Metropolitan Governance for Sustainable Urban Development: Review, Analysis and Best Practices

Dear Colleagues,

Urbanization is a megatrend which will significantly shape the economic, political and social transformation of societies and their spatial impacts. It is estimated that up to 70% of the global population will be living in cities by 2050. Future urban growth will almost exclusively take place in developing countries. Thereby, spatial and functional interrelations between cities, settlements and their surrounding rural areas are increasing, and the metropolitan scale is gaining more and more relevance for integrated urban and city-regional planning, governance, financing, and implementation (Pearson, 2016; Dijkstra et al., 2013). The linkages of metropolitan regions extend beyond administrative and political boundaries, and usually include a number of local governments, peri-urban and rural lands as well as neighboring cities. Regarding European scale, the European integration has led to a manifold and far-reaching involvement of cities in policies devised at the European level. In many respects, metropolitan regions and cities have become the concrete, practical testing grounds for EU rules, strategies and programmes (Antalovsky et al., 2005:3). One element of this restructuring of governance, developed during the 1990s, is the developing practice of metropolitan regions to become more concerned about their competitive position vis-à-vis other metropolitan regions, especially in the framework of the EU (Hall and Hubbard, 1998; Jessop, 1998; Cheshire and Gordon, 1996; Cheshire 1999; Salet et al., 2003:11). In this framework, an increasing focus is placed on metropolitan governance (MG) as an essential mechanism for cooperation beyond city boundaries, achieving efficiency gains for cost effectiveness, improving delivery of basic services for all, ensuring equitable distribution of resources, promoting balanced territorial development and many other needs. Following OECD (2015a, b), a key challenge for metropolitan governance is to provide effective coordination across municipal bodies to improve the growth and well-being of the city. MG has received great attention regarding theoretical conceptualization, best practices, strategic planning and implementation models and linkages to sustainable urban development the last several decades in both developed and developing regions and urban areas (i.e., Williams, 1999; Hohn and Neuer, 2006; Ambrousi et al., 2010; Klein and Tremblay, 2010; Baud et al., 2011; Patti, 2017; Davidson and Gleeson, 2018; Tolkki and Haveri, 2020).

The concept of sustainable cities and its links with sustainable development have been discussed since the early 1990s (UN, 2013). Since the Brundtland Commission’s report “Our Common Future” (WCED, 1987) and over the last several decades, there has been extensive research analysis regarding the concept of Sustainable Urban Development (SUD) (i.e., Klopp and Petretta, 2017; Scipioni et al., 2009; Naess, 1995) or Urban/City Sustainability (i.e. Alberti, 1996; Maclaren, 1996; Turcu, 2013). In addition, the planning of sustainable development should take into account the analysis of local economic forces, the local environmental conditions and, finally, cultural and social distinctive characteristics (i.e., Annan 2002; Bagheri and Hjorth, 2007; Conroy and Berke, 2004; Kain and Sodelberg, 2008). The approaches above award in particular three main dimensions of sustainable development in the long-term horizon, directly connected with urban environment: the economic, environmental and social dimensions (i.e., Dempsey et al., 2011; Dhahri and Omri, 2018).

The main aim of this Special Issue is to define, evaluate and discuss the role and the significance of MG as crucial element for SUD achievement. To satisfy this aim, this proposal welcomes a variety of scientific approaches regarding theoretical considerations, conceptual models and of course best practices and case studies of successful and efficient examples. These approaches can be related to several areas of analysis, such as strategic planning, spatial planning, environment, society and community, infrastructures, technology, participatory models, institutional capacity etc.

Dr. Theodore Metaxas
Guest Editor

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• metropolitan governance and sustainable urban development
• metropolitan regions
• strategic planning
• spatial planning
• participatory models
• socio-ecological imperatives
• institutional change and sustainable development
• local authorities capacity