SINCE the end of Strathclyde Region disappeared and the Scottish Parliament came into being there has been no metropolitan wide perspective on policy.

In England, since the start of the Blair era there was a process of thinking about how cities work, places like Manchester where a decade ago they started to put the interests of the city-region ahead of tribal local politics.

They've had some sort of metropolitan partnership for a decade. It's developed rather naturally. Some local services are provided in partnership.

The Scottish Parliament hasn't thought about cities in the same way. We've failed to move forward our thinking about our two large cities and they have been governed in isolation from neighbouring authorities that are home to many of their workers and shoppers.

We fell behind in the cities debate. Donald Dewar whilst always working for a better Glasgow felt that other priorities prevailed and that the cities agenda could wait.

Henry McLeish's review of Scotland cities gave impetus and a commitment to promote city region growth to which councils responded very positively.

But the opportunity to develop a cities strategy for Scotland was lost around 2003, when Jack McConnell, despite rising public spending budgets, had other priorities. The cities fund supported only small, cosmetic projects and it disappeared by 2008.

The emerging city deals in England have required cities and their neighbouring authorities to work together to promote both a strategic approach to infrastructure investment and refashion local government services.

Scotland, and the Glasgow city region, needs both a more coherent approach to infrastructure and local service provision.

Since 2009, with budget reductions, services have been cut rather than reorganised across councils. Now, with an even greater budget reduction likely over the next five years a new geography of local government is badly needed for our public services and investment strategies.

In 2011 Nicola Sturgeon launched the Scottish Cities Alliance. It has encouraged collaboration but has not shaped a city-region approach and the emergent city visions and investment strategies suffer from that.

The Alliance needs to refocus its scope and consider more how the bigger cities have to play in different national and global city 'competitions'.

It needs to change fast if is not to be left behind by a new wave of city deals that will potentially involve Edinburgh and Aberdeen as well as Glasgow. This sets a challenge for the Scottish Government to set the fiscal framework to allow Scotland's cities to compete effectively with other cities in the UK and elsewhere.

* Duncan Maclennan holds chairs at the Universities of Glasgow and St Andrews and after three years as special adviser to the First Ministers of Scotland between 1999-2002 then spent seven years abroad advising governments in Canada and Australia on cities and investment.