The project comprises a series of coordinated case studies, of two main types.

Firstly, sectorial monographs analyzing the decision making process that governs the supply and demand of a given collective good or service, in at least two cities. The sectors that will be studied will be primary health services, primary education, PDS, water and sanitation and slum development. In each metropolis, two types of areas will be studied, which correspond to different administrative statuses: the city core and peri-urban zones. Moreover, each monograph will have to deal with two types of colonies: legal and illegal (slums and "unauthorized colonies") - the latter being therefore, in principle, not served by the municipality or by sectorial agencies.

Secondly, studies on the relations between the main institutional actors who define and implement urban policies: international organizations, the courts, the Centre (notably the Ministry for Urban Development), the regional state (its sectorial agencies, its metropolitan development agencies, and its elected representatives), and municipalities (their administration, their elected representatives).

In each city, urban governance will thus be analyzed at micro and meso levels. The coordination of these case studies will form an integral part of the methodology of the project. The main methods used will be: mapping of infrastructure, questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions, study of administrative archives and discourse analysis (laws, parliamentary debates, political discourse).