Regional Governance in North America

Abstract

The local government system was established in most nations to meet the needs of more rural, isolated, limited-service communities. Communities provided limited services and were often quite autonomous and independent because communication and transportation systems were slow. As countries industrialized, they also urbanized. Urbanization brought increased demand for community services. Technological changes also provided additional opportunities and demands for new and improved local governmental services. The traditional local governing structure of most countries does not contemplate a metropolitan-scale government. Governmental systems usually consist of a national government, a sub-national government level (states or provinces) and local governments. As countries urbanized and development spilled over traditional local government borders, metropolitan regions emerged with new governing challenges and issues. Most traditional governing systems are not well equipped to handle regional governance issues.