The citizen in city-regions: Patterns and variations

With the growth of city-regions, the local citizenship may increasingly
become city-regional rather than municipal. This article provides a meta-analysis
of the current state of knowledge with regard to general patterns
of city-regionalism; that is, citizens’ orientations toward political matters in
the city-region, beyond one’s own municipality. The theoretical framework
draws from theories of participation, citizen integration, and democratic
scale. The analysis is based on 12 publications, making use of the 8 surveys
from 7 countries that have been carried out in the Western world since
2000. The analysis provide support for the theoretical assumptions, but
because the data are not directly comparable, conclusions are formulated
as hypotheses: It is suggested that city-regionalism is stronger in larger and
fragmented city-regions. Further, those living in the suburban municipalities
hold stronger intermunicipal interests, attitudes, and identities but those in
the core city are more in favor of redistributive regional reform. Finally, cityregionalism is stronger among those who are mobile in the city-region, are
better educated, have a general interest in politics, and belong to the
political left. The findings have implications for how democratic participation
and governance may be organized in city-regions. Further and internationally
coordinated studies are required.