Metropolitan Coordination Research Articles

Urban green governance and mechanisms of generation of ecosystem services: Milan’s green governance models

ABSTRACTThis paper studies the governance of the green spaces in the metropolitan area of Milan, aiming to understand the political mechanisms that underpin the generation of ecosystem services in the urban context. Based on semi-structured interviews to relevant policymakers and stakeholders and on the study of planning documents and greening policies, the research identifies the main actors who are involved in green planning and management in the city and in the metropolitan area. By analysing their green management and planning roles, economic resources and greening visions and priorities, the study depicts five coexisting green governance models. In particular, the research highlights the decreasing influence of public institutions in green planning and management and the rising relevance of private-public collaborations. These dynamics of green governance may affect the generation and the distribution of ecosystem services. On the one hand, greening in private-led regeneration processes tend toward recreational and final ecosystem services, aiming to raise land values. On the other hand, the civic projects of afforestation have evolved in territorial initiatives that go beyond the mere objective of implementing new green spaces, looking at broader planning themes – i.e. soft mobility and social welfare – demanding a stronger metropolitan coordination.

Citizen participation in multiscale planning: the case of “26 Local Strategies: A Metropolitan Plan” in the Rosario Metropolitan Area, Argentina (2016–2020)

One of the greatest challenges of contemporary planning lies in expanding the strategies and mechanisms of citizen participation in the different scales involved in urban-territorial transformation. In this context, this fieldnote explores the programme “26 Local Strategies: A Metropolitan Plan”, developed in the Rosario Metropolitan Area (AMR), Argentina, by the Rosario Metropolitan Coordination Entity (ECOMR), between 2016 and 2020. This case study is a significant contribution on the topic of participatory strategies in multilevel planning. During the formulation of 24 local urban plans and an interjurisdictional plan, which together constitute the metropolitan plan, it was possible to implement a multiscalar approach, with the wide participation of various social groups, entities, organisations and citizens involved, through which the urban and territorial policies of the AMR were co-designed for the following 10 years.

Institutional fragmentation and metropolitan coordination in Latin American cities: Are there links with city productivity?

AbstractThis paper provides empirical evidence on the impact of institutional fragmentation and metropolitan coordination on urban productivity in Latin American Cities. The use of night‐time lights satellite imagery and high resolution population data allow us to use a definition of metropolitan area based on the urban extents that result from the union between the formally defined metropolitan areas and the contiguous patches of urbanized areas with more than 500,000 inhabitants. Initial results suggest that the presence of multiple local governments within metropolitan areas generate opposite effects in urban productivity. On the one hand, smaller governments tend to be more responsive and efficient, which increases productivity. But, on the other hand, multiple local governments face co‐ordination costs that result in lower productivity levels.

The development of institutional capacities in the face of metropolitan coordination challenges in Mexico: the case of Toluca

At present, the government has raised diverse strategies to realize coordination processes in the metropolis; principally, there is observed the reinforcement of the juridical frame, directed to facilitate the intergovernmental association; the incorporation of organisms who promote actions of intermunicipality; and the design of instruments that complement the financing and planeation of projects to the interior of these spaces. Still with these attributes, one distinguishes that the metropolitan areas face the crisis state, especially, because in them there are perceived high levels of segregation, lack of sustainability, risks of low productivity and the increase of problematic urban. If one tries to reach high places standards of well-being, they must go, and even reorient, the implemented coordination strategies, which will be able to improve the quality of life of the population. In the configuration of integral processes of coordination and with major effectiveness grade in the metropolis, one admits that it is necessary to look that there exists certain grade of complementarity and harmony between the aspects that regulate and delimit the behaviors of the processes of coordination, the agents who are in charge of executing projects and promoting relations stable and structured between the actors involved in the intergovernmental relations, and in the guidelines and resources raised to realize interventions for these spaces. The present work takes as a target to analyze the components of metropolitan management that exist in Mexico, emphasizing its main characteristics, structures and the form in operate, it with the intention of identifying its scopes and limitations, which will be able to contribute attributes for the development of proposals that promote better governmental practices with the existing structure. The analysis modality is the Metropolitan area of Toluca, considered to be one of the metropolis more representative of the country in the incorporation of strategies of metropolitan coordination. Between the aspects emphasized and that are a part of the analysis they are: the incorporation of specific organisms for process promotion of coordination; the configuration of a system of planning for the metropolis; the recognition of the possibility of realizing actions of intermunicipality in the juridical frame; and the participation of the metropolis in the project development with resources of the Metropolitan Fund. The perspective that appears in the analysis, sets off of recognizing like the evolution and the status of the metropolitan phenomenon, serves for address the strategies of management and the possibilities of developing actions of public interest for these environments. The finds show that a dismantling exists between the analyzed components of metropolitan management; from the juridical thing there is not made clear the threshold of performance of the management, which is clear in the nonexistent declaration of faculties and attributions to carry out the metropolitan coordination; on the other hand, a frame institutional weak, that denotes few interference in the decision making of metropolitan; while in the financing instruments and planning there is perceived an insufficient joint of strategies directed to solve the central problems of the metropolis.

Metropolitan Coordination in Mexico

This paper reflects the theme of metropolitan coordination in Mexico. The Metropolitan phenomenon has been established as an urbanely complex and social reality. In this sense, this paper contextualizes this phenomenon in Mexico, and public policies in metropolitan areas are designed and formulated. Finally, it is that the problem is intergovernmental coordination so questions of institutional design than the subjects of planning or land use must be considered more.

Metropolitan Coordination in Mexico

This paper reflects the theme of metropolitan coordination in Mexico. The Metropolitan phenomenon has been established as an urbanely complex and social reality. In this sense, this paper contextualizes this phenomenon in Mexico, and public policies in metropolitan areas are designed and formulated. Finally, it is that the problem is intergovernmental coordination so questions of institutional design than the subjects of planning or land use must be considered more.

The Political Environment of Metropolitan Coordination: A Political Analysis of the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara (Mexico)

The Political Environment of Metropolitan Coordination: A Political Analysis of the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara (Mexico) Alberto Arellano Ríos Abstract This paper makes a political analysis of the Metropolitan in Mexico coordination the studying of the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, Jalisco. The text focuses on the institutional environment of the Metropolitan Government coordination. The case study is significant given that this urban area boasts with a long tradition in the planning and management of Metropolitan; in addition to be institutionally fragmented and a complex network of actors and institutions. In this way, and in a more particular way, analyzed the formulation and implementation of law of coordination Metropolitan. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/ppar.v3n1a3

Federalismo y políticas ambientales en la Región Metropolitana de Buenos Aires, Argentina

palabras clave | medioambiente urbano, politica urbana, areas metropolitanas. abstract | In any metropolitan region, the articulation between metropolitan scale of issues and the multiplicity of government jurisdictions poses a challenge for the implementation of environmental policies. Focused on the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Region, this article examines the coordination of metropolitan environmental policies in a federal context. The first part describes the metropolitan region and its main environmental problems, the way in which Argentine federalism assigns environmental competences to the different government levels and the mechanisms it sets for metropolitan governance, and the characteristics and flaws of the interjurisdictional organizations at work in the metropolitan region. The second part discusses the factors explaining those flaws. It argues that the shortcomings of the metropolitan coordination of environmental policies are explained by the interaction between federal institutions and other political system variables such as the dynamics of party-electoral accumulation, the setting of government agendas, the role of state bureaucracies, and the impact of environmental activism

L.A.'s Crown Jewels: Historical Governance and Finance Lessons

In contrast to academic debates over metropolitan coordination, which draw a sharp distinction between government and governance, we describe a third approach whereby existing regional and local public bureaucracies coordinate rule-making and policy implementation by functionally-specific local agencies. In particular, we consider the historical performance of two region-wide vehicles set up to promote cooperation across local jurisdictions - the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and Southern California Regional Airport Authority - in promoting regional cooperation, responding to contemporary challenges, and balancing the benefits and burdens of growth. The experiences of these agencies show the benefits of proper institutional design. Carefully designed power-sharing arrangements enhance policy effectiveness and legitimacy without unduly compromising local sovereignty. Arrangements that fail to specify the responsibilities of members, impose super-majority voting rules, or subject agency decision making to the whims of term limited elected officials often prevent public bureaucracies from carrying out their core mission.

Institutional arrangements for articulating land and water management in peri-urban catchment: example of the metropolitan region of Sao Paulo, Brazil

The development of mega-cities exerts an increasing pressure on water resources in their peri-urban areas. Rapid changes in land use in these areas, characterised by the specific hydrologic functions they provide for the city, has resulted in increased pressures on water availability and quality. In the past, the traditional dual (urban/rural) focus of the institutions, their preference for sectorial legislation, and end-to-pipe technological responses have not been able to deal with these tensions in the metropolitan region of Sao Paulo, in the context of high social inequalities, uncoordinated metropolitan sectorial policies, and insufficient monitoring and control. New institutional arrangements based on democratic and territorial management of water resources are promoting a new vision on planning, and better integration on land and water management. Their efficient implementation may require a better definition of specific instruments to sustain economical compatible activities, facilitate metropolitan coordination and support the participation of the marginalised communities living on the edge of the city.

The Provision of Social Infrastructure in New Urban Development in Three Australian States

Improvements in the planning and provision of social infrastructure in new urban development in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney have been implemented over the last decade. The main focus of attention has been on improved ‘metropolitan coordination systems’ or ‘urban development programs’. The systems operating in the three states are examined with particular reference to the origin of the initiatives, the bureaucratic and financial arrangements which are in place, and the respective roles of local and state governments. Major issues for the future are identified, inparticular the importance of establishing standards and costings of human services, the role of local government, the significance of funding issues and the need to explore alternative sources of financing.

Implications of Suburbanization for Metropolitan Political Organization

The development of politically independent suburbs began in earnest at the turn of the twentieth century, but their role in the metropolitan governmental complex is still being established. Efforts to consolidate and otherwise integrate fragmented local governments through massive political reorganization in the 1950s and early 1960s were essentially unsuccessful. In the meantime, other less gran diose devices for achieving a measure of metropolitan governmental coordination have flourished: special districts, shifting particular functions from municipalities to other larger scale governments, and inter-local agreements. The evidence is increasingly clear that suburbs persist because they provide life-style opportunities that are important to a large part of the populace but are not otherwise available through urban political institutions. Suburbs are increasingly beset, however, by the same kinds of local governmental problems that have long afflicted central cities, and their political independence does make long-term metropolitan planning and coordination very difficult. Major governmental reorganization of the metropolis does not seem likely, and recent changes in federal and state policies are modifying suburban political autonomy.