Local governments in Northeast Ohio often collaborate with one another to provide services, pursue regional initiatives, and create regional plans. Collaborative arrangements can create efficiencies, save money, improve service quality, and boost regional vitality. But they also present costs and risks that leaders must weigh against potential benefits

Ganning, Joanna

Hilde, Thomas

Kellogg, Wendy A.

Rubado, Meghan

English

EngagedScholarship @ Cleveland State University

Cleveland State University 
EngagedScholarship@CSU 
Urban Publications Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs 
6-2020 
Thinking like a Region in Northeast Ohio? Factors that Predict 
Local Government Participation in Collaborative Policy and 
Planning 
Meghan Rubado 
Cleveland State University, m.rubado@csuohio.edu 
Joanna Ganning 
Cleveland State University, j.ganning@csuohio.edu 
Thomas Hilde 
Cleveland State University, t.hilde@csuohio.edu 
Wendy A. Kellogg 
Cleveland State University, w.kellogg@csuohio.edu 
Follow this and additional works at: https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/urban_facpub 
 Part of the Urban Studies and Planning Commons 
How does access to this work benefit you? Let us know! 
Repository Citation 
Rubado, Meghan; Ganning, Joanna; Hilde, Thomas; and Kellogg, Wendy A., "Thinking like a Region in 
Northeast Ohio? Factors that Predict Local Government Participation in Collaborative Policy and 
Planning" (2020). Urban Publications. 0 1 2 3 1661. 
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/urban_facpub/1661 
This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at 
EngagedScholarship@CSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Urban Publications by an authorized administrator 
of EngagedScholarship@CSU. For more information, please contact library.es@csuohio.edu. 
              Focus on Facts  
                     Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs – Cleveland State University 
                     June 2020, No. 1 
 
Thinking like a Region in Northeast Ohio? Factors that Predict Local 
Government Participation in Collaborative Policy and Planning 
 
Meghan Rubado, Assistant Professor: m.rubado@csuohio.edu  
Joanna Ganning, Associate Professor: j.ganning@csuohio.edu  
Thomas Hilde, Assistant Professor: t.hilde@csuohio.edu  
Wendy Kellogg, Professor: w.kellogg@csuohio.edu  
 
• Local governments in Northeast Ohio often collaborate with one another to provide services, 
pursue regional initiatives, and create regional plans. Collaborative arrangements can create 
efficiencies, save money, improve service quality, and boost regional vitality. But they also 
present costs and risks that leaders must weigh against potential benefits.  
 
• Urban decline poses additional challenges for collaboration in "shrinking" or "legacy city" 
regions. Population loss in Northeast Ohio paired with economically and environmentally 
unsustainable sprawl has produced many zero-sum choices in planning and policy making.  
 
• Studies about the region's future1 recommend policies to focus growth and development in 
established communities rather than in exurban areas. The lack of regional growth, however, 
produces a climate of conflict and skepticism as municipal leaders compete over scarce 
resources, particularly tax base. 
 
• To assess collaboration in this context of scarcity, we compiled 30 years of financial data from 
local governments throughout the region2 and paired it with regional planning participation data 
from the Levin Regional Cooperation Survey.3 We measured local participation in Northeast 
Ohio planning initiatives as well as the use of collaborative service arrangements. We find that:  
 
• Engagement in collaborative regional planning is low compared to collaboration for service 
provision. For example, in Cuyahoga County, financial data indicate that nearly all local 
governments used collaborative service agreements during the study period. Cities with 
stronger financial resources, larger population size, and/or higher voter turnout had greater 
rates of municipal collaboration for service provision, on average. 
 
• Engagement in collaborative regional planning initiatives is stronger for places that are 
closer to the City of Cleveland, have higher shares of black residents, have larger 
populations, have higher median household incomes, and/or have lower poverty rates. 
 
 
1 Including the recent and award-winning Vibrant NEO 2040, which provided an early framework for this research. 
2 Data on localities in the 12-county Northeast Ohio region come from the U.S. Census of Governments full finance 
censuses of 1977 through 2007. 
3 The 2018 Levin Regional Cooperation Survey of mayors and city managers in Cuyahoga County yielded 33 
responses (58% response rate), with 26 providing enough detail to be included in this analysis. Leaders scored their 
participation in specific regional planning initiatives from 0 (no participation) to 4 (maximum participation). 
• Figure 1 shows how participation in regional collaborative planning varies across Cuyahoga County's 
municipalities. 
 
Figure 1: Municipal Participation in Collaborative Regional Planning Initiatives 
 
• Interestingly, a city’s past experience with interlocal collaboration to provide services appeared to 
be unrelated to its level of engagement in collaborative regional planning. This suggests that 
previous collaborative relationships did not inspire participation in regional-scale planning and 
policy efforts. 
 
• Despite the challenges to collaborative governance that are distinct to the context of shrinking city 
regions, municipal leaders in Cuyahoga County have engaged in a wide range of collaborative 
engagements, as shown in Figure 2.  
 
Figure 2: Municipal Participation in Collaborative Regional Planning 
 
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Clean Ohio Conservation Fund
Western Reserve Land Conservancy
Cuyahoga River Remedial Action Plan
Greenspace/Greenprint Plan
NEO Regional Parks Consortium
Cuyahoga Valley Initiative/Towpath
EfficientGOVNOW Network
Team NEO
Our Region’s Economic Competitiveness Agenda
NEO Foodweb 2010
Connections 2030: Long-Range Transportation Plan
Transit 2025 Plan
Northeast Ohio Trade & Economic Consortium
VibrantNEO 2040
Percent of Municipalities Participating
HIGH - MAX
High to maximum 
participation
Low to medium 
participation 


Thinking like a Region in Northeast Ohio? Factors that Predict Local Government Participation in Collaborative Policy and Planning

Cleveland-Marshall College of Law

Cleveland State University EngagedScholarship@CSU Urban Publications Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs 6-2020 Thinking like a Region in Northeast Ohio? Factors that Predict Local Government Participation in Collaborative Policy and Planning Meghan Rubado Cleveland State University, m.rubado@csuohio.edu Joanna Ganning Cleveland State University, j.ganning@csuohio.edu Thomas Hilde Cleveland State University, t.hilde@csuohio.edu Wendy A. Kellogg Cleveland State University, w.kellogg@csuohio.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/urban_facpub  Part of the Urban Studies and Planning Commons How does access to this work benefit you? Let us know! Repository Citation Rubado, Meghan; Ganning, Joanna; Hilde, Thomas; and Kellogg, Wendy A., "Thinking like a Region in Northeast Ohio? Factors that Predict Local Government Participation in Collaborative Policy and Planning" (2020). Urban Publications. 0 1 2 3 1661. https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/urban_facpub/1661 This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at EngagedScholarship@CSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Urban Publications by an authorized administrator of EngagedScholarship@CSU. For more information, please contact library.es@csuohio.edu.               Focus on Facts                       Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs – Cleveland State University                      June 2020, No. 1  Thinking like a Region in Northeast Ohio? Factors that Predict Local Government Participation in Collaborative Policy and Planning  Meghan Rubado, Assistant Professor: m.rubado@csuohio.edu  Joanna Ganning, Associate Professor: j.ganning@csuohio.edu  Thomas Hilde, Assistant Professor: t.hilde@csuohio.edu  Wendy Kellogg, Professor: w.kellogg@csuohio.edu   • Local governments in Northeast Ohio often collaborate with one another to provide services, pursue regional initiatives, and create regional plans. Collaborative arrangements can create efficiencies, save money, improve service quality, and boost regional vitality. But they also present costs and risks that leaders must weigh against potential benefits.   • Urban decline poses additional challenges for collaboration in "shrinking" or "legacy city" regions. Population loss in Northeast Ohio paired with economically and environmentally unsustainable sprawl has produced many zero-sum choices in planning and policy making.   • Studies about the region's future1 recommend policies to focus growth and development in established communities rather than in exurban areas. The lack of regional growth, however, produces a climate of conflict and skepticism as municipal leaders compete over scarce resources, particularly tax base.  • To assess collaboration in this context of scarcity, we compiled 30 years of financial data from local governments throughout the region2 and paired it with regional planning participation data from the Levin Regional Cooperation Survey.3 We measured local participation in Northeast Ohio planning initiatives as well as the use of collaborative service arrangements. We find that:   • Engagement in collaborative regional planning is low compared to collaboration for service provision. For example, in Cuyahoga County, financial data indicate that nearly all local governments used collaborative service agreements during the study period. Cities with stronger financial resources, larger population size, and/or higher voter turnout had greater rates of municipal collaboration for service provision, on average.  • Engagement in collaborative regional planning initiatives is stronger for places that are closer to the City of Cleveland, have higher shares of black residents, have larger populations, have higher median household incomes, and/or have lower poverty rates.   1 Including the recent and award-winning Vibrant NEO 2040, which provided an early framework for this research. 2 Data on localities in the 12-county Northeast Ohio region come from the U.S. Census of Governments full finance censuses of 1977 through 2007. 3 The 2018 Levin Regional Cooperation Survey of mayors and city managers in Cuyahoga County yielded 33 responses (58% response rate), with 26 providing enough detail to be included in this analysis. Leaders scored their participation in specific regional planning initiatives from 0 (no participation) to 4 (maximum participation). • Figure 1 shows how participation in regional collaborative planning varies across Cuyahoga County's municipalities.  Figure 1: Municipal Participation in Collaborative Regional Planning Initiatives  • Interestingly, a city’s past experience with interlocal collaboration to provide services appeared to be unrelated to its level of engagement in collaborative regional planning. This suggests that previous collaborative relationships did not inspire participation in regional-scale planning and policy efforts.  • Despite the challenges to collaborative governance that are distinct to the context of shrinking city regions, municipal leaders in Cuyahoga County have engaged in a wide range of collaborative engagements, as shown in Figure 2.   Figure 2: Municipal Participation in Collaborative Regional Planning  0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%Clean Ohio Conservation FundWestern Reserve Land ConservancyCuyahoga River Remedial Action PlanGreenspace/Greenprint PlanNEO Regional Parks ConsortiumCuyahoga Valley Initiative/TowpathEfficientGOVNOW NetworkTeam NEOOur Region’s Economic Competitiveness AgendaNEO Foodweb 2010Connections 2030: Long-Range Transportation PlanTransit 2025 PlanNortheast Ohio Trade & Economic ConsortiumVibrantNEO 2040Percent of Municipalities ParticipatingHIGH - MAXHigh to maximum participationLow to medium participation 

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Thinking like a Region in Northeast Ohio? Factors that Predict Local Government Participation in Collaborative Policy and Planning

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