In Norway, the smallest rural municipalities and the largest urban municipalities are part of the same generalist municipal system. Within this system, municipalities depend on cooperating with each other to fulfill their roles.
We research how municipalities, both large and small, make this cooperation work optimally and how each municipality should organize itself to succeed within the Norwegian municipal system.
Telemarksforsking has carried out both regional and national studies, surveys, and evaluations of a wide range of intermunicipal forms of cooperation. Important clients have included the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development (KMD), the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS), regional councils, and municipalities.
Experiences with the use of intermunicipal cooperation have also been a central topic in studies of municipalities’ work with innovation and digitalization.