Metropolitan governance - spatial planning: local government in adjustment or isolation?

Abstract

Institutional consolidation of Local Government has been a key element of the changes that have taken place in Europe, especially over the past 30 years. Local Government is increasingly accountable and is increasingly expected to play a role in the Local Economic Development (L.E.D.) of the wider region to which it belongs geographically and administratively. This article presents the basic rhetoric about metropolitan governance and space planning: their strategic and organizational positions in Europe and its pilot applications in Greece. The article concludes with the formulation of some issues related to the potential effects of metropolitan public policies on the smaller local community formations.