GETTING CITIES RIGHT: WHAT ROLE FOR METROPOLITAN

GOVERNANCE?

Marissa Plouin Urban Policy Analyst, OECD

1. “Getting cities right”: what can governments do?

2. Why metropolitan governance?

3. What does metropolitan governance look like? How can it be sustained?

2

Getting cities right:

What role for metropolitan governance?

3

Most people across the OECD live in

cities of varying sizes.

…Mexico is no exception.

4

Cities generate important benefits

… and costs.

5

What does it mean to get cities right?

An administrative logic: cities as administrative entities

Problem-driven, with a focus on issues cities as administrative entities

A narrowly defined urban agenda

A silo approach, with sectoral, fragmented responses to specific challenges

A functional logic: cities as functional economic areas

Strategic, with a focus on opportunities

A holistic approach

Integrated approaches to cross-cutting urban challenges

• By getting cities right, governments can serve a greater share of the population and the economy…

• …yet national governments need to think more strategically about cities.

6

Why is it so important to get cities right?

7

An OECD framework to assess national

policies, as they affect urban outcomes

• Take a broader view of cities and urban policy

• Improve co-ordination of sectoral policies at national level (e.g. housing, transport, tax, environment, energy, water)

• Empower cities to transition toward more efficient urban governance

8

What can governments do?

1. Getting cities right: what can governments do?

2. Why metropolitan governance?

3. What does metropolitan governance look like? How can it be sustained?

9

Getting cities right:

What role for metropolitan governance?

10

Metro governance can help match

public policies to today’s urban realities.

London

Local government fragmentation

hinders economic growth.

11

12

A doubling of fragmentation is associated

with 5-6% drop in productivity.

OECD estimates that a doubling of the number of municipalities per 100 000 inhabitants is associated with 5-6% decrease in productivity levels.

13

Metro governance helps manage the costs of

cities and leads to higher quality of life.

Metro-wide planning leads to less urban sprawl and greater satisfaction with public transport

• Improving co-ordination should be a means to an end, rather than an end in itself.

• What objectives for a metro governance body?

– Improved public service delivery

– More coherent, strategic urban planning

– Improved environmental management

14

Better co-ordination should not be the

end goal.

1. “Getting cities right”: what can governments do?

2. Why metropolitan governance?

3. What does metropolitan governance look like? How can it be sustained?

15

Getting cities right:

What role for metropolitan governance?

16

Metro governance bodies are

increasingly common across the OECD.

Average number of metro governance bodies created or reformed in OECD countries per decade

17

What do metro governance bodies do?

Regional development, transport and spatial planning are the core responsibilities of metro governance bodies

18

Four common approaches to metro

governance

Informal/soft co-ordination Inter-municipal authorities

Supra-municipal authorities Special status of “metropolitan cities”

19

When a metro body exists, it is often

informal/soft co-ordination.

Breakdown of metropolitan areas by type of governance arrangement

20

Budgets of metro governance bodies

can vary significantly.

Median budget per capita (USD, PPP)

21

Different factors can guide the choice

of a metro governance model

• What works in one metro area may not be easily replicable in another.

• Identifying the most relevant form of metro governance remains a matter of political and social choice.

• However, OECD experience suggests a number of guidelines for the process of effective metropolitan governance reform.

22

Key issues for metropolitan governance reforms

Framework conditions for the reform

Economic context

Political context

Social context

Building the reform

Rationale of reform

Demand for reform

Design of reform

Sustaining the reform

Leadership

Communication

Monitoring and evaluation

The process of reforming metro governance

is as important as the choice of the model.

23

Key steps for metro governance

reforms

• Identify a clear cause for collaboration and communicate on successful collaboration outcomes.

• Develop metropolitan leadership and/or ownership.

• Empower and engage stakeholders at an early stage, and ensure accountability and transparency.

• Strengthen the evidence base and track progress.

• Provide (or secure) sources of financing.

• Balance clear time frames and flexibility.

• The presence of a metropolitan authority does not guarantee policy co-ordination

• Budgets and staff of metropolitan governance bodies reflect variation in their powers

• Large metropolitan governance authorities are not always understood by residents

24

Anticipating challenges to metro

governance bodies

Gracias

26

27

…and can facilitate potential positive

spillover effects.

Yearly growth rates of GDP per capita in TL3 regions (1995-2010) and driving time to the closest large

metropolitan area of 2 million or more inhabitants

Proximity to cities has a positive impact on economic growth.