In the Capital Region people are discovering that they need regional solutions to problems that spill over political boundaries. The Key Bank Center for Regional Studies was established to explore and promote these Regional solutions.

Regionalization refers to the growing interest among local government and non-government organization to join forces to tackle problems that defy solution within established political boundaries. Government officials and citizen are interested in finding an alternative to the dilemma of either cutting service or increasing taxes. Regionalization may offer that alternative.

Other places have been instituting regionalization with success. In Indianapolis, Senator Richard Lugar (then Mayor of Indianapolis) was able to merge county and city governments in 1970, into a new regional government know as Unigov. In Toronto, a two-tier system means that some functions are regional and other are addressed by local government. In Charlotte/Mecklenburg, NC, only the police and fire departments remain separated into city and county departments. Finally, in Portland, Oregon, the METRO government represents the only elected regional government in the U.S.