Building Metropolitan Cooperation
Building Metropolitan Cooperation
What to Read
These are the works I would hand you first. Most of them the book leans on, and I say where. Listing a work is my recommendation, not its author's endorsement of this book.
A mayor or hromada head can start with Roman Kizyma's column. A drafter of national law can start with Ihor Parasyuk's 2012 guide and the Council of Europe's two appraisals. Anyone can start with the OECD's study of how cooperation between municipalities works.
Where Ukraine stands
Roman Kizyma, "Metropolises: Why Ukraine Cannot Develop without Them" (Decentralization portal, April 2026). In English.
The case in brief, from the executive director of the Lviv association: a metropolitan area is a tool for cooperation, not a new tier of government.
In the book: not cited.
Myroslav Kosheliuk, "Prospects for the Development of Metropolitan Areas in Ukraine," Urban Research & Practice 19, no. 1 (2026): 157–168. In English; the journal may charge for access.
How Ukraine's agglomeration question reached its current state.
In the book: Chapters 5 and 6.
Development Strategy of the Lviv Agglomeration to 2027 (draft, 2023). In Ukrainian.
The first written for a Ukrainian agglomeration, prepared with 18 hromadas.
In the book: Chapters 6 and 8.
OECD, Rebuilding Ukraine by Reinforcing Regional and Municipal Governance (2022). In English and Ukrainian.
Ukraine's decentralization before and during the war: regional disparities, scattered regional development funding, uneven municipal capacity.
In the book: not cited; here as background on the reform the book builds on.
The Ukrainian law so far
USAID LINC, Territorial Development in Ukraine: Development of Agglomerations and Subregions (2012), credited to Ihor Parasyuk. In Ukrainian.
A 183-page guide built on Ihor Parasyuk's multi-year study for the USAID LINC project, where he was chief adviser on strategic planning. It is how the book traces the idea back to Ukraine's state texts of 1998 and 2000.
In the book: Chapter 8.
Ihor Parasyuk, "Economic and Legal Aspects of the Concepts 'Agglomeration' and 'Urban Agglomeration' in Ukrainian Legislation," Economic Herald of the Donbas no. 1 (27) (2012): 82–89. In Ukrainian.
The argument in eight pages: the Cabinet can define the word, only a law can give it status, and until the Rada acts an agglomeration is "de jure" impossible.
In the book: Chapter 8.
Ihor Parasyuk, Agglomerations: Growth Points of the Economy (Association of Ukrainian Cities, USAID PULSE project, April 2020). In Ukrainian; slides.
The case he made while bill 2637 was before the Rada: concentration makes an economy more productive, so Ukraine needs a legal framework for agglomerations and clear boundaries for them.
In the book: Chapter 8.
Arkadii Nazarko, "Urban Agglomerations in Ukraine: Problems of Legal Institutionalization" (2011). In Ukrainian.
A Ukrainian legal scholar weighs the American approach against the French, finds it the better fit for Ukraine, and warns that it depends on a culture of keeping agreements.
In the book: the Introduction and the Conclusion.
Council of Europe, its appraisals of Ukraine's two agglomeration bills, both prepared with Prof. Robert Hertzog: its 2017 appraisal of bill 6743, in English and Ukrainian; its 2020 appraisal of bill 2637, in English and Ukrainian.
Each one reads a bill closely and recommends changes. Neither bill reached a floor vote.
In the book: Chapters 8, 9, and 10.
What Europe has tried
OECD, How to Make Inter-Municipal Co-operation Work (2026). In English.
Some 160 pages and 44 country snapshots, the United States among them. Its three pillars, legal, institutional, and fiscal, map onto this book's law, boards, and funding.
In the book: Appendix II and Chapters 8 and 10.
DECIDE, The Experience of Regional Development Planning in European Countries: An Analytical Review (2026), prepared by Myroslav Kosheliuk. In Ukrainian, with a report on it in English.
A 268-page review of thirteen countries, centered on regional-development planning and the road to EU accession.
In the book: Appendix II and Chapters 8 and 9.
Robert Pyka, Krzysztof Bierwiaczonek, Zuzanna Neuve-Église, and Małgorzata Suchacka, Report on Metropolitan Governance Systems and Existing Tools/Best Practices at Partner MAs for Enhancing Metropolitan Cooperation (MECOG-CE, 2024). In English.
How metropolitan governance actually runs in Central Europe, on strong laws and on informal cooperation alike, and which tools travel.
In the book: Appendix II and Chapter 10.
Council of Europe, Overview of Metropolitan Governance (2017), prepared with Paul Hildreth. In English.
A paper for the Verkhovna Rada's Committee on State Building, Regional Policy and Local Self-Government: the challenges of governing across municipalities, the formal structures, and what makes them succeed.
In the book: the Introduction and Chapter 10.
The American record, and whether it pays
David Y. Miller and Jen Nelles, Discovering American Regionalism: An Introduction to Regional Intergovernmental Organizations (Routledge, 2019). In English; for sale.
The nearest thing I found to this book, written for American readers.
In the book: the Introduction.
U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, Metropolitan Councils of Governments (1966), prepared by Royce Hanson. In English.
An early federal account, written as federal funding first took effect. It prints the Model State Statute I call the common ancestor of the state laws in Chapter 2.
In the book: Chapters 1 and 2.
Rudiger Ahrend, Emily Farchy, Ioannis Kaplanis, and Alexander C. Lembcke, "What Makes Cities More Productive?" (OECD, 2014). In English.
Evidence from five OECD countries: for a given population, a metropolitan area with more municipalities tends to be less productive, and the gap is smaller where a metropolitan governance body exists.
In the book: the Introduction.
Links checked November 2026.