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Executive Summary
One of the significant challenges facing local authorities is their ability to work with others in their region to tackle issues related to sustainability. Water, air, transportation and pollution are among many issues that do not respect political boundaries. Competition between neighboring cities may lead to decisions that undermine their own environmental or social interests. Duplication of administrative services can prevent the most efficient use of resources. In response, provincial or state jurisdictions often force mergers of cities and the cities, towns and villages that are immediately adjacent to them. Whether these mergers have solved the problems or simply created new ones is a matter for continuing debate. In this paper we distinguish ' governance' from 'government' as involving a collaboration of the public, private, and civil society sectors. The paper is limited to the examination of non-traditional forms of governance with an emphasis on consensus that have emerged in a Canadian context and respond to three questions.
Are there models of cooperation across jurisdictions that might provide lessons for city regions that do not require mergers? Are there models for management of global common goods – such as watersheds, that do not involve legislative powers? Are there models based on consensus and voluntary agreements across sectors that show promise for influencing decision making related to sustainability?
In this paper, we begin examining these questions by focusing on three Canadian case examples: the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD); the Fraser Basin Council (FBC); and the National Round Table on the Environment and Economy (NRTEE). The models are assessed using UN HABITAT's criteria for good governance and also with respect to process attributes and lessons.
The findings, along with pertinent literature and experience on governance and capacity-building, yield observations and recommendations about their application to other cities. The three cases offer much that is instructive but attempts to adapt them to other circumstances and locations must be respectful of local traditions and contexts.