Towards a typology of inter-municipal cooperation in emerging metropolitan regions. A case study in the solid waste management sector in Ecuador

Inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) is a widely studied governance solution. Most literature defines IMC as a particular service delivery arrangement. However, we argue that IMC manifests itself in several forms and thus a broader definition is necessary. To explore this, we conducted a case study in the solid waste management sector of the emerging metropolitan region in Cuenca-Azogues, Ecuador. Emerging metropolitan regions are particularly suitable for analysing IMC, and so far, there are few studies on IMC in Latin America. Based on the discrepancy between previous studies and the results of our research, we develop a new definition and a new typology of IMC, which can be related to multiple service delivery arrangements

Potential for comparative public opinion research in public administration

The public administration and public services have always taken a marginal place in the political scientists’ behavioural research. Public administration students on the other hand tend to focus on political and administrative elites and institutions, and largely ignored citizens in comparative research. In this article we make a plea for international comparative research on citizens’ attitudes towards the public administration from an interdisciplinary perspective. Available international survey material is discussed, and main trends in empirical practice and theoretical approaches are outlined, especially those with a potential impact on public sector reform

Phantom pain or a real loss? The impact of the loss of regional capital status on economic development and position in the hierarchy of the settlement system

Territorial-administrative reform implemented in 1998-1999 has reduced number of administrative regions in Poland from 49 to 16. Consequently 31 cities lost their status of voivodeshipregional capitals (two of new regionsvoivodeships have two capital cities each). The change raised protests and a lot of fears ofboth local authorities and local communities in those cities. They were afraid that lower administrative status would result not only in less jobs in public administration, but indirectly, it would also negatively affect economic development of cities. Those fears were met with understanding of central government who offered special support programme for those 31 cities (although the programme has never been fully implemented). The article verifies to what extent the actual development ion period ( 1998-2013) period confirmeds those negative expectations. The main research question is whether the loss of the status of the voivodeship regional capital administrative status is reflected in the subsequent worsening of the position in the hierarchy of cities. The changes of hierarchy are measured by anthe index based on several variables related to their population size, migration trends and economic development of the cities (measured by changes in property tax base, revenues from personal and corporate income taxes as well as level of unemployment). The question has not only empirical character but also theoretical importance for understanding of the impact of administrative status on economic position of the cities, which is discussed in classic urban theories staring from the Christaller's central places theory. Earlier research which concentrated on the perception of the change provided evidences of the strong subjective loss in the farmer voivodeship regional capitals, felt both by local communities and local political elites. But studies based on economic indicators led to less conclusive results. However, those earlier studies were conducted either tao early to take into account the long-term impact of the change or were based on over-simplistic methodological assumptions. Two reduce the impact of other alternative factors influencing development of cities, but not relevant to this study, and to focus on the impact of administrative status, this study e analysis of this article concentrates on comparisons of two pairs of cities: • Rrelatively big cities (population between 100,000 and -250,000 population)) cities which lost regionalthe status of voivodeship capitals in 1998 with a group of similar size cities which maintained the regional capital status;. • Ssmaller cities (50-100,000 population between 50,000 and 100,000) cities which lost regional capital status in 1998 with a group of similar size cities which have never been regionalvoivodeship capitals. The study it takes into account nort only the change trend after the 1998/99 reform, but also refers to compares it with an earlier trends (in 1992-1998 period) and to assesses the change ( or the lack of change) being result of the administrative reorganization. Empirical evidences suggest that, surprisingly, the smaller 50-100,000 population cities which have never been regionalvoivodeship capitals, have been the group which after 1998/99 reform has moved upward in the cities hierarchy in a most visible way. The impact of administrative status is therefore often over-estimated. Although there are cities which moved downward in the hierarchy of cities after the 1998/99 change, but there are also numerous cities which has improved their economic position significantly, in spite of the loss of regional administrative importancestatus. This trend is not significantly different from the one noted among cities which have maintained the voivodeshipregional capital status. The empirical investigation presented in thise article has been conducted within the frame of the research project on "East-German and Polish Cities in the Process of European Integration (CIT-IN)", funded by the German-Polish Scientific Foundation

Social and political differentiation of Polish urban agglomerations — vanilla centre, suburban mosaic

Autorzy opracowania przedstawili różnice społeczne i polityczne pomiędzy centrum a strefą podmiejską w 21 polskich aglomeracjach. Centralne obszary aglomeracji charakteryzują się najlepszymi warunkami życia (pomiar wsaźnikiem „uciążliwości”), natomiast strefa podmiejska gorszymi. Ta ostatnia strefa wykazuje rosnące zróżnicowanie, zwłaszcza w aglomeracjach odnoszących największe korzyści w procesie transfonnacji (Warszawa, Poznań). Wzory zachowań politycznych nawiązują do warunków życia ludności. Mniejsza „uciążliwość” wiąże się z większą aktywnością polityczną (frekwencja wyborcza) i poparciem dla partii politycznych przewodzących procesowi transfonnacji.The paper is focused on internal social and political variations of Polish agglomerations. It analyses the differences between central city and suburb zones using the concept of "hardship index" developed by Nathan and Adams. It asks whether differences in the hardship index influence political attitudes measured by voting behaviour (turnout in elections, "political colour" of voters). Contrary to the archetypal pattern of the "chocolate city and vanilla suburb" metropolitan area, in Polish agglomerations central cities are usually better off than suburb municipalities. However, the average values are largely misleading since in the suburb zone we deal with a mixture of very affluent (sometimes more affluent than central cities) and much poorer communities. The paper shows that political behaviour is significantly correlated with the value of the "hardship index". There is a higher turn-out and lower support for extremist parties in more affluent communities

The impact of toursim'on financial situation and development of Polish towns (the case of middle-sized towns)

Celem opracowania jest wykazanie istotnej roli turystyki jako czynnika rozwoju miast średniej wielkości w Polsce. Wykazano wpływ funkcji turystycznej miasta na wielkość budżetów miejskich, wydatki budżetowe i zamożność mieszkańców.It is commonly acknowledged that tourism can be an important factor stimulating the economy at the national, regional and local level. The role of tourism in the development of the local economy can also be observed in Poland. The paper strives to prove that tourism can be a significant development factor for middle-sized towns. The influx of tourists is reflected in the volumes of the municipal budgets and, as a rule, the financial standing of towns with a well-developed tourist function is better than others. The tourist function also influences budgetary expenditures as tourist towns have higher expenditures related to the maintenance of cleanliness and order, promotion, development of road infrastructure, etc. The development of tourism is also reflected in the wealth of the local population, although not as much as in the level of personal income tax paid by the local citizens. This can be explained by the fact that a large part of tourist services - just as elsewhere in the world- is provided "off the record"