| Metropolitan areas and local governments in Federal Orders |
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| Boris Graizbord |
During the last half of the 20th century most countries of the world
experienced an exceptional demographic growth and some traditional
cities suffered a physical urban expansion overflowing their historical
jurisdictional limits. A new urban form, the metropolis, became the
locus of economic, social and cultural life for more than half the urban
population in both developed and developing nations. It produced a
continuous urban landscape socially differentiated and administratively
fragmented. As federal systems recognize the municipality as the basic
unit of government, various questions should be answered in order to
fully profit from the advantages that local governments offer in terms
of flexibility, local democracy and power of election:
- How to respond positively to necessary intergovernmental relations
(vertical and horizontal) in a metropolitan context?
- How to manage differences (demographic, social and economic) among
local governments within a metropolitan region?
- How to establish the necessary channels for all local stakeholders to
participate in the local public decision making process?
This paper presents preliminary ideas around the above questions and
other related issues. It is divided in seven sections. The first
describes the way cities are classified according to size and function.
The second raises the question of metropolitan fragmentation; the third
tries to answer what is at stake in public local administration and
management; the next two present a few ideas about governance and local
public services. The local finance section gives some information about
decentralization tendencies and the capacity to generate local revenues.
Finally, the last section touches some basic issues of public
participation. A list of readings is included at the end.
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