Competitive sub-metropolitan regionalism: Local government collaboration and advocacy in northern Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

In contrast with attention to city-regions as motors of the global economy, alternative perspectives indicate the rising complexity of metropolitan forms. The coherency of city-regions, their management and the intensity of political benefits from outwardly radiating opportunities can therefore be considered problematic. Symbolic of this complexity is the emergence of sub-metropolitan regions, or sub-regions within city-regions, that seek to better position themselves within global economic flows and public-sector funding allocations. Careful assessment is necessary as place-based factors, including multi-level government structures and prevailing inter-government relations, shape resulting regional governance formations. In the Australian context, the significance of the state government level and a dearth of commentary on local government advocacy are highlighted. Within expansive Melbourne, regional wedge-based forms of collaboration involving local councils are identified, some having historical equivalents and overlapping regional governance structures. Specific attention is directed towards northern Melbourne where seven local councils forged a regional collaborative approach in the early 2010s after reflecting upon local and regional experiences and the achievements of other metropolitan and Victorian regions. A ratcheting upwards of advocacy endeavours is identified as symbolised by government delegations, advocacy documents, connections between regional governance structures and deliberation over how advocacy can be made more impactful. Future research priorities include comparative investigations to better document and conceptualise local and regional advocacy approaches and experiences, plus analysis of the counterstrategies designed by higher government levels to manage competing sub-metropolitan regions.

Policy mobility, advocacy and problem–potential bridging practices: A review of Scottish city council tax incremental financing business cases

“…Whilst TIF business cases have been investigated here, the identified advocacy practices have broader relevance in terms of local government applications for additional funding, grants or investments. Other relevant dimensions include considering the potential contradiction of relational or collaborative advocacy by otherwise territorially competitive local authorities and how local/regional advocacy practices evolve over time, including via reflective learning, scanning, officer movement and shared consultancies (Henderson, 2018a(Henderson, , 2019b(Henderson, , 2020. In developing a fuller demand-side understanding, it is equally important to reflect upon the instances where desired outcomes are achieved and the political and policy situations within which success might be considered more likely (Henderson, 2018b;Pike and Tomaney, 2009), as indeed the Aberdeen case is also suggestive of.…”

“…to exploit redistributive mechanisms'. In consideration of continuing state managerial tendencies, local government must be viewed as an advocate for additional government funding and/or policy settings (Henderson, 2018a(Henderson, , 2018b(Henderson, , 2019b(Henderson, , 2020Pike and Tomaney, 2009). Policy mobility studies must therefore be alert to the role of local authorities in demanding that higher government tiers adopt preferred policies or provide for permissive use where desired policies are competitively or selectively available.…”

“…The latter situation is viewed as reinforcing the importance of bridging practices in securing government support, for example, drawing upon regional development theories (Pike and Tomaney, 2009). Whilst past research into local government advocacy acknowledges the deployment of 'business cases' in a loose sense (Henderson, 2018a(Henderson, , 2019b(Henderson, , 2020, resulting documents, like other 'travelling policy technologies and texts', require deconstruction and rigorous examination (Peck and Theodore, 2012: 23). This paper now focuses on the Scottish Government's adoption of tax incremental finance (TIF), Scottish local authority business cases for TIF and the practices councils have deployed within business cases to demand TIF authorisation.…”

“…Spatial variation in levels of autonomy must be acknowledged and accounted for. Demandside interpretations of policy mobility must therefore be cognisant of the occurrence of inter-government advocacy and the practices local authorities adopt to gain influence (Henderson, 2018a(Henderson, , 2018b(Henderson, , 2019b(Henderson, , 2020Pike and Tomaney, 2009). The remainder of this paper is divided into three sections, followed by a concluding discussion.…”

Regionalizing the infrastructure turn: a research agenda

“…Infrastructure and regional governance Regional politics must be to some degree territorially bounded and research should recognize processes of collective agency and decision-making (Glass, 2018;Keil, Hamel, Boudreau, & Kipfer, 2017). The regional restructuring of urban territoriality may be a pervasive global tendency, but reifying city-regions as coherent spatial and political units hides a multitude of sins: downplaying the complexities of managing intra-regional governance and the persistence of subregional competition and fragmentation (Henderson, 2018;Keil & Addie, 2015;Nelles, 2012). Adjusting our analytical lens to the regional level almost inevitability multiples the number of actors, organizations, and institutions implicated in infrastructure development, service delivery, and maintenance.…”