to turn foresight into prevention, governments need jurisdiction to deal with the problem in question. "I find that the most significant and complex problems are those questions of the future that do not stop at a city border," says George Latimer."consequently, their solutions must be regional rather than municipal."
in many ways, we have outgrown our governments. the building blocks of our economy today are regional economies, which radiate out from a city or group of cities: the Greater Boston region, the Greater Chicago region, the Greater Los Angrles region. Each region has integrated need for public transit, for water and sewer systems, for solid waste treatment, for economic development. But few have integrated governments. County government once played this role, but many regions have outgrown their counties