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Municipal governments play a vital role in American democracy, as well as in governments around the world. Despite this, little is known about the degree to which cities are responsive to the views of their citizens. In the past, the unavailability of data on the policy preferences of citizens at the municipal level has limited scholars' ability to study the responsiveness of municipal government. We overcome this problem by using recent advances in opinion estimation to measure the mean policy conservatism in every U.S. city and town with a population above 20,000 people. Despite the supposition in the literature that municipal politics are non-ideological, we find that the policies enacted by cities across a range of policy areas correspond with the liberal-conservative positions of their citizens on national policy issues. In addition, we consider the influence of institutions, such as the presence of an elected mayor, the popular initiative, partisan elections, term limits, and at-large elections. Our results show that these institutions have little consistent impact on policy responsiveness in municipal government. These results demonstrate a robust role for citizen policy preferences in determining municipal policy outcomes, but cast doubt on the hypothesis that simple institutional reforms enhance responsiveness in municipal governments.

Municipal governments play a vital role in American democracy, as well as in governments around the world. Despite this, little is known about the degree to which cities are responsive to the views of their citizens. In the past, the unavailability of data on the policy preferences of citizens at the municipal level has limited scholars' ability to study the responsiveness of municipal government. We overcome this problem by using recent advances in opinion estimation to measure the mean policy conservatism in every U.S. city and town with a population above 20,000 people. Despite the supposition in the literature that municipal politics are non-ideological, we find that the policies enacted by cities across a range of policy areas correspond with the liberal-conservative positions of their citizens on national policy issues. In addition, we consider the influence of institutions, such as the presence of an elected mayor, the popular initiative, partisan elections, term limits, and at-large elections. Our results show that these institutions have little consistent impact on policy responsiveness in municipal government. These results demonstrate a robust role for citizen policy preferences in determining municipal policy outcomes, but cast doubt on the hypothesis that simple institutional reforms enhance responsiveness in municipal governments.

Municipal governments play a vital role in American democracy, as well as in governments around the world. Despite this, little is known about the degree to which cities are responsive to the views of their citizens. In the past, the unavailability of data on the policy preferences of citizens at the municipal level has limited scholars' ability to study the responsiveness of municipal government. We overcome this problem by using recent advances in opinion estimation to measure the mean policy conservatism in every U.S. city and town with a population above 20,000 people. Despite the supposition in the literature that municipal politics are non-ideological, we find that the policies enacted by cities across a range of policy areas correspond with the liberal-conservative positions of their citizens on national policy issues. In addition, we consider the influence of institutions, such as the presence of an elected mayor, the popular initiative, partisan elections, term limits, and at-large elections. Our results show that these institutions have little consistent impact on policy responsiveness in municipal government. These results demonstrate a robust role for citizen policy preferences in determining municipal policy outcomes, but cast doubt on the hypothesis that simple institutional reforms enhance responsiveness in municipal governments.

AbstractThe central aim of this article is to examine trends in the municipal government workforce in metropolitan (urban) areas. It explores, from a local public economies perspective, how the intergovernmental organization of municipalities influences their workforce capacities. The article situates the local labor market in state‐local systems and examines how local governments respond to fragmentation in a metropolitan area. The main finding is that the employment capacity of municipalities varies widely across metro areas, with local and intergovernmental factors affecting municipal workforces and labor expenditures. Local capacities and the state's labor framework appear to be influential in the level of government employment. Facing various challenges, municipalities adapt their workforce levels to changing conditions in urban areas. While its main contribution is to research on local government capacity, the article also draws from the intergovernmental literature to identify factors that influence the workforce capacity of municipal governments.

Author has retained copyright of article. Article was deposited after permission was granted by CPLEA 03/01/2016

This article examines the assignment of functional responsibilities to municipalities, contributing conceptualization and measurement for the analysis of breadth of those responsibilities across the American states. It also investigates determinants of functional breadth: alternative explanations are explored in an analysis of municipalities in metropolitan areas. Using data from the 2012 Census of Governments, two measures of functional breadth are reported, thus evaluating the reliability of the findings across alternative measurements of breadth. The main findings are that a diverse scope of functional responsibilities is prevalent across American municipalities and that the institutional environment of municipalities influences those diverse functional responsibilities. Additional findings are that certain factors differentially affect the scope of service responsibilities, according to a quantile analysis of the dependent variable's distribution. Although its primary contribution is to the literature on functional responsibilities of governments, the article also proposes a political market approach to identify factors influencing functional responsibilities.

This article focuses on the issue of using data obtained through remote sensing methods in the administrative district of the municipality with extended powers of Liberec (the Czech Republic). The first part of the article discusses the question of using Earth remote sensing data for city agendas in general. Then, it presents a questionnaire, created for evaluating the needs of the Liberec municipality. This questionnaire, focusing on the use of remotely sensed data, was created on the basis of a review of relevant literature. Based on the results of the questionnaire, the following spatial information requirements were chosen to be addressed: land surface temperature map - LST (Landsat 8), vegetation index - NDVI (Sentinel 2, Planet Scope), normalized difference water index - NDWI, NDWI 2 (Sentinel 2), normalized difference built-up index - NDBI (Sentinel 2). All data obtained during the creation of this study have become part of the database of the Urban Planning and GIS Department and are available to employees of the City of Liberec.