ABSTRACT
The City region is a complex and subtle entity, made up of the entire range of diverse activities that link town and country. Towns have always had a sphere of influence which Professor Smailes has called the urban field. The spatial nature of sewage, water purification and water supply projects forced councils to cooperate. The Water Act 1967 established a new administrative structure for the water service in Scotland whereby the functions of 200 local water boards were transferred to 13 regional water boards, with a water development board to co-ordinate their activities. Society has gone to great lengths to change political structures to meet the challenge of the growth of the city region. In 1949 the Inglis Report on Transport in Glasgow and the Clyde Valley recommended the setting up of a coordinated transport authority and the replacement of the city's tramcars by electric trains on the suburban railways.
