A European perspective of Inter-Municipal cooperation: The institutionalisation of the metropolis (2005 - 2015)
Date
2016
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AESOP
Abstract
In today’s inter-connected world, governments rarely possess the full capability to solve their individual policy areas (Nelles, 2010), municipal borders are often ‘fictitious’ within larger metropolitan territories and all communities are confronted with the increasing scale and complexity of social processes, which result in increasing number of externalities to local policies. The necessity to think beyond municipal boundaries when dealing with key challenges and opportunities has led several European governments to consider exploring inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) as possible institutional solutions. In European context, national governments and the European Union have increased their focus on IMC for regional and metropolitan governance in the past ten years. This is illustrated by several recent institutional reports on the subject (Ahrend, Gamper, & Schumann, 2014; EUROCITIES, 2011; Göddecke-Stellmann et al., 2011; Griesel & van de Waart, 2011; Meijers, Hoogerbrugge, & Hollander, 2012; Tasan-Kok & Vranken, 2011). Academic literature has not, however, kept up with this policy shift, having far fewer academic Europe-wide comparative studies produced in the same period of time (Feiock, 2007; Hulst & Van Montfort, 2007; Otgaar, 2008). This gap between institutional interest and academic productions is important to acknowledge, as it essentially signifies a contemporary political trend in European metropolitan governance that is undergoing fewer academic methodical analysis than would be expected.
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Proceedings of the IV World Planning Schools Congress, July 3-8th, 2016 : Global crisis, planning and challenges to spatial justice in the north and in the south
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