Collaborative Research: Integrated City Sustainability: Administrative Apparatus for Overcoming Collective Dilemmas of Agency Fragmentation

合作研究：综合城市可持续性：克服机构碎片化集体困境的行政机构

• 批准号: 1461460
• 负责人: Richard Feiock
• 金额: $ 10.51万
• 依托单位: Florida State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-05-01 至 2018-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1461460&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Integrated; City; Sustainability

Nontechnical Description of Significance and ImportanceLocal governments face complex crosscutting policy issues that transcend traditional administrative silos organized around function. When a single issue or objective crosses multiple independent units, collective action and coordination problems can arise from fragmented authority. Local sustainability is a broad and complex issue and provides an ideal lens through which to study these organizational challenges. Despite the widespread adoption of sustainability goals by local governments, an administrative apparatus to coordinate their implementation is lacking or inconsistent in many communities. This research examines the impact that different administrative arrangements have on policy efforts and outcomes and assesses the institutional structures necessary to facilitate the success of local sustainability efforts. Functional coordination and collective action problems within a single government are similar to institutional collective action problems that arise from fragmented governmental authority within metropolitan areas. In both cases, the connectedness of services, objectives, and resource systems produces positive and negative externalities. Resolution of these dilemmas requires additional resources and expertise, as well as the development of administrative structures to integrate decision-making. This work intends to initiate a general theory of institutional collective action that encompasses administrative dilemmas within as well as between organizations. It proceeds in two stages: First, it will collect quantitative data on administrative institutions via surveys administered to local government officials. Second, eight cities will be selected for in-depth analysis based on characterizations developed from their survey responses. An analytic narratives approach and social network analysis will be applied to explore the mechanisms available for overcoming functional collective action dilemmas in local sustainability. Technical DescriptionAlthough functional coordination has long been a concern within public administration, these issues are not emphasized in contemporary policy theories. Little is known about how the design of administrative mechanisms influences organizational ability to integrate decisions and resolve functional collective action problems. Even less is known about how administrative mechanisms affect policy outputs and outcomes at the organizational level. Through an exploration of city sustainability policy, this research will initiate a theory of functional collective action that extends institutional collective action research beyond its current focus on horizontal and vertical fragmentation among independent governments. Findings will provide insight to address the common problem of "fuzzy boundaries," whereby the lack of clear lines of responsibility for tackling complex policy issues necessitates more coordinated efforts. This research will systemically identify the strengths and weaknesses associated with different mechanisms for overcoming functional collective action and enable municipalities to make more informed choices and minimize administrative dilemmas within as well as between organizations. The results of this analysis are expected to be of applied value to local government practitioners. Additionally, the empirical survey data collected from this research will contribute to the broader study of urban governance and policy in the US and enable researchers to better examine sustainability and local government administration questions.

对重要性和重要性政府的非技术描述面临着超越围绕功能组织的传统行政孤岛的复杂横切政策问题。当一个问题或客观跨越多个独立单位时，集体行动和协调问题可能造成分散的权威。当地的可持续性是一个广泛而复杂的问题，并提供了研究这些组织挑战的理想镜头。尽管地方政府广泛采用可持续性目标，但在许多社区中，缺乏或不一致的行政机构是协调其实施的行政机构。这项研究研究了不同行政安排对政策努力和成果的影响，并评估了促进当地可持续发展努力成功所必需的制度结构。单个政府内部的功能协调和集体行动问题类似于大都会地区政府机构零散的机构集体行动问题。在这两种情况下，服务，目标和资源系统的联系都会产生积极和负面的外部性。解决这些困境需要更多的资源和专业知识，以及发展决策的行政结构。这项工作旨在启动制度集体行动的一般理论，该理论涵盖组织内部和组织之间的行政困境。它分为两个阶段进行：首先，它将通过向地方政府官员管理的调查收集行政机构的定量数据。其次，将根据其调查响应产生的特征选择八个城市进行深入分析。分析叙事方法和社交网络分析将应用于探索可在当地可持续性中克服功能性集体行动困境的机制。技术描述性的功能协调长期以来一直是公共行政部门的关注，这些问题在当代政策理论中并未强调。关于行政机制的设计如何影响组织的能力并解决功能集体行动问题，知之甚少。关于行政机制如何影响组织层面的政策输出和结果，甚至了解更少。通过探索城市可持续性政策，这项研究将启动一种功能性集体行动理论，该理论将机构集体行动研究扩展到当前对独立政府之间水平和垂直分裂的关注之外。调查结果将提供见识，以解决“模糊界限”的共同问题，在这种问题上，缺乏明确的解决复杂政策问题的责任需要更加协调的努力。这项研究将系统地确定与克服功能集体行动的不同机制相关的优势和缺点，并使市政当局能够做出更明智的选择，并在组织之间以及之间最小化行政困境。该分析的结果预计将对地方政府从业人员应用。此外，从这项研究中收集的经验调查数据将有助于对美国的城市治理和政策进行更广泛的研究，并使研究人员能够更好地研究可持续性和地方政府行政部门的问题。