Metropolitan City Region Research Articles

Exploring the creation of the metropolitan city-region government: the cases of England, France and Italy

ABSTRACT Over the past decade, several European countries have undergone reforms that modified the distribution of allocated powers and/or the geographical area of intervention of local authorities. This paper focuses on the institution of metropolitan governments. National legislative and executive powers usually claim that they want to provide densely urbanized areas with a more integrative level of action. As a result, the public authorities in large cities would get a greater capacity to deal with issues such as economic growth, increased soil sealing, socio-spatial inequalities, etc. This paper explores the motivations and forms of such metropolitan reforms in three European countries within the last decade, with the creation of Combined Authorities in England, of métropoles in France and of citta metropolitane in Italy. We argue that the forms of metropolitan government that have emerged in the three countries are embedded in very different institutional systems (Section 2). Considering the strategies of key protagonists, we show that the new modes of governance differ across and sometimes within countries (Section 3). In particular, the spatiality and the autonomy of the new metropolitan governments vary in the three countries (Section 4).

Knowledge-based development dynamics in less favoured regions: insights from Australian and Icelandic university towns

ABSTRACTKnowledge-based development (KBD) is a widely practiced policy and is signified as an effective development approach particularly for the metropolitan city-region context. Even though, increasing recognition of this policy resulted in some initiatives in less favoured regions – such as regional university towns – its appropriateness for this context has not been investigated adequately. This paper explores the concept thoroughly in regional university town settings from the lens of the triple-helix model – a critical element for success in KBD. The study aims to broaden our understanding on the challenges of implementing a successful triple-helix model in regional university towns by providing evidence from different country contexts – Australia and Iceland. The methodology of the comparative case investigation incorporates policy and stakeholder perception analyses. Results reveal the journey of the investigated cases, their limited accomplishments and failure factors. Findings shed light on the developmental challenges of regional university towns by highlighting critical issues relating to suitability, appropriate implementation and effectiveness of the KBD policy.

Placing Greater Manchester

In this short paper we place Greater Manchester (GM) in two ways. First, we place historically the current construction of ‘Greater Manchester’ which has formed the territorial basis of the recently created Combined Authority. This reveals the work that has gone on by actors of varying geographical reach to build, maintain and nourish a particular set of governing arrangements, particular in the institutional vacuum created by the mid-1980s abolishing of the Greater Manchester Council. Second, we consider the geography of the GM metropolitan city-region and the competing spatial imaginaries that underlie it. That is, the ways in which spatial scales are imagined by different actors and over which there may be conflict and contestation. With the Greater Manchester Combined Authority increasingly presented as a model for others, including neighbouring Leeds and Liverpool, the argument is that the experience of GM reveals the broader set of forces that are shaping and structuring new state formations elsewhere in England. The paper concludes by considering the potential implications of this over the coming years.

Reviewing the Auckland ‘super city’: towards an ongoing agenda for evaluating super city governance

Super city amalgamations are cast as a contemporary solution to the challenges of planning across borders. In 2010, Auckland was ‘super-sized’ into a unitary metropolitan authority to govern, plan, and manage the metropolitan city region. We argue that this super-sizing comprises a mode of ‘governance by re-bordering’, in which urban problems are framed and solved through techniques of territorial restructuring and strategic coordination. This article examines the re-bordering of local government municipalities into super cities and analyses the subsequent implications for planning, policy, and community drawing on the cases of Auckland, Brisbane/SEQ, and Vancouver. Due attention is given to the planning challenges arising from super amalgamations that rescale central-local government relationships; reassert local government roles in promoting efficient and coordinated spatial planning; and reform the collaborative urbanism in a regional mode of political action.

Stuttgart: A Metropolitan City-region in the Making?

In Germany, there are as yet rather few cities that have given the idea of a city-region meaningful expression and institutional form. Stuttgart is one of them, having developed a unique system of regional institutions and governance structures as well as policies and initiatives to fill them with life. This paper outlines the context and development of metropolitan governance in the Stuttgart region. It analyses its structures, actors, policies and processes, and reflects on the perceived dual challenge – and tensions – of strengthening international competitiveness while enhancing natural environment and quality of life in a sustainable way.

The implications of rapid economic growth in China for spatial development in metropolitan city-regions in Europe

Europe's metropolitan city-regions face considerable challenges from China's rapid economic growth. This article first reviews the development of metropolitan concentration, spacial specialisation and fragmentation and polarisation in Europe. It then considers the nature of specific Chinese challenges to these metropolitan areas (such as the implications for the labour market, motor vehicle production location and tourism), before exploring three scenarios: 'China after the Olympics', 'Slowpark Europe' and 'Chinese–European partnership'. The article ends with some policy conclusions, including the need for better understanding, the development of risk-minimising strategies to balance local, regional and global concerns, and exploring new paths to a socially as well as economically sustainable future through the European 'social model'.