Book Launch | The Boundary Bargain: Growth, Development, and the Future of City-County Separation

Urban and rural areas used to be distinct entities with different values, economies, labour trends, and ways of life but, over time, they have converged. Most provincial governments have linked rural and urban areas through institutions such as regional governments, but many counties still have a separated city. In these cases, the urban city has no institutional connection to the rural county around it. This talk presented findings from a new book about the peculiarities of city-county separation. What are the dangers of having municipal institutions that are too rigid to modernize, and what does it mean for the future of regional governance in Ontario?

Zachary Spicer is Assistant Professor at Brock University, where he teaches and conducts research in the areas of local government and public policy. He is a former IMFG post-doctoral fellow. Click here to pre-order his new book, The Boundary Bargain: Growth, Development, and the Future of City-County Separation.