After reading this chapter, you will be able to

• Describe the “missing level of government” and the difficulties its absence creates for local governance,
   
• Identify the key characteristics of sprawl and how they shape urban development patterns,
   
• Summarize the negative impacts of sprawl and metropolitan growth,
   
• Discuss current approaches to creating regional governance,
   
• Contrast the Tiebout model with efforts to reform metropolitan governance by creating regional governments, and
   
• Describe the big challenges of “rural metropolitics” and how they differ from the big challenges of metropolitics in more urban areas.