Metropolitan Governance

Abstract

The concept of metropolitan governance embraces the whole set of institutions and actions that rule or determine conditions for metropolitan territorial policy. It extends beyond the city or municipal jurisdictional boundaries, bypassing preexisting agreements and institutions, and demanding bigger geographical units and access to financial and human resources to deal with broader metropolitan issues. It enhances metropolitan economic productivity and competitiveness, social cohesion, and fiscal feasibility; solves interterritorial coordination issues; and approaches regional problems. Although in the literature the concept of metropolitan governance is subject to many different interpretations, there is consensus that it conveys conditions, restrictions, or specificities concerning the management of common public functions. These generally include all kinds of networks and forms of institutional or voluntary cooperation, regulation strategies, governance plans, local governmental bodies, capacities, interactions between public and private stakeholders, and agreements among different governmental and organizational layers. (c) 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. All rights reserved.