sion were justified in their criticism of
the present structure of local govern-
ment in Greater London, and that their
broad design should be adopted as the
basis for improving it. In particular the
Government endorse the view that the
boroughs ought to become the primary
unit of local government; and that a
new, directly elected, authority should
be set up to administer functions which
require to be dealt with over the whole
of Greater London."7
II. Techniques of Functional Change.
Many of the techniques utilized to
resolve problems of responsibility and
jurisdiction at the intermunicipal and
county-municipal levels are applicable
to intercounty or metropolitan service
problems as well. Intergovernmental
cooperation, for example, is as relevant
a technique at the intercounty level as
at the local level. Contracts, agree-
ments, and informal service arrange-
ments can be utilized at all levels to
insure the economical use of local re-
sources and the effective conduct of
urban programs and services.
Among the formal techniques for
intergovernmental cooperation in met-
ropolitan areas, the federation or coun-
cil of governments approach is proposed
frequently today. This approach in-
volves the establishment of a representa-
tive body of elected officials from all or
most of the local governments in an
area. The role of such a council is often
that of coordination of activities and
programs. Also, the role often includes
the discussion of common problems, the
initiation and support of area-wide plan-
ning efforts, and the resolution of local
differences. Like any technique which
involves local cooperation or agreement,
7 london government, government
proposals for reorganization 3 (1961).
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the council approach does not substan-
tially change or challenge the existing
powers or roles of participating local
governments. Each municipality and
county in the area continues to exist,
performs local functions not assigned to
the council, and retains its governing
body and powers. It does, however, pro-
vide an arena for concerted planning
and program development in a wide-
spread urban area. The success of this
or any technique based on local coopera-
tion, however, depends upon the willing-
ness of each participant to recognize the
needs of the total urban community and
to assume full responsibility for seeking
solutions to area-wide problems through
joint effort and support.
In Maryland, the council approach
is being utilized today by local govern-
ments in the Washington metropolitan
area to explore common problems and
to propose programs of local action. In
Illinois, a recommendation that Chicago
adopt the federation approach to met-
ropolitan problems was made by the
Committee on Urban Progress in its
August, 1965, report, A pattern for
greater chicago. A subsequent recom-
mendation by the Center for Research
in Urban Government, however, urged
that the federation approach be set aside
in favor of a concerted effort on the part
of the City to strike new political bar-
gains in the Illinois General Assembly.8
Metropolitan Toronto, Canada's sec-
ond most populous urban area, adopted
the federation approach in April, 1953,
which became fully operative on Janu-
ary 1, 1954. A combination of three
factors was largely responsible for the
establishment of the federation arrange-
8 G. steiner, metropolitan government
and the real world: the case of
chicago (1966).
255
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