Metropolitan Governance: Future Necessity or Misplaced Dream?

Experts from multiple disciplines have argued in principle for the benefits of metropolitan governance, but how has it played out in practice? On September 19, IMFG Visiting Scholar Alan Harding addressed this question by drawing on his experience as Chief Economic Adviser to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority as well as his many years of academic research on metropolitan governance.

In his presentation, professor Harding assessed the arguments produced in favour of metropolitan governance, the extent to which real-world reforms have been driven by these arguments, the barriers that stand in the way of “rational” reform, and how Greater Manchester’s experience with metropolitan governance points to ways of overcoming at least some of those barriers.

This event was part of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy Distinguished Lecture Series.