Local government in 2020: challenges and opportunities

here are a host of challenges that face local government in the 21st century: delivering services; lack of finance; managing staff; engaging citizens; forming new partnerships; and, rapidly evolving technologies and socio-economic demographics.
So where will we be in 2020? Will we continue to see an erosion of council authority, capacity and service delivery? Will markets prove capable of filling the gaps? Or, will we see a reassertion of the importance of local government, with new models for regional integration, public finance and services that emphasise a public role? Here are some of my speculations.