This book’s content and key messages are geared to respond to daily concerns and issues that cities and municipalities face in the management of their finances. Municipalities have made it clear that they need access to global knowledge and that they are seeking to be part of a larger community of practice. This book reviews lessons learned about intergovernmental relations, metropolitan finance, financial management, revenues management, expenditures manage-ment, public assets management, external funding, and municipal finances per-formance measurement. It spans the arc from decentralization to transparency and accountability and travels the less-charted waters of assets management, creditworthiness, response to financial crisis, reporting mechanisms to various levels of government and civil representation.

Throughout the handbook, broadband is viewed as an ecosystemconsisting of supply and demand components, both of which are equally important if the expansion of broadband networks and services is to be successful. In addressing the challenges and opportunities to which broadband gives rise, the handbook discusses the policies and strategies that government officials and others should consider when developing broadband plans, including what legal and regulatory issues to address, what broadband technologies to choose, how to facilitate universal broad-band access, and how to generate demand for broadband services and applications.