Abstract
Policymakers and scholars across Europe are grappling with the question of how to govern complex urban realities where growing cities are increasingly interconnected with their surrounding territories. Metropolitan governance is a buzzword, and in recent decades, a variety of governance models have been introduced across the continent that aim to tackle the manifold political, financial, socio-economic, and territorial challenges linked to urban agglomerations. Institutional solutions range from voluntary association initiatives of municipalities in urban contexts to top-down coordination by higher government levels, and the establishment of metropolitan agencies or elected governments that specifically tackle metropolitan affairs.