Coordination of local planning powers is important in a decentralized planning system. For this concer, we made a case study in Portland, Oregon, U.S., where a regional government called Metro was created over the jurisdiction of existing local governments for this coordination. We found that 1) the development of Metro was promoted by the existence of a strong central city and the state land use planning legislature; and 2) an advisory committee comprised of the local government officials plays an important role in the policy making process of Metro.
