The Delrio law has been ruling in Italy since the beginning of 2015, and it defines the boundaries of the ex Italian provinces, as metropolitan perimeters. Consequently, numerous problems have arisen from the resulting spatial configuration, both in terms of governance and metropolitan visioning, since only in very few cities the newly established metropolitan boundaries are coherent with urban systems’ dynamics and changes. The analysis of the Italian case helps to demonstrate that effective metropolitan governance does not stem only from a Government-driven and top down provision, and confirms that metropolitan development and governance require the development and strengthening of no-statutory and voluntary approaches, with a strong involvement of the business community. In order to illustrate and critically evaluate the recent Italian experience, this paper presents the results of a comparative analysis of a range of European polycentric metropolitan and industrial areas: Amsterdam (NL), Rotterdam-Den Haag (NL), Lille (FR), Barcelona (ES), Ruhrgebeit (DE). After a dramatic crisis caused by deindustrialisation and economic restructuring, they are all focusing on innovation, the establishment of new high-quality local services, and greater orientation to international competitiveness. These strategies do not stem directly from Government-driven regulation for local authorities, but are, to a large extent, dependent upon cooperative and nostatutory efforts. Moreover, the spatial scales of these initiatives are not always coincident with previous administrative boundaries.
As a result, both in case of institutionalized metropolitan authorities as formal level of government, and in case of the absence of formal metropolitan institutions, this paper demonstrates that territorial cooperation is the essential basis for any metropolitan process, that often imply associations of municipalities and other local actors, sharing a common vision, and implementing strategic development projects
