregation imposed diseconomies of scale on district operations and required larger land-area districts. The conclusion offers a social capital reason for the durability of school- district boundaries.