Local Governance Research LLC was founded in 2020 by Richard Clark Feiock. Local Governance Research (LGR) is a team of scholars and analysts conducting policy research for a variety of clients and seeking to improve our understanding of local governments and governance institutions in metropolitan regions in the US and throughout the world.  LGR’s five research programs – Institutional Collective Action; The Political Market; Transaction Cost Federalism, and Policy Bundling and Implementation, and Institutions for Sustainability Governance – offer theoretical frameworks to investigate issues related to economic development, land use, energy & sustainability, service delivery, infrastructure and finance.  The work in each of these research areas began with informal working groups made up of faculty, students, post-docs and visiting scholars associated with LGR and its predecessor Local Governance Lab. Although the issues investigated by LGR researchers are diverse, they share a common focus on the role of formal and informal institutions in shaping local governance process, policy, and performance.

Our Data Resources page houses a curated collection of and urban & local government datasets and makes them publicly available and accessible. The collection includes data resources by LGR scholars, as well as other organization, institutions, and researchers.  The lab also hosts the Integrated City Sustainability Database (ICSD). Secure login is required to access the LOCALGOV lab which includes additional non-public datasets.