Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Edge County Syndrome: Rapid Growth And Conflict And The Challenges They Create For Public Administration, David N. Hamilton

School of Business Student Theses and Dissertations

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 …