The agency will ensure that large water users such as municipalities, public utilities and large companies continue to fund the construction and operation of the large water systems they depend on.
James Lesh, The University of Melbourne e Kali Myers, The University of Melbourne
If communities don’t understand and support local heritage protections, perhaps that’s a reflection on how the system works and not just evidence of a need for public education.
Failure by local government to provide basic services has led to protests around South Africa. Now, some residents are resorting to self-help.
EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook
South Africa needs a way to incorporate active citizens within the prevailing constitutional and legal structures, so as to strengthen all levels of government.
Heidi Brooks, Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection
The challenge for the deepening of South Africa’s democracy is that the very existence of vanguardism prevents the realisation of empowered citizens.
Washington state cut both merit raises and instituted furloughs as it faced a projected $8.8 billion budget deficit because of the coronavirus.
Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images
State and local government jobs are being axed, public schools won’t get money the state planned to send them, and fire and police departments budgets are being slashed. All because of the pandemic.
Digital communications could be a force for greater local democracy in urban planning and development, but many councils use the technologies in ways that mirror traditional consultation.
Johnstone Shire Hall was the birthplace of an ambitious partnership between 11 local governments in 1944. Together, they led a regional post-war reconstruction agenda in North Queensland.
State Library of Queensland
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, regional Australia needs local government to emulate the example of the local councils that brought prosperity to North Queensland after the second world war.
The business of metropolitan planning is not the natural game of state governments. The Victorian government tries but cannot manage metropolitan Melbourne.
When is the right time to wave the green flag?
Yellow Dog Productions/Getty Images
Local councils work hand in hand with industries like construction. If the downturn is allowed to cripple councils, that will also hit essential businesses hard.
A new report assesses the smart city performance of local government areas representing 85% of Australia’s population. NSW leads the way, and all the leading performers are in the major cities.
Tianjin Garden at the northern end of Spring Street is a symbol of Melbourne’s 40-year friendship with its sister city, Tianjin.
Leonid Andronov/Shutterstock
Australian city councils appreciate the social and educational benefits of having Chinese sister cities. Gaining new markets and attracting tourists and investment have proved more challenging.
Abandoned trolleys litter a roadside in Whalan, a suburb in Sydney’s outer west.
Shutterstock
Abandoned trolleys are an all-too-common sight. A solution to this intractable problem depends on a combination of policy and legal changes, public engagement and tracking technology.
The Crown Casino rising over the Barangaroo precinct on Sydney Harbor was approved without a competitive tender or public planning assessments.
Paul Braven/AAP
Overseas, city-shaping mega-projects are generally overseen by local government, but in Australia state governments often step in and exclude council and community representatives from the process.