Virtual Regionalism

= policy concept to use ad-hoc aggregations of citizens to aid the government in policy-making

Description

David Stephenson:

"Most creative would be what I call “virtual regionalism “: not statutory regional bodies, but ad hoc, voluntary ones helping communities with similar interests and problems to collaborate on shared solutions. If the Office of Commonwealth Development or Administration and Finance hosted a variety of collaboration tools such as ” wikis, ” officials in a given community could form ad hoc alliances to discuss and manage services with, for example, other communities served by the same state highways, with similar concentrations of immigrant residents, similar economic bases, etc. These shared tools would allow municipalities to lower costs with joint bidding on equipment, evaluate the impact of large proposed development projects, work out sharing of specialized DPW or fire equipment, etc. Because virtual regionalism wouldn’t be statutory, communities could instantly form working arrangements — and dissolve them if they are no longer were relevant." (http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/11/11/a_web_strategy_for_better_state_government/)