ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses one reason for the decreased salience of metropolitan government proposals stems from the very success of the structural innovation in several North American and European cities, including Toronto, Winnipeg, Minneapolis-St Paul and Stockholm, the cities. Metropolitan government is no longer the 'idea in good currency', to use Schon's apt phrase, that it was during the 1960s; yet, the problems that gave rise to its prominence - rapid growth, fragmented jurisdictions, inefficient and inequitable service delivery—continue to plague many urban areas. If metropolitan integration is to take place, a major role must be played by higher levels of government. The impact of increased federal funds is thus producing an incremental process of integration in US cities which is perhaps more likely to be successful than attempts to introduce metropolitan governments per se. The defeat of so many reorganization proposals in US cities has forced supporters of metropolitan integration to be more pragmatic in their approach.
