Syria began to head towards decentralization in 1971, but the real trend was in
2011, when the focus was on the decentralization and the financial and administrative
independence of the administrative units. In 2021, the financial law of the new
a
dministrative units was issued .This study aims to derive an appropriate activation
mechanism for urban governance due to its importance, especially in the next stage
of reconstruction in Syria. This mechanism was reached by analyzing two global
experiences in addition to the Syrian situation, besides a number of personal interviews
and a questionnaire of some workers in the competent authorities. Accordingly, the
researcher has put a number of proposals to activate urban governance, which include
separating the powers and controlling administrative divisions to suit the limits of units,
activating the neighborhood boards mentioned in Law ١٠٧, canceling the administrative
and financial will and relying on subsequent judicial oversight, and accurate monitoring
to implement the agenda of administrative units, and giving local councils a greater
authority, especially in the field of forming partnerships with the Businesses and
NGOs/CBOs/CSOs sectors according to detailed legal rules, in addition to the
establishment of a central advisory agency on which local councils depend on the new
issues that they are exposed to.
