Introduction

The latter half of the 20th century has seen the resurgence of local actors as important international players. This rise of the "urban internationale" would soon pave the way for the eventual inter-linking of cities, a "friendship" that would grow from supporting community exchanges to lending technical assistance for the achievement of specific local development goals. The partnership between cities has since led to the transfer of ideas, skills and practices across time and space. To date, it has been estimated that 70 percent of cities worldwide are connected to other cities in one way or another.

City-to-city cooperation (C2C), as it came to be known, has been recognized as an effective development strategy in strengthening urban governance, improving urban services and housing, and even closing the gap between local institutions and citizens. As an evolving form of decentralized development cooperation, it is underpinned by the direct collaboration of local institutions, particularly local authorities, with or without the support of other actors such as city networks and non-government organizations. The UN-HABITAT (2003) has noted that C2C could enhance the capacity of local governments in various management areas.

However, in spite of its prevalence globally, academic understanding of the phenomenon remains scant, particularly in the context of Asian cities. Extant research has been largely limited to case studies mostly involving cities from outside Asia, with little attention paid to the role of city networks. The evaluation of successes and failures have likewise focused more on the procedural and managerial aspects of partnerships, while the inherent readiness of cities themselves seems to have been taken for granted. The case of small cities is particularly intriguing not only because many of the published studies involved secondary cities, but more importantly because there seems to be a growing interest among C2C practitioners to engage smaller cities.

In light of these research lacunae, this study investigates the practice and prospects of C2C cooperation in selected Asian cities. It specifically asks the following research questions:

1.How does CITYNET, a regional network of local authorities headquartered in Yokohama, implement C2C cooperation among its members?

2.What are the different roles of cities under CITYNET's C2C umbrella and what are the common characteristics, if any, of those that are active in it?

3.Based on the experience of CITYNET cities, what is the level of readiness of Philippine cities for C2C cooperation? Are smaller cities in a better position to engage in C2C cooperation than their larger counterparts?

4.In view of the above, how can network-based C2C cooperation be strengthened, if necessary? And how can it be further promoted among Philippine cities?

Research Design

A mixed methodology was adopted for the study, employing both quantitative and qualitative approaches. First, CITYNET's C2C practice from 1990 to 2009 was analyzed through a combination of archival, case study and organizational network analyses. Drawing from this, the readiness of Philippine cities was then assessed using descriptive and non-parametric statistics. Data were collected from various primary and secondary sources including electronic databases, newsletters, reports, key informant interviews, direct observation, and mixed-mode questionnaire surveys.

Results and Analysis

The study has shown that C2C cooperation is still an evolving, if not young, concept in Asia. The experience of CITYNET member cities pointed towards increasing interest not just among cities, but also among other local actors especially NGOs. It also revealed the changing modality of how partnerships have been implemented, moving from single to mixed modalities, from ad hoc engagements towards more sustainable project-based interactions, and from an exclusive activity among local authorities to one that is more inclusive of other actors from civil society. South-South partnerships were also found prevalent in the network.

By and large, three types of C2C arrangements were identified from CITYNET's experience. The most common type may be termed as "Ad hoc C2C" or partnerships characterized by one-off activities, with neither a follow-up plan nor an overarching framework for future or wider collaboration. The second type may be called "Intermittent C2C" wherein interaction is occasional and takes place over a prolonged period, albeit without a specific timeframe. The third type is "Programmatic C2C" which is normally based on a time-bound program that is guided by an elaborated project plan or by a formal agreement outlining the terms of the partnership. All of these types were featured in the reviewed disaster-related C2C cases.

Moreover, analysis of the cities' Participation Index (PI) revealed five dynamic actor roles in a C2C network. The first group can be referred to as "sources" (PI=1). They have shared their best practices to others, but have never been a beneficiary (e.g. Yokohama). The second group of participants may be called as "sinks" (PI=-1), the largest in CITYNET's C2C network. They have been involved in C2C cooperation solely as beneficiaries. The third group has a totally balanced PI of 0.00 and may be called the "optimizers" for they have received as much as they have given. The fourth type can be called "conduits" (0<PI<1) or participants which have received assistance in the past, but functions more as a resource to others. The fifth group may be called as "adapters" (-1<PI<0). These are those who have acted as a resource at some point but their primary objective is still that of learning from others. Network centrality measures were also tested, revealing that some less prominent actors might play an important role in the network, even more than what they seemed to be if based on degree of participation alone.

The analysis of Yokohama's experience, along with that of Bangkok and the perspectives of two national municipal associations, revealed a number of factors that could facilitate or hinder the engagement of cities in C2C. These were previous C2C experience, network membership, organizational set-up, C2C strategy, ICT access, internal support, political need, leadership stability, external partners, communication skills, technical competencies, internal budget, and external funding. Through Mann-Whitney U tests, it was found out that there was no significant statistical differences in how these indicators were viewed by the cities and a selected number of external stakeholders, except for past experience, ICT access, technical competencies, and C2C strategy. Both cities and external stakeholders ranked internal political support as the most important enabling factor for cooperation.

Transforming the above factors into an evaluation framework, it was found out that majority of the participating Philippine cities could ably undertake either Intermittent C2C or Programmatic C2C, indicating a high level of readiness as a whole. By using the two readiness scores based on the ranking of external stakeholders and cities, a "range of readiness" was then identified indicating the high and low ends of the city's aggregated weighted score. From here, it was observed that while some cities may be clearly up for a particular type of C2C, a number of them may also be borderline cases.

Lastly, findings from Kruskal-Wallis H and Mann-Whitney U tests supported the hypothesis that, to some extent, smaller cities are more prepared for cooperation than their larger counterparts. This, however, was not found to be true in all categories of "smallness" used in the study. The overall readiness score of the cities was found to be strongly statistically associated only with the size of personnel and level of urbanization categories. In particular, it was discovered that cities with medium-sized personnel and partial urbanization were in a better position to engage in C2C cooperation than their respective categorical counterparts.

To further understand the performance of the cities relative to the evaluation framework, the abovementioned non-parametric tests were extended to each indicator. Some interesting results supporting the hypothesis were as follows:

・Cities with smaller land size were more embedded in international city networks than their larger counterparts (H(3) = 7.466, p = .058);

・The organizational set-up of cities with medium-sized personnel appeared to be more conducive for C2C cooperation than their larger or smaller counterparts (H(3) = 14.928, p = .002);

・Cities from the Visayas had stronger internal support than cities from the National Capital Region (NCR) and Luzon, regions that were generally held to have stronger political clout than the former (H(3) = 7.408, p = .060);

・Political need was observed to be stronger among cities that were partially urban compared to those that were totally urban and primarily rural (H(3) = 6.523, p = .089);

・Very fast-growing cities (i.e. with annual population growth rate greater than 3 percent) rated lower in communication skills compared to cities with fast and slow population growth (H(3) = 9.340, p = .025);

・Cities with medium-sized personnel were in a better position to fund C2C cooperation than those with larger and smaller number of employees (H(3) = 6.798, p = .079); and

・Cities with an annual budget of less than Php1 billion knew more potential external funding organizations than those with a yearly allocation of Php1 billion and above (H(3)=7.399, p= .060).

Conclusions, Recommendations and Implications

The analysis of CITYNET's experience points to the evolving practice of C2C cooperation within its membership. The stocktaking has shown that C2C under CITYNET's umbrella has grown over the years, not only in numbers but also in the mixture of modalities, direction and partners. The prevalence of South-South exchanges was also notable, in spite of a clear dominant role played by one developed city, Yokohama. The actors themselves were found to have shifting roles as they immersed themselves deeper in the C2C network. The network analysis also unraveled some interesting insights on the relative importance of actors―cities and non-cities―in the network. To strengthen network-based cooperation, a results-based monitoring and evaluation system was proposed.

The analysis of Philippine cities revealed an overall high level of readiness. This means that most of the cities could readily engage in medium- to long-term partnerships, whether or not under a formal framework or agreement. Both cities and external stakeholders agreed that internal support is the most important factor that could either hinder or facilitate the participation of cities in C2C cooperation. On the notion of "smallness," it was found out that the best performers were neither the smallest nor the largest cities, as defined in different categories. Medium-sized cities, particularly in terms of personnel size and urbanization level, were found to have better overall readiness score than their respective categorical counterparts. In view of these findings, a four-point agenda was put forward to further promote C2C cooperation in the Philippines.

By and large, the study contributes to the academic understanding of C2C cooperation by elucidating theoretically and empirically the praxis of C2C cooperation in Asia from a network perspective. It also presents a new approach at unraveling the roles of actors in network-enabled C2C cooperation through network analysis, and provides an evaluation framework to assess the readiness of cities for international city-based cooperation. It likewise provides empirical evidence from the Philippine case study that, to some extent, smaller cities are in a better position to engage in C2C cooperation than larger ones.

The indicators used in the study can further be extended for application to other cities. It is also interesting to confirm whether the readiness of the cities actually corresponds to their success record in C2C cooperation, one of the fundamental assumptions not tested in the research. On a practical note, the evaluation framework itself can further be improved and used as a simple tool to support the decisions of organizations like CITYNET that promote C2C cooperation in the region.

20世紀後半は地域的な主体が重要な国際的役割を担う復権の時代であった。「国際都市」の高まりは、都市間の連携へと発展し、連携から生まれた「友好」により特定の地方自治体の目標を達成するための技術的支援を得ている。現在では、世界中の都市の7割が何らかの形で他都市と連携していると推定されている。都市間(C2C)協力は、都市サービスや住居を改善し、自治体と市民の間をより緊密に結びつけることで、都市のガバナンスを強化する効果的な開発戦略として知られるようになってきた。その背後には、都市ネットワークやNGOのような他の組織の関与がある場合もある。

世界的なその普及にもかかわらず、この現象に対する学術的な理解は限られたものであり、とりわけアジア都市については乏しい。この研究上の空白を埋めるために、本研究ではアジア都市のC2C協力の実践と見通しについて研究を行う。より具体的には、C2C協力に関するCITYNETの実践を分析し、その結果に基づいてフィリピンの都市間のC2C協力の可能性について評価した。

C2C協力はアジアにおいては年数が浅くはないものの、発展途上の概念である。CITYNETの会員都市の経験から、都市間だけでなく、NGOのような他の地域組織でも関心が高まっていることが判明している。C2C協力のあり方としては、連携がいかに実践されるかといった方式が単一的なものから混成的なものへ、その場だけの交流から事業ベースの持続可能な交流へ、地方自治体だけの排他的な活動から市民社会の他の組織も巻き込んだ包括的な活動へと発展してきている。また、南南連携も普及してきている。

3つのC2C協力の型が見られた。最も一般的な型は単一の役割を持つ「アドホックC2C」と名付けられるもので、将来ないしより広い連携にたいして事後計画や包括的枠組みを持たない。第二の型は「断続的C2C」と呼べるもので、長期間の中で特段の時間的な枠組みはなしに、交流が時々起きる。第三の型は「プログラムC2C」であり、詳細な事業計画または連携機関についての正式の合意に導かれた時限的なプログラムに基づく。

都市の参加度の分析ではC2Cネットワークにおける5つの動的な活動の役割が判明した。最初のグループは「発信者」で、横浜市のようにその最適な実践が他都市の参考には供されるが、自らは受益者にならない。第二のグループは「受信者」でCITYNETのC2Cネットワークの中では最大数である。彼らは単に受益者としてC2Cにかかわっている。第三のグループは完全にバランスよく与益分を受益しているという意味で、「最適者」と名付けられる。第四のグループは「伝達者」で、過去に支援を受けたが現在では他への発信者としての役割を担っている。第五のグループは「適合者」で、発信者としても役割も担うが主な目的は他都市から学ぶ。

横浜市、バンコクの経験および2つの国の自治体連携から、都市がC2C協力を促進要因が明らかになった。それらは、過去のC2Cの経験、ネットワークへの参加、組織の立ち上げ、C2C戦略、ICTの便、内部的支援、政治的必要性、統率者の安定性、外的な提携者、情報伝達能力、技術的能力、内部的予算、外部的資金である。マン・ホイットニーのU検定の結果、過去の経験、ICTの便、技術的能力、C2C戦略を除くと、都市や専門家の間でのランク付けについて統計的に有意な違いが見られなかった。都市も専門家もC2C協力を可能にする要因として内部的な政治的支援が最も重要であると位置づけている。

フィリピンのほとんどの都市では断続的C2C、もしくはプログラムC2Cに取り組むことができること能力があることが判明し、高い即応能力があることが示された。また、クラスカル・ウォリスのH検定およびマン・ホイットニーのU検定より、ある程度規模の小さい都市の方が大都市よりもC2C協力に即応能力があるという仮説が支持された。中規模の職員数で都市化半ばの都市では他の都市よりもC2C協力を進めやすい状況にあった。

評価の枠組みとの関係で都市の実績についてより理解を深めるために、ノンパラメトリック検定を各指標に適用した。その結果、以下の諸点が判明した。土地面積が狭い都市ではより大きな都市よりも国際的な都市のネットワークに加わっている。中規模の職員数の都市は、大規模ないし小規模な都市よりもC2C協力を促進している。フィリピンのビザヤ地方の都市は、政治的な打撃があった首都圏やルゾン地方の都市よりも内部的な支援が強い。政治的なC2C協力の必要性は、都市化半ばの都市で特に強い。年間の人口成長率が3%以上の成長の早い都市では情報伝達能力が低い。職員数で中規模の都市はC2C協力に対して資金を出すのに優位な立場にある。年間予算10億フィリピンペソ未満の都市は、外部的な資金援助団体についてより知識がある。

本研究は、ネットワークの視点からアジアにおけるC2C協力の実践について理論的および実証的に解明することで、C2C協力の学問的な理解に貢献できた。ネットワーク分析によりネットワークによるC2C協力における主体の役割を解明する新たな手法を提示し、国際的な都市による協力について都市の即応能力を評価する枠組みを示すことができた。また、フィリピンのケーススタディを通してある程度小さな都市の方がC2C協力を推進しがちであることを実証的に示した。本研究の成果は、C2C協力を地域で促進しているCITYNETのような組織が意思決定する簡単なツールとして応用可能であり、学術的価値のみならず、実務上も有益な結果が得られている。よって本論文は博士(学術)の学位請求論文として合格と認められる。