It is clear that if the Gauteng city-region is to address its challenges and realise its opportunities, intergovernmental relations across the region have to be significantly improved. The GCR is not a real ‘place’ – it is a perspective, a way of understanding this remarkable space. But to make it work optimally, the way government entities relate to each other – vertically and horizontally – as well as the way they relate to civil society and the private sector must be far better understood and articulated than at present. Various structures have been put in place to achieve this, including the President's Coordinating Council (PCC) where national and provincial leadership meets as a collective; various MinMECs, where national Ministers meet with Provincial Members of the Executive Council (MECs) on particular sectoral issues such as housing, health or education; the Premier’s Co-ordinating Forum, where the Gauteng Premier and MECs meet with local government Mayors and Municipal Managers; and various MEC-MMC Forums, where provincial leaders meet with counterpart Members of Mayoral Committees from local government.

Intergovernmental relations are also being steadily strengthened through processes that clarify the distribution of responsibilities where powers over particular functional areas are shared between the provincial and local government.