ABSTRACT
Following the analytical framework presented in Chapter 2, the aim of this chapter is to assess area-wide governance in the two largest Spanish metropolitan areas: Madrid and Barcelona. As examined in the first sections, both cases show different patterns of governance, even if they are embedded in a common political and territorial structure. In the following section of the chapter we analyse their specific characteristics in relation to the three dimensions of metropolitan democracy: the tension of policy networks (openness/closeness), the legitimisation of local governments (input/output oriented) and the relationships between the state and civil society.
