Local Government's Ability to Manage Growth in a Metropolitan Context. Paper Series No. 5287.

This report focuses on the increasingly widespread concern over the ability of local government to exert sufficient leverage on population, economic, and spatial growth to make a difference in what happens and to do so in a way so as to effect agreed-upon public policies. Concern over the ability of local governments to manage urban growth and change is important for two reasons--for the rapidly growing concern over growth and subsequent costs, and for concern over the ability of local government institutions to actually function effectively in an area where they are usually held responsible. Two issues are addressed in this report. The first is the extent to which the collection of local governments in a metropolitan area is able to manage urban development. The site for the investigation and the principal source of data and observation is the San Jose Metropolitan Statistical Area--Santa Clara County, California. The second issue is the extent to which a single municipality within the metropolitan area can exert management control over development within and at its boundaries. This report is intended as a means for developing testable hypotheses about relationships among key variables determining the ability of local governments in a metropolitan area to affect, in a significant way, urban growth and change. (Author/JM)