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Abstract.  Focusing on area‐wide policy coordination in metropolitan areas, this article examines the democratic consequences of the supposed shift 'from government to governance'. In the first, theoretical, part it draws upon the debate on old and new routes towards regionalism in order to identify four different types of metropolitan governance. It then develops two working hypotheses – an optimistic and a pessimistic one – in order to analyse the implications of various types of metropolitan governance on inclusiveness, modes of decision making and democratic accountability. In the second part, these hypotheses are tested on the basis of comparative case studies on twenty schemes of area‐wide policy coordination in five Swiss metropolitan areas in the fields of water supply, public transport, social services for drug users and cultural amenities. The results suggest that 'governance' is superior to 'government' in terms of inclusiveness, that it cannot be seen as significantly linked to the fostering of deliberative decision making, and that it can present serious flaws in terms of accountability. It is noted, however, that a shift 'from government to governance' does not intrinsically imply democratic drawbacks. Contextual factors play a strong conditioning role.

Focusing on area-wide policy coordination in metropolitan areas, this article examines the democratic consequences of the supposed shift 'from government to governance'. In the first, theoretical, part it draws upon the debate on old and new routes towards regionalism in order to identify four different types of metropolitan governance. It then develops two working hypotheses - an optimistic and a pessimistic one - in order to analyse the implications of various types of metropolitan governance on inclusiveness, modes of decision making and democratic accountability. In the second part, these hypotheses are tested on the basis of comparative case studies on twenty schemes of area-wide policy coordination in five Swiss metropolitan areas in the fields of water supply, public transport, social services for drug users and cultural amenities. The results suggest that 'governance' is superior to 'government' in terms of inclusiveness, that it cannot be seen as significantly linked to the fostering of deliberative decision making, and that it can present serious flaws in terms of accountability. It is noted, however, that a shift 'from government to governance' does not intrinsically imply democratic drawbacks. Contextual factors play a strong conditioning role. Adapted from the source document.

Using data from a survey conducted in spring 2001 in Switzerland, & based on the premise that institutions are an important component for citizen & community identity, this article examines two issues related to the subject of institutional reform in urban agglomerations. A status quo-oriented perspective focuses on identities & community feeling of citizens living in functional urban spaces. It is shown that existing territorial institutions play only a minor part in local identification, & that new political identities & community ties have emerged as a result of functional dynamics of spatial integration that are at work in Swiss agglomerations. A prospective perspective is used to examine citizens' perceptions of agglomeration problems & attitudes toward eventual reforms. The authors argue that, although individual-level variables have a certain importance, significant contrasts between the four agglomerations in terms of problem perception & attitudes toward reform can be observed. Institutional reform in agglomerations has to be understood as the process of self-constitution of a political community. 5 Tables, 12 References. E. Sanchez

Ausgehend von der Annahme, dass Institutionen eine wichtige Rolle für die bürger- und gemeinschaftliche Identität spielen, werden im vorliegenden Beitrag zwei Aspekte der institutionellen Reform urbaner Agglomerationen in der Schweiz untersucht: Zum einen werden die Identität und das Gemeinschaftsgefühl von Bürgern betrachtet, die in funktionalen städtischen Räumen leben. Anhand von empirischen Daten kann gezeigt werden, dass die bestehenden territorialen Institutionen nur eine geringe Bedeutung für die lokale Identifikation haben, und dass neue politische Identitäten und Gemeinschaftsbeziehungen durch die Dynamiken räumlicher Integration entstanden sind, die in schweizerischen Agglomerationen wirken. Die Autoren untersuchen zum anderen die Wahrnehmungen der Bürger von Agglomerationsproblemen sowie ihre Einstellungen zu den Reformen. Ein Vergleich zwischen den vier Verdichtungsräumen Lausanne, Luzern, Zürich und Lugano lässt hier große Unterschiede in der Problemwahrnehmung und bei den Einstellungen der Wohnbevölkerung erkennen. (ICI)