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Metagovernance refers to a theory of how governments steer decentralised networks by indirectly shaping the rules and norms of those networks. This article develops metagovernance conceptually and empirically by looking at the use of ‘hands-off’ metagovernance tools in the case of English devolution, which encompass the ‘designing’ and ‘framing’ of local governance networks in the process of their reconfiguration. These concepts provide insights into how a Conservative-led Coalition Government subtly centralised power in the process of devolution to city-regions. Our analysis shows how discursive framing, fiscal conditioning and the recomposition of local governance networks produced a reworking of centre-local and intra-local power relations in a way which allowed the Treasury to shape the priorities of a set of ‘devolution deals’ with regional authorities, emphasising boosting economic growth and improving public services. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Against a background of international commitments to establish ecologically coherent and representative MPA networks, and the UK Marine Bill which aims to implement these commitments, the larval dispersal potential of 31 rare/scare benthic invertebrates is investigated and it is found that over half have a low dispersal potential (<1km). On the basis of this, interviews with experts and an analysis of relevant literatures, it is argued that the establishment of representative MPA networks may be a reachable objective, as it is scientifically more realistic and thereby more defensible, whilst the aim of establishing ecologically coherent MPA networks may be a bridge too far. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper proposes a novel heuristic-based and cellular automata-inspired approach to the optimal design of water distribution networks. The design of water distribution networks is of central importance to the water industry, but many networks cannot be optimally designed by traditional techniques due to their complexity. Genetic algorithms have become a state-of-the-art technique for this purpose but are hampered by the fact that they are population based and require a large number of model evaluations to achieve good solutions. The proposed approach uses a parallel, localist, heuristic-based algorithm to optimally design water distribution networks requiring only a limited number of model evaluations. The algorithm is applied to a well-known simple test network and two real water distribution systems in the U.K. The results indicate that the proposed cellular approach is a viable alternative to genetic algorithm approaches while using only a fraction of the computational time required by its evolutionary counterpart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]