Local governments play a central role in managing the urban environment.
They usually bear primary responsibility for urban infrastructure and land use planning and are often directly involved in the provision of basic water, sanitation, and garbage disposal services. Unfortunately, such capacity is too often lacking. In Europe and North America, when air pollution became severe, the legal, regulatory, and financial structures to implement environmental management already existed. The basic infrastructure was already in place. These institutions were believed to be better equipped to handle urban development and infrastructure investment because of their much wider powers and greater financial resources compared with those of existing local authorities.