日本自約1990年代末期推動「平成大合併」，擬將約3200個市町村自治體整併為約1000個，以利區域廣域政策的推動，並減少地方自治體的行政營運費用。然而，自治體的存續為憲法所保障，尤其在民主時代，日本中央政府難以用強制的手段大規模進行市町村自治體的合併。因此，有些市町村在沒有行政區域合併的情況下，選擇用跨域治理的方式達成廣域治理的需要。 而為解決廣大區域的共同治理課題，實務上常以地方自治體間的「行政區域合併」或是跨域治理來因應大都市周邊..

Japan has promoted the Great Heisei Mergers since the late 1990’s. Under this program, the Japanese government planned to merge approximately 3200 villages, towns, and cities into roughly 1000; thereby facilitating the promotion of regional policies and reducing the administration and operation expenditures of local autonomous bodies. However, the existence of such bodies is guaranteed by the Constitution of Japan. Particularly in the current era of democracy, the central government of Japan has experienced difficulty i..