GOLD Report I - UCLG

METROPOLITAN GOVERNANCE272United Cities and Local GovernmentsSincethe emergenceof metropolitanareas asa widespread formof settlement,democratictheorists haveadvocatedcompounddemocratic formsof this natureThe depth of democracy refers to an aspirationthat may never be entirely met. Nonetheless,governance structures that comeclosest are those that go beyond multi-levelparticipation procedures and provide realempowerment to make participation meaningfulat each level, from neighborhoods tometropolitan councils. Mechanisms thatallow public participation in routine governmentalplanning and budgeting can alsodeepen democracy. Since the emergence ofmetropolitan areas as a widespread form ofsettlement, democratic theorists have advocatedcompound democratic forms of thisnature (Dahl 1969).V.4. Relations with higher-levelgovernmentsThe politics of metropolitan governance playsout at higher levels of government, as well aswithin metropolitan regions themselves. Fromthe perspective of leaders in metropolitanregions, effective governance often dependsupon bringing wider regional and nationalorganizations and resources to bear. As urbanregions have become increasingly extendedand connections with the hinterlands havegrown, a better understanding is needed ofthe changing dynamics of intergovernmentalrelations between large cities and othersurrounding regions.It can not be surprising that relations betweenmetropolitan regions and higher levelsof government vary widely. At one end of thespectrum are urban regions that have secureda central position in the national politicalprocess. Such cities contain the bulk of anation’s urban population, economic activityand cultural production. The metropolitanregion of Seoul, for instance, contains 47%of the Republic of Korean population; metropolitanLima contains 32% of the populationof Peru; metropolitan Buenos Aires has 32%of the Argentine population. The demographicweight of such cities often goes alongwith economic, political and cultural centrality.In the smaller countries of the North, thegrowth of cities into inter-connected regionshas sometimes created metropolitan regionswith a similar kind of primacy. In the Netherlands,for instance, the national economy revolvesaround the Randstad region thatencompasses Amsterdam, Rotterdam andthe Hague. Even with a smaller proportion ofthe national population, status as a nationalcapital can enhance the position of an urbanregion in the national economy and in theshaping of national policy.In the South, the political dominance of majorcities in the middle of the 20th Centuryprovoked criticism that “urban bias” in policymakinghad rewarded the urban elite at theexpense of citizens living in smaller settlementsand in rural areas (Lipton 1977; Bates1983). Although cities, especially the largest,remain more prosperous than rural areas,recent analyses have rejected such a broadconclusion. The increasing prosperity of citiessmall and large, the growth of poverty withincities, the democratization of national andlocal governments, and the growing interdependencyof city and countryside havefundamentally altered underlying assumptionsof that early analysis (Corbridge andJones 2005). Moreover, accumulating evidenceshows that policy intervention canalter economic and social disparities betweencities, as well as between cities and thecountryside (Overman and Venables 2005).National development in much of the Southnow hinges on the exploitation of jointadvantages in cities, in the countryside andin the rapidly growing zones in between.By comparison with other metropolitan regions,those with a favored position in nationalpolitics can benefit from advantages inpolicymaking as well as in economic and culturallife. Paris, for instance, has been a repeatedsite of major planning initiatives sincethe 19th Century. Similar initiatives in manysmaller French cities began only in the 1970s.Latin American capital cities such as Bogotaand Santiago, as well as Bangkok, Manila andSeoul in Asia, have been leaders in efforts tobuild metropolitan governmental institutions.However, some metropolitan regions, especiallyin the largest nations, lack a notable