Effectiveness of city councils in local governments; A study on i̇nvestigation of city councils established in metropolitan muncipaiity

The economic and technological developments in the world in the last century and at the beginning of this century have brought new concepts within the countries. One of these concepts is governance, which has been discussed since mid 1990's and has become on Turkey's agenda since the end of 1990's. According to this concept all local elements are expected to be involved in this governance for a sustainable world. The intention hereby is the creation of an accountable structure, which is an effective and efficient management style. This accountability may lead to more transparency. It is thought that this process will optimize all the other actions to be taken in the next step. As a result of these developments, city councils have emerged in Turkey. With this formation, it is aimed to increase the involvement of locals in decision-making and participation in local issues and projects. By establishing common decision-making mechanisms many problems could be solved in local areas. Besides this, it is thought that rapid development in technology may allow the implementation of direct democratic methods in some areas. Therefore, creating new city councils is necessary. Revealing benefits and disadvantages of an institution can make more accurate evaluations. In light of this, the councils' due diligence on expectations and purposes can be evaluated. With this study, it is aimed to keep a projection for future arrangements and studies. In all of these, interviews and surveys were conducted with the heads of city councils and the information was shared. In the I. part of the study, emergences of city councils in the world were taken into consideration. In the II. part Local Agenda 21 header and studies of Local Agenda 21 in Turkey were analysed. In part III evaluates the starting point of the concept of governance Part IV. establishment phases and structures of departments of city councils in Turkey were discussed. In part V, obtained data and conducted studies from Metropolitan Municipality were evaluated. Keywords City Councils, Governance, Local Agenda 21, Metropolitan Municipality, Local Government