Intended Date of Award
2016
Degree Name
Doctorate in Public Administration (DPA)
Chair
Carol Becker
Vice-Chair
Dr. Beth Wielde-Heidelberg
Committee Member
Dr. Craig Waldron
Abstract
Abstract
County government is an overlay of history striving to adapt to an uncertain future. Increasing arrays of complex issues face public administrators in counties as they grow and urbanize within metropolitan regions. Of the 3,031counties in the United States, 1,100 are now included within the 366 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and that number is growing as urbanization expands. As development pushes outward into the peripheral suburbs, county officials are confronted with emerging issues that existing policies fail. The challenge remains an open question that this dissertation attempts to address by exploring the theory that high-velocity growth in counties located on the fringe of expanding metropolitan areas creates a unique and distinct array of administrative conflicts: Edge County Syndrome.
Two methodologies were utilized. First, population data from the US Census Bureau between 1990 and 2010 of 1,100 urban counties found within MSAs. Within that grouping, 374 Growth Counties were identified whose population had grown at or above one standard deviation. Locational criteria defined three distinct types of Growth Counties revealing 280 Edge Counties. Second, a case study utilizing a qualitative survey comprised of eighteen questions guided interviews that probed administrative realities of rapid growth. Two Edge Counties were paired and compared with adjacent Core Counties from two separate regions that had experienced modest to no growth within the same timeframe leading to the projects focus on Edge Counties. Sixteen growth-related conflicts impacting public administration were revealed and grouped into four broad categories: budget conflicts, relationship conflicts, planning conflicts, and administrative conflicts, forming the findings that created Edge County Syndrome.
Recommended Citation
Hamilton, David N., "Edge County Syndrome: Rapid Growth and Conflict and the Challenges they create for Public Administration" (2016). School of Business Student Theses and Dissertations. 15.
https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/hsb_all/15
dc_type
text
dc_publisher
DigitalCommons@Hamline
dc_format
application/pdf
dc_source
School of Business Student Theses and Dissertations