Cities play a special role in the process of sustainable development of the country. The city management plays a fundamental role in this challenge. The mayor should become a manager and manage the city based on a strategic marketing management model. Thanks to this, it can optimally use available financial instruments that give the opportunity to achieve strategic development goals of the city.

There is a very high interest in international literature about the governance of common goods related to a redefinition of representative democracy. Scholars like Sheila Foster and Christian Iaione have proposed new models of governance enhancing the preservation and management of the commons in order to overcome problems and contradictions of complex contemporary cities, such as social exclusion and land privatisation. The aim of this paper is to verify, through a recognition of administrative documents, if in the example of Rome, the political actors, the municipal government, and the civil society, could be able to take part in a collaborative governance inspired reform. To answer this question, the relationship between the policy making process, the economic production model and the normative claims arising from social groups will be investigated. What is emerging is a difficulty of the administration in implementing collaborative principles. This is reflected in the issuance of discordant administrative measures, stemming from problems in relaying to civil society and active citizens the role that these principles assign. The reasons for this mismatching might be identified in the distinctive urban regime of Rome and the political and economic set that fosters social exclusion and does not consider the positive effects and the value of collaborative-oriented policy, enhancing sharing economy and social cohesion. The constant recall in the political discourse of concepts such as common goods, citizen’s participation and collaboration values takes the characteristics of a discursive resource, a ‘common washing’, which institutions and politics seem to re-propose and consolidate the traditional mode of public action, though apparently declaring its inadequacy and ineffectiveness.

All local government units in Poland have been analysed regarding their consolidated debt. The consolidated debt was compared with the budget debt which is subject to monitoring and statutory restrictions. The scale of extra-budgetary debt has been revealed as recorded in the balance sheet of a local government unit, a parent entity. In practice, the consolidated balance sheet and debt presented in it are not subject to debates and analyses. Local governments refrain from auditing and publicising of the consolidated balance sheet. The article describes the risks related to unlimited local government debt.

The author analyzes the relationship between the size of GDP generated in the region and its metropolitan capital city, and the level of budget revenues of local government units – including the metropolis. On the example of Małopolska and Cracow, it observes tendencies of the growing level of income of local governments in relation to GDP, but fi rst of all it points out that in the metropolitan city the ratio is much lower than in the whole region. This defi ciency is called the „metropolitan income gap” and looks for the reasons for its occurrence. He points to the dynamic suburbanization, which causes that more and more groups of people contributing to the production of GDP in a metropolitan city pay property taxes, personal income and a large part of VAT in the suburban area. What is more, the areas of this zone use various forms of development support – for example, development of rural areas. The author considers the phenomenon of the «metropolitan income gap» to be a negative phenomenon, limiting the ability to compete on a global scale and points to several possible ways leading to its reduction. The author considers the phenomenon of the «metropolitan income gap» to be a negative phenomenon, limiting the ability to compete on a global scale and points to several possible ways leading to its.

Nowadays, in order to ensure high quality of municipal services, and thus a high quality of life for the local community, the authorities of both the basic local government unit and managers of municipal enterprises must strive to maintain high standards of sustainable development. The level of quality of life and services provided can be determined by various dimensions, such as: ecological environment, housing conditions, ecological production in the field of consumer goods, balance between built-up areas and green areas, care for agricultural areas, limiting the deepening social stratification, rational economy water or rational waste management. Therefore, the paper presents a theoretical analysis of the main directions of sustainable development in the activities of municipal enterprises.