Search results

Smart growth is a planning and land use policy objective that generally focuses on where development should occur and how best to protect natural resources. What explains the adoption of smart growth policy by local government? This study focuses on a cooperative intergovernmental program that seeks to enhance local government abilities to work toward achieving state goals on sustainability. Extant research suggests that local interest group preferences shape policy decisions. However, much of the evidence on the influence of local interest groups on smart growth policy is presented within the coercive intergovernmental context. This article argues that resource dependency influences local decisions in pursuing a smart growth agenda when state incentives are provided. The findings suggest that fiscal capacity and the characteristics of local governing institutions are significant predictors in the decision to take part in an intergovernmental program. Business and neighborhood interest groups have a significant effect on policy adoption, as do local characteristics depending on the smart growth functional area.

This study examines climate change the formation of local government joint ventures for economic development. The results of a survey of local government officials in 12 metropolitan areas are used to compare cities that do and do not have a joint venture agreement and identify prospects for interjurisdictional cooperation. Transaction cost theory is applied as an analytical framework to explain the barriers to collective action. The results suggest there are differences in the motivations for cooperation and significant variation among cities in the extent to which officials perceive coordination, division, and defection problems as obstacles to forming a joint venture. Adapted from the source document.

Building community resiliency requires input on community development initiatives from a variety of functional units of a local government. There is little evidence, however, of whether the types of agencies that are responsible for disaster planning and mitigation are involved in community development activities for the purpose of improving community resiliency. This exploratory study examines agency involvement in community development subfields, designing community development tools, and participation in community planning processes for the purposes of building community resiliency. The results of mean-t tests, based on data collected from an original survey of Central Florida (USA) county governments, provides preliminary evidence of differences between planning agencies and agencies that are focused on operations and logistics. The findings suggest local governments should consider roles and integration mechanisms to ensure participation of agencies in community development efforts to improve disaster resiliency.

Although much has been written about interlocal agreements for the delivery of services, few studies have examined the factors that influence the establishment of different types of multilateral agreements (MLAs). To address this lacuna, the authors draw a distinction between an adaptive and restrictive MLA and seek to understand why local governments enter into one type of arrangement over the other. The authors build our theoretical argument on the basis of previous research that suggests agreements are designed to minimize the uncertainties associated with transaction risk. On the basis of this premise, the author's general proposition is that the decision to establish an adaptive MLA is shaped by the asset specificity and measurability of the goods and services of the transaction. The authors utilize data on public safety agreements among municipal and county governments in the state of Florida. Findings suggest that local governments are more likely to form an adaptive MLA when goods and services are relatively high in service measurability difficulty and when both high and low asset specificity exit.

Although local governments are becoming more active in pursuing environmental sustainability initiatives, understanding the participation mechanisms utilized by communities is critical for improving the management and success of sustainable development. Since sustainable development can also be relatively complex and requires specialized skills, a network of organizations can bolster the capacity of local governments to plan and implement sustainability initiatives. This study is intended to contribute to the literature on sustainability by presenting a conceptual model of sustainable development governance. This model focuses of collaboration among local governments, residents of the community, and organizations of a support network. On the basis of a national survey of U.S. cities, the authors present evidence on the extent to which cities utilize elements of the conceptual model.