The Forgotten Dimension of Central-Local Relations: Theorising the ‘Regional State’

Administrative Systems and Metropolitan Regions

In recent years the two-tier model of metropolitan government has declined in importance as metropolitan authorities have been circumscribed, weakened, or abolished. At the same time, however, new urban patterns and changing political and economic circumstances are creating needs that point to the continued validity of the two-tier model. In particular, economic pressures resulting from global competition, and societal pressures associated with the need for sustainable development, are providing a basis for new responsibilities and new expectations with regard to metropolitan governance, and there continues to be a case for two scales of response. A major point of difference from the past is that the metropolitan scale is now much larger in spatial terms, and as a result it is useful to consider the upper tier in terms of regional or mesolevel government, and the concept of city-region, adapted to present-day circumstances, may provide a useful framework for future development. Recent proposals for Toronto are illustrative of the changing needs with regard to metropolitan government.

Rescaling and Regional Governance: The English Regional Development Agencies and the Environment

The establishment of Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in the English regions will bring about an important change in UK regional governance. A key area of contention and struggle is likely to occur over the contribution of the RDAs to sustainable development. Although the pursuit of sustainable development is a stated goal of the RDAs, in this paper we argue that this goal is likely to be compromised by tensions and contradictions emerging in the evolving new governance landscape of England. In terms of promoting sustainable-development policy, the regional scale of the UK state is becoming materially and discursively significant, and a particular focus of struggles around economic and environmental issues. These struggles strategically intersect with wider processes of reregulation and rescaling in the UK state. We not only consider the practical policy implications of integrating the economy and environment at the regional scale, but also analyse emerging tensions in regional governance in the light of processes of social reregulation and rescaling within the UK state. We argue that theoretical approaches to the latter need to incorporate the uneven process of rescaling and the contingent nature of regional state forms and institutions.