This volume examines the governing structure and finances of metropolitan areas in federal systems. Taking a comparative approach, each chapter examines two large metropolitan areas in a federal country, including Australia (South East Queensland and Perth); Brazil (Belo Horizonte and São Paulo); Canada (Toronto and Vancouver); Germany (Hamburg and Central Germany); India (Hyderabad and Mumbai); South Africa (Cape Town and Gauteng metropolitan region); Spain (Barcelona and Madrid);
Switzerland (Geneva and Zurich); and the United States (Louisville and Los Angeles).

Through individual case studies, the contributors present the national context for metropolitan areas (for example, whether local governments are in the national constitution) and the characteristics of two metropolitan areas in the country. The contributors emphasize how the delivery of services is coordinated across municipal boundaries, the extent to which land use planning is coordinated on a metropolitan-wide basis, how costs are shared throughout the region, the level of citizen access to
local government decisions, and the degree of local government accountability. As well, they discuss the role of the federal and provincial/state governments in these large metropolitan areas and, in particular, the circumstances under which the federal government gets involved in metropolitan
issues.

Illustrated with nearly 100 figures, tables, and maps, this comprehensive overview presents a valuable collection of contributions from the field's top scholars.