Towards the Construction of a Typology of Metropolitan Management Models

Abstract

This paper presents the construction of a typology of metropolitan management models. This typology is constructed considering the political, institutional and organizational variables and their relationship with the particular political - territorial dynamics where they develop. Its purpose is to identify alternative types of metropolitan management models according to the contexts of political-territorial dynamics. Typology is both a tool for comparative study and for the analysis and identification of metropolitan management forms adapted to specific contexts.

At first, the political - territorial dimension of the metropolitan area is being considered as a critical issue in that the phenomenon of conurbation and / or metropolization of the territories has accelerated in the last twenty years and tends to become a theme of unavoidable agenda in the short and medium term (Hamilton, 2004). In a second moment the different theoretical lines and their contributions are presented in the construction of models of metropolitan management, among them the postulates of the multilevel governance and the works on the metropolitan phenomenon.

The construction of metropolitan management typology is presented around three variables: authority, institutionality, organization and resulting management models. Finally, the typology is worked around the axes that are considered part of the structuring of metropolitan management models: the top down or bottom up dynamics of political-territorial dynamics and the greater or lesser formality they assume.