What will local government look like in ten years? It is almost impossible to predict, but some common trends, such as innovation, increasing citizen engagement, new developments in IT, and residents demanding more of their communities, will certainly be a part of the future.

At the same time, despite the accelerating rate of change, some core services will surely remain much the same as they are now. While we cannot predict what the future holds, it is sure to be an exciting time to be in local government!

Here are articles and online resources to help prompt your thinking about the future of local government.

• PM magazine has a great article about the local government of the future. In this article, local government officials weigh in on what they feel the local government of the future will be like and what the role of local government and city/county managers will be specifically.Click here to view the article.  
• Another insightful article in PM magazine discusses innovation in public management and what the future holds. This article describes the ten key principles of successful innovation for local government and shows how governments will be expected to innovate more in the future. Click here to view the article.  
• The article “Telework and the New Workplace of the 21^st Century” shows how telework will become even more important in the future as it allows for greater employee flexibility, can help fill skilled worker shortages, and can even increase workplace diversity. This article also goes into the economics of telework and ideas for how to manage employees who are teleworking.
• The article “Believe It of Not! Now Is the Time for Organizational Change” shows that tough economic times can be the perfect time to restructure local governments and make them more efficient, positioning themto come out of the recession ahead of the game. This article describes the change process and what to pay attention to when completing a structural change
• ICMA posted a white paper by Carl W. Stenberg and prepared for ICMA’s Governmental Affairs and Policy Committee on how local governments have been reinventing themselves during this time of economic crisis. This article looks at many different aspects of local government, including Human Resources and core services and programs, and how they can be improved. The paper and a short introduction can be found here. 

What do you think is in store for local government in the coming years?  Are the ideas in these articles realistic or rhetoric? Please weigh in and join us in a conversation about the future of local government!

Best,

Robin Saywitz

ICMA’s Knowledge Network Intern

rsaywitz@icma.org