Territorial Review Copenhagen - Region Hovedstaden

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Box 3.3. Relations between metropolitan areas and central
government: the case of the Randstad
The Randstad is the urbanised western part of the Netherlands, composed of
the four largest cities in the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague
and Utrecht) and several other smaller cities. This polycentricity requires some
form of co-ordination, especially since the proximity of the different urban poles
results in many spillover effects. Co-ordination could be required in transport
and economic development, and also as regards cluster development, higher
education, housing and office space, all of which involve numerous government
actors. The Randstad falls within four provinces, and 147 municipalities lie
within its unofficial boundaries, creating a challenge not with regards to
horizontal co-ordination but as regards relations with the central government. A
multiplicity of platforms for co-ordination appears in many cases not to have
resulted in the required co-ordination. In response to a perceived lack of coordination,
the mayors of the four largest cities proposed in 2006 to create one
province for the Randstad. This proposal provoked a lively debate, underlining
both the need for better co-ordination and the difficulty in finding politically
feasible reforms.
Following the OECD Metropolitan Review of the Randstad, which was
published in 2007, the Netherlands‘ national government decided to produce a
Randstad urgency program, outlining actions to be taken in the short and long
term. Key themes in this agenda were accessibility, economic dynamism, quality
of life and sustainability, stressing joint responsibility for implementation of the
programme. Rather than trying to change government structures, for example by
creating a Randstad province, the objective was to find partnerships that will be
able to achieve results. A new way of creating the requisite political
commitment has been to propose two responsible partners for each project. One
central government minister or state secretary and one regional politician are
made responsible for the progress of the project. Funds were made available for
33 projects. A Minister for the Randstad has been appointed who will hold the
33 sets of partners accountable for progress on their projects.
3.2.3 Representation of interests of Copenhagen in Danish
Parliament
Denmark has a proportional parliamentary system with considerable
regional malapportionment. The 179 members of its unicameral parliament,
the Folketing, are elected by a two-tier, six-stage proportional representation
system. A total of 135 seats are filled by multi-member electoral districts
grouped into three electoral regions. The remaining 40 seats are
compensatory seats, to guarantee that the distribution of seats reflects not
only the dominance of parties in the regions, but is also proportional on a