Inter-municipal relations in city-region governance

City-regions have received increasing attention from both scholars and policy-makers as an ideal functional space for economic development and subnational governance. The discourses of city-region governance predominantly focus on city-regions' capacity to achieve agglomerative growth and compete in the global economy. Given that consensus-building and joint working is central to city-regions' success, the inter-municipal relations and territorial politics within a city-region warrant research attention. This study investigates such relations in urban regeneration and place marketing policy areas through a case study of an inner-city waterfront district in Greater Manchester, North-West England. The nuanced findings of this study show the relationships between the local authorities were path-dependent and were often driven by self-interest, competition and rivalry. The study encourages scholars to take into account internal territorial politics when assessing the evolution of city-region governance for a more context specific analysis.