Collaborative governance and metropolitan planning in South East Queensland - 1990 to 2010

South East Queensland (SEQ) is a fast growing, mega-city region in Australia and innovative metropolitan regional planning and collaborative governance arrangements have been evolving in the region since the early 1990s. This report presents the results of recent research on the evolution of collaborative governance in SEQ. The report outlines a broad concept of collaborative governance involving governments, the community and the private sector. However, the focus of the research is on the collaboration of state and local governments in metropolitan planning in SEQ between 1990 and 2010. The report outlines the process by which governance and planning in SEQ evolved, by agreement of all the parties, from a voluntary model to a statutory model of metropolitan planning. It explores the collaborative dynamics of the partnership and identifies some implications for ongoing governance and planning in SEQ and in other states and multi-level metropolitan regions. Metropolitan areas are the largest urban areas or the capital cities of countries and states and are growing and expanding rapidly. The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-HABITAT, has noted that metropolitan areas are spreading ‘over different administrative boundaries’ and creating challenges for ‘governing in a city of cities’. Government is the formal system of administration and laws by which a country or local community is managed. From the 1990s onwards a wider concept of ‘governance’, as distinct from ‘government’, has developed which incorporates informal, as well as formal, arrangements for administering, managing and planning communities and metropolitan areas. Important roles are still played by formal governments but significant roles are also played by private sector organisations (business and the market) and by the community sector (community organisations and individuals). Image: Michael Dawes / flickr Report for the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government (ACELG) in collaboration with the Council of Mayors SEQ and the Queensland Department of Local Government and Planning (Growth Management Queensland)