This article addresses some empirical and theoretical aspects of changing governance structures and practices in Latin American metropolitan areas. It starts with the problems and challenges faced by metropolitan governance in the current context. Subsequently, some institutional changes in Latin America in recent decades are examined, placing greater emphasis on the emblematic and antagonistic cases of Brazil and Colombia: the first being characterized by a federal state with strong local autonomy and evident shortcomings of national state initiatives concerning its metropolitan regions; the second for the crucial role played by the central government in the pursuit of metropolitan governance in the context of a unitary state system with relatively weak local authorities. Based on this confrontation, possible alternative institutional strategies are discussed, especially the possibilities of new interactive practices of network cooperation within an overall framework of metropolitan governance. Finally, the paper concludes with some challenges of metropolitan governance in Latin America in order to promote more interactive and democratic political practices between state authorities and civil society.
Metropolitan governance; Institutional arrangements; Network cooperation; Latin America