SUPRALOCAL URBAN GOVERNANCE: realities in comparison of “emerging metropolises” in Brazil and Mexico
Supralocal Urban Governance. Emerging Metropolises. Brazil. Mexico.
In the context of Latin America, especially in countries that present the federative model as a form of State, the political and administrative structures (vertical and horizontal) of the municipalities are characterized as "fragmented" in order to operationalize the common interests in these places. Thus, these issues have drawn attention to the urgency of establishing effective governance systems to enable the coordination of public policies in the tripartite institutional arrangements that configure, for example, interfederative relations in the Brazilian and Mexican states. Although the solutions to the problems that affect the municipalities are formally locally-based, these entities are not able to promote resources of the most diverse dimensions in isolation to find answers to their problems of common interest. In this sense, studying urban governance requires the aspect of supralocal collaboration to find the solution of problems of common interest. Thus, the present research proposal aims to understand the non-institutional (informal) supralocal urban governance arrangements, by verifying their power for solutions to public problems of common interest that go beyond the political-administrative limits of municipalities in federated states. To this end, the methodology, following the guidelines of a research in the area of urban and regional planning, presents a qualitative approach, using bibliographic and documentary research, semi-structured interviews as a future instrument of field research. Regarding the empirical field, the cases selected were: the municipalities of Parauapebas and Carajas de Canaa (Carajas Micro Region), located in the state of Para, Brazil; and the municipalities of Sahuayo and Jiquilpan (Territorio de la Cienaga), in the state of Michoacan, Mexico