Testing the elastic-cities concept within a nonmetropolitan environment: evidence from British Columbia, Canada, 1971 to 2001

In this study I tested the elastic-city hypothesis within a nonmetropolitan environment. Elastic cities are defined as employing aggressive annexation strategies that result in more effective planning control over the city-region, higher population increases, stronger tax bases, and healthier urban-regional economies than those of nonelastic cities. Principal component analysis was used to analyze and model the elasticity of British Columbia’s approximately 100 municipal governments for a thirty-year period, 1971 – 2001. The findings do not completely support the correlation between a municipality’s elastic boundary and growth or development. In fact, the picture is more complex than suggested by Rusk’s elastic-cities concept. Annexing municipalities do not exhibit stronger population growth, newer dwellings, or economic development when compared with nonannexing municipalities. Annexation may be contributing to rural – urban sprawl rather than more-compact development patterns.

Toward regional transportation governance: a case study of Greater Vancouver

This paper discusses the evolving institutional structure and governance of transportation planning, policy development and transit delivery within one major North American city-region, the Greater Vancouver area. Various methods of transportation governance are explored from complete independence to full regional integration. The move away from a direct provincial role in transportation management to a greater regional transit authority is discussed and critiqued. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1999governance, policy development, regional transportation, transit management, transit planning, Vancouver,

The Politics of Municipal Annexation: The Case of the City of London's Territorial Ambitions during the 1950s and 1960s

Southern Ontario's local government system was under considerable stress immediately following the Second World War as rapid urban growth spilled over traditional municipal units. This situation generated a number of potential local government reforms. The paper focuses on the politics surrounding one type of reform, annexation. The London-Middlesex region is used as a case study to answer the question: why, how, and under what conditions did annexation come to dominate the regional political discourse? The paper examines the political tactics, procedures, and strategies that the City of London employed to support and articulate its territorial ambitions before the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) and other forums during the 1950s and 1960s. London's 1961 annexation was the fiercest and final annexation battle that the OMB decided between the city and Middlesex County. The paper also unpacks the politics surrounding the 1961 annexation by reviewing the minutes of local council meetings, government reports, records of the OMB, and newspaper articles. It concludes that London's annexation success resulted from the city's superior political skills, a disorganized rural opposition, and the proceedings and operations of the OMB that divorced the issue of municipal boundaries from local governance, thereby biasing the outcome in favour of annexation.Le réseau municipal du sud de l’Ontario a été considérablement ébranlé immédiatement après la Seconde Guerre mondiale lorsque le rapide essor urbain s’est mis à progresser au-delà des limites des municipalités existantes. Cette situation a engendré plusieurs tentatives de réforme sur le plan municipal. Cet exposé porte sur la politique que suscite un type de réforme particulier, soit l’annexion. La région de London-Middlesex fait l’objet d’une étude de cas destinée à illustrer pourquoi, comment et dans quelle conjoncture l’annexion en est venue à dominer le discours politique régional. On examine les tactiques, les stratégies et les moyens d’action politiques employés par la ville de London pour présenter et appuyer ses ambitions territoriales devant la Commission des affaires municipales de l’Ontario et dans d’autres contextes au cours des années 1950 et 1960. L’annexion du comté de Middlesex à London en 1961 a été l’enjeu de la dernière et de la plus acharnée des luttes que la Commission a eu à trancher à l’égard d’un tel rattachement. L’examen des procès-verbaux des assemblées des conseils locaux, des rapports gouvernementaux, des dossiers de la Commission et des articles de journaux révèle également la politique que cette annexion a fait naître. On conclut que le succès de la démarche entreprise par London a découlé de la remarquable habileté politique de son administration et du manque d’organisation des opposants ruraux, ainsi que des procédés et activités de la Commission qui, en ayant pour effet de séparer la question des frontières municipales de celle de la gestion publique, ont favorisé l’annexion