The Role of Local Government Collaboration in Legacy Cities

Abstract

In the United States’ decentralized federalist system, cities are situated within complex, layered, and often highly fragmented systems of government. This creates hurdles, but also opportunities, for solving the problems faced by legacy cities and the regions they anchor. In regions throughout the country, the scale of local government boundaries often to do not match the scale of the problems they face. This mismatch of scale has been identified as “the central problem for modern public administration” (Kettl 2006, 10). The boundary mismatch is a reality faced by all local governments, but in legacy cities contributes to especially “wicked problems” (Rittel and Webber 1973) that more regularly demand collaborative strategies. For example, the population loss and sprawl associated with legacy city status creates hollowedout central cities with dramatically reduced human and financial capital available to support policy solutions (see chapter 3). They become poorer and with more concentrated poverty as middleclass residents continue flight to the suburbs, many of which also have stagnant or declining populations (Brachman 2012; see also chapter 7). In legacy cities, the scale of decline means the city government will more often need to collaborate to solve problems. To create successful policy and effectively deliver public goods and services, cities may need to coordinate with neighboring municipalities and special districts, with private companies and nonprofit organizations, and with higher levels of government, including states and the federal government. Legacy cities have long been engaged in cooperation and collaboration in their attempts to solve local and regional problems. They have done so using a variety of strategies and in a variety of contexts and, as such, have