Raise the Hammer

"...divides that exist and have existed since amalgamation..." ~ Mr. Meister

“Cease to lament for that thou canst not help; and study help for that which thou lamentest” ~ Bill S.

History of large human settlements are replete with mergers & amalgamations - cities thus evolve and grow. Settlements usually associated with frozen time are called Hamlets. That is not to say one is better than the other, it is just the way of growth.

• The Paradox of Amalgamations: An Analysis of Municipal Restructuring Practices in Ontario

• Breaking up is hard to do: merger & demerger in the Montreal megacity. The wider context of local government consolidation

• Hamilton's Amalgamation History Lesson by Tony Colvin

• 1849: Establishment of Wentworth County and townships, including Flamborough East Flamborough West, Beverly, Ancaster, Barton, Saltfleet, Glanford and Binbrook

• In 1974, Hamilton combined with the Wentworth County and the latter's other towns and townships to form the two-tier municipal federation of Regional Municipality of Hamilton-Wentworth. Portions of the former county became part of Burlington and Cambridge.

• May 10, 1978: The Stewart Commission report released its recommendations that a new city of Wentworth replace the city of Hamilton and the surrounding communities in a one-tier government with 27 aldermen, each representing one ward. June 16, 1978: the recommendations were shelved by the provincial government.

• Municipal Mergers and Demergers in Quebec and Ontario

• The Relevance of Toronto's New Governmental Structure for the 21st Century

• Amalgamation Politics - Notable municipal mergers

Denmark: In 1970, mergers brought the number of municipalities of Denmark from 1,098 to 277. In 2007, the (by then) 270 municipalities were consolidated into 98 municipalities, most of them results of mergers.

Finland: An ongoing series of mergers has reduced the number of municipalities of Finland from 432 in 2006 to 336 in 2011

Germany: Several states of West Germany carried out municipal merger programmes in the 1960s and 1970s.

• Municipal Amalgamation in Japan
• Why Municipality Governments in Japan Refused Amalgamation?

"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards." ~ Soren Kierkegaard

Comment edited by Mahesh_P_Butani on 2011-09-12 10:09:32