Karl Kössler is Senior Researcher and Group Leader at the Institute for Comparative Federalism of Eurac Research Bolzano/Bozen (Italy). He received a Ph.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Innsbruck (Austria) in 2011. Due to his background in both comparative public law and political science, Karl Kössler's research adopts a multidisciplinary perspective. His teaching includes a wide range of courses at universities, master programs and summer schools in Europe, Africa and Asia. Moreover, Karl Kössler is the author of over 50 academic publications with prestigious publishers such as Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan, Edward Elgar, Hart and Oxford University Press. This includes nine books, among them Comparative Federalism: Constitutional Arrangements and Case Law (coauthored with Francesco Palermo). The latter book has received acclaim from both political scientists and lawyers as “a work of reference for generations of scholars” (Prof. Balveer Arora) and as“standing out for its iconoclasm, for its illuminating and entertaining selection of illustrative examples, but most of all for a significant methodological breakthrough” (Prof. James Gardner). Karl Kössler’s consultancy activities for policymakers have covered a wide range of constitutional and political reform projects with assignments ranging from several European countries to Mozambique and Papua New Guinea. In 2018, he was appointed as Alternate Member of the Council of Europe’s Group of Independent Experts on the European Charter of Local Self-Government. His work has obtained third-party funding from private foundations and the European Union. Since 2019 Karl Kössler is the Scientific Coordinator of the five-year EU Horizon 2020 project “Local Government and the Changing Urban-Rural Interplay (LoGov)”, which brings together 18 partner institutions from around the world .

• 1.Introduction.- 2.Decentralization within metropolitan areas.- 3.Tackling structural challenges in rural areas through mergers and inter-municipal cooperation.- 4. Local government associations and the representation of urban and rural interests.- 5.The role of local authorities in intergovernmental conferences.- 6. Comparative conclusions.

Karl Kössler is Senior Researcher and Group Leader at the Institute for Comparative Federalism of Eurac Research Bolzano/Bozen (Italy). He received a Ph.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Innsbruck (Austria) in 2011. Due to his background in both comparative public law and political science, Karl Kössler's research adopts a multidisciplinary perspective. His teaching includes a wide range of courses at universities, master programs and summer schools in Europe, Africa and Asia. Moreover, Karl Kössler is the author of over 50 academic publications with prestigious publishers such as Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan, Edward Elgar, Hart and Oxford University Press. This includes nine books, among them Comparative Federalism: Constitutional Arrangements and Case Law (coauthored with Francesco Palermo). The latter book has received acclaim from both political scientists and lawyers as “a work of reference for generations of scholars” (Prof. Balveer Arora) and as“standing out for its iconoclasm, for its illuminating and entertaining selection of illustrative examples, but most of all for a significant methodological breakthrough” (Prof. James Gardner). Karl Kössler’s consultancy activities for policymakers have covered a wide range of constitutional and political reform projects with assignments ranging from several European countries to Mozambique and Papua New Guinea. In 2018, he was appointed as Alternate Member of the Council of Europe’s Group of Independent Experts on the European Charter of Local Self-Government. His work has obtained third-party funding from private foundations and the European Union. Since 2019 Karl Kössler is the Scientific Coordinator of the five-year EU Horizon 2020 project “Local Government and the Changing Urban-Rural Interplay (LoGov)”, which brings together 18 partner institutions from around the world .

• 1.Introduction.- 2.Decentralization within metropolitan areas.- 3.Tackling structural challenges in rural areas through mergers and inter-municipal cooperation.- 4. Local government associations and the representation of urban and rural interests.- 5.The role of local authorities in intergovernmental conferences.- 6. Comparative conclusions.

Karl Kössler is Senior Researcher and Group Leader at the Institute for Comparative Federalism of Eurac Research Bolzano/Bozen (Italy). He received a Ph.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Innsbruck (Austria) in 2011. Due to his background in both comparative public law and political science, Karl Kössler's research adopts a multidisciplinary perspective. His teaching includes a wide range of courses at universities, master programs and summer schools in Europe, Africa and Asia. Moreover, Karl Kössler is the author of over 50 academic publications with prestigious publishers such as Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan, Edward Elgar, Hart and Oxford University Press. This includes nine books, among them Comparative Federalism: Constitutional Arrangements and Case Law (coauthored with Francesco Palermo). The latter book has received acclaim from both political scientists and lawyers as “a work of reference for generations of scholars” (Prof. Balveer Arora) and as“standing out for its iconoclasm, for its illuminating and entertaining selection of illustrative examples, but most of all for a significant methodological breakthrough” (Prof. James Gardner). Karl Kössler’s consultancy activities for policymakers have covered a wide range of constitutional and political reform projects with assignments ranging from several European countries to Mozambique and Papua New Guinea. In 2018, he was appointed as Alternate Member of the Council of Europe’s Group of Independent Experts on the European Charter of Local Self-Government. His work has obtained third-party funding from private foundations and the European Union. Since 2019 Karl Kössler is the Scientific Coordinator of the five-year EU Horizon 2020 project “Local Government and the Changing Urban-Rural Interplay (LoGov)”, which brings together 18 partner institutions from around the world .

• 1.Introduction.- 2.Decentralization within metropolitan areas.- 3.Tackling structural challenges in rural areas through mergers and inter-municipal cooperation.- 4. Local government associations and the representation of urban and rural interests.- 5.The role of local authorities in intergovernmental conferences.- 6. Comparative conclusions.