Local governments are commonly fragmented, broken into many, often overlapping jurisdictions. Because local governments spend a great deal of money in aggregate, it is reasonable to ask if the public interest might be better served by enhanced coordination of government at the local level.

In this article, we examine this idea through an approach born of the information age era: government as a platform. It’s an approach that can advance innovation while offering financial and operational advantages for the typical, day-to-day services that local governments operate.

• Publication date: April 2021
• Authors: Shayne Kavanagh and Chris Fabian