MUNICIPAL REFORM IN THE TEL-AVIV METROPOLIS - METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENTOR METROPOLITAN COOPERATION

In this paper the influence of macrosocietal shifts on municipal refor ms in metropolitan areas, as reflected by the cyclic swing from period s of increased efforts to rationalize metropolitan governance to perio ds of acceptance and promotion of a fragmented pattern, is demonstrate d. An analogy between the changes in industrial organization and munic ipal organization is suggested. The paper is focused on Israel's econo mic core region-the Tel Aviv metropolis-with surveys of reports of com missions dealing with municipal reforms and of boundary commissions as sessing claims for municipal boundary changes between 1960 and 1993. A unique feature of Tel Aviv is the region's past failure to implement proposals for major rationalization during a period when such reforms were common in countries with similar political systems. This failure was a result of specific political and geographical factors that count erbalanced the broad processes that supported reform. The subsequent p eriod of economic stagnation weakened prospects for comprehensive refo rms. Renewed growth in the 1990s has intensified pressures for municip al change but has not been associated with the comeback of old notions of metropolitan government. Rather, flexible modes of cooperation and coordination appear to be preferred, priority being given to reorgani zing local government in the urban-rural fringes of the metropolis rat her than dealing with the inner parts of the metropolis.