There are many critiques of existing forms of urban governance as not fit for purpose. However, what alternatives might look like is equally contested. Coproduction is proposed as a response to address complex wicked issues. Achieving coproduction is a highly complex and daunting task. Bottom up approaches to the initiation of coproduced governance are seen as fruitful, including exemplification of utopian alternatives though local practices. New ways of seeing the role of conflict in participation are needed, including ways to institutionalise agonistic participatory practices. Coproduction in governance drives demands for forms of knowledge production that are themselves coproductive. New urban governing spaces need to be coproduced through participative transformation requiring experimentation and innovation in re-designing urban knowledge architectures. Future research in this field is proposed which is nuanced, grounded in explicit weightings of different democratic values, and which mediates between recognition of contingency and the ability to undertake comparative analysis.
Since the 1980s, the topic of governance has been extensively investigated in parallel with the effects of globalization on policy issues. Meanwhile, there has been an increasing fragmentation of responsibilities in the urban arena. Now, the main focus is on new institutional relations and the policy process in which different constituents and agencies participate at both the national and the local level. As a result of the rescaling process of the state, networked forms of governance constitute a new form of politics. The changing governance structure in Istanbul, as in many other cities, is shaped by the interaction of economic and institutional factors, which are mediated through political, cultural and other contextual forces. To demonstrate that global forces influence urban management systems, this article describes the increasing participation of the private sector in urban development in Istanbul. An evaluation of urban governance is made to ascertain whether the concept of governance can explain the urban management model prevailing in Istanbul.
Who governs when nobody governs ?" This question is addressed by looking at phenomena that have become characteristic of cities today: violence, crime, immigration, mobility. Answering this question also requires paying more attention to different forms of regulation : state, market, along with cooperative/reciprocal modes of regulation. Risk embodies these different forms : it has become a common way of framing and addressing a wide variety of urban problems, suggesting that to govern is to identify and to manage vulnerabilities through different modes of regulation. Lastly, the question points to the uncertainty that characterizes city borders : these are constantly being redefined both by demographics, urbanization and political reforms.
Who governs when nobody governs ?" This question is addressed by looking at phenomena that have become characteristic of cities today: violence, crime, immigration, mobility. Answering this question also requires paying more attention to different forms of regulation : state, market, along with cooperative/reciprocal modes of regulation. Risk embodies these different forms : it has become a common way of framing and addressing a wide variety of urban problems, suggesting that to govern is to identify and to manage vulnerabilities through different modes of regulation. Lastly, the question points to the uncertainty that characterizes city borders : these are constantly being redefined both by demographics, urbanization and political reforms.
RUP conference proceedings on urban development and management. ; Presented in the next sections are papers on the proceedings of a workshop, which successfully managed to highlight current, future issues and challenges concerning urban governance in Zimbabwe. Urban Development, Growth and Governance Issues: Historically, urban local governments in Zimbabwe tended to have wide ranging capacity to provide a broad range of services to their populations. Delivery of these services and maintenance of the related infrastructure was efficient. This was mainly because of the relatively slow rate of urbanization. Urban settlement growth was kept under check through rigorous and tight development control and control of rural-urban migration. The changes brought about by national independence created unprecedented service, delivery and management and governance challenges. Virtually all-Zimbabwean urban settlements are growing and expanding at an unprecedented rate which raises serious questions of sustainability, environment, infrastructure, poverty and governance. Indeed, the current rates qf growth will, by the year 2016, see 50% of Zimbabwe's 11 million people residing in urban areas. \ \ x . The principal factors behind this rapid urban growth are rural to urban migration and natural population increases, in this regard, the presentation by Mr K P Murapa and Mr J Mabhenge develops scenarios and detailed accounts of the rural-urban linkages and their importance in urban policy formulation and management. While urban local authorities are battling to cope with the increasing demand for urban services, the problem is that of poverty in that the majority of the people who need the services cannot afford to pay for them. ; The Ford Foundation.
Urban health promotion is not simply a matter of the right interventions, or even the necessary resources. Urban (and indeed global) health depends to an important extent on governance, the institutions and processes through which societies manage the course of events. This paper describes the concept of governance, distinguishing between reforms aimed at improving how government works and innovations that more fundamentally reinvent governance by developing new institutions and processes of local stakeholder control. The paper highlights strategies urban governors can use to maximize their influence on the national and international decisions that structure urban life. It concludes with some observations on the limitations of local governance strategies and the importance of establishing a "virtuous circuit" of governance through which urban dwellers play a greater role in the formation and implementation of policy at the national and global levels.
Climate change will affect the way cities work substantially. Flooding and urban heating are among the most tangible consequences in cities around the globe. Extreme hydro-meteorological events will likely increase in the future due to climate change. Making cities climate-resilient is therefore an urgent challenge to sustain urban living. To adapt cities to the consequences of climate change, new ideas and concepts need to be adopted. This oftentimes requires action from different stakeholder groups and citizens. In other words, climate adaptation of cities needs governance. Facilitating such urban governance for climate adaptation is thus a big and increasing challenge of urban planning. Smart tools and its embedding in smart urban governance is promising to help in this respect. To what extent can the use of digital knowledge technologies in a collaborative planning setting be instrumental in facilitating climate adaptation? This question entails visualising effects of climate adaptation interventions and facilitating dialogue between governments, businesses such as engineering companies, and citizens. The aim of this thematic issue is to explore how the application of technologies in urban planning, embedded in smart urban governance, can contribute to provide climate change adaptation. We understand smart urban governance in this context both in terms of disclosing technical expert information to the wider public, and in terms of supporting with the help of technologies the wider governance debates between the stakeholders involved. The contributions reflect this dual focus on socio-technical innovations and planning support, and therefore include various dimensions, from modelling and interacting to new modes of urban governance and political dimensions of using technologies in climate change adaptation in urban areas.
The 2008 financial crash and ensuing austerity have brought critical perspectives on political economy into academic debates in democratic theory and public administration. One important area of contention regards "collaborative" and "network" forms of governance. Advocates argue that these comprise an epochal shift that resolves many pitfalls of state and market oriented governance, a consensus that was especially popular during the 1990's and early 2000's. This chapter reports research carried out in five cities in Europe (Athens, Barcelona, Dublin, Leicester, Nantes) exploring the impact of austerity politics on the ideology and practice of collaborative governance – would it endure, or be unravelled by, post-crash exposure to austerity and distributional conflict? The chapter concludes that severe austerity erodes the foundations for strong collaborative governance. The inability to survive the return of distributional conflict leads us to conclude that collaborative governance is fully functional only in times of growth.
This paper argues for a specific urban planning perspective on smart governance that we call "smart urban governance," which represents a move away from the technocratic way of governing cities often found in smart cities. A framework on smart urban governance is proposed on the basis of three intertwined key components, namely spatial, institutional, and technological components. To test the applicability of the framework, we conducted an international questionnaire survey on smart city projects. We then identified and discursively analyzed two smart city projects—Smart Nation Singapore and Helsinki Smart City—to illustrate how this framework works in practice. The questionnaire survey revealed that smart urban governance varies remarkably: As urban issues differ in different contexts, the governance modes and relevant ICT functionalities applied also differ considerably. Moreover, the case analysis indicates that a focus on substantive urban challenges helps to define appropriate modes of governance and develop dedicated technologies that can contribute to solving specific smart city challenges. The analyses of both cases highlight the importance of context (cultural, political, economic, etc.) in analyzing interactions between the components. In this, smart urban governance promotes a sociotechnical way of governing cities in the "smart" era by starting with the urban issue at stake, promoting demand-driven governance modes, and shaping technological intelligence more socially, given the specific context.
Today there is a widespread fear of crime on a global scale. This can be seen as a response to social inequalities, social polarisation and the fragmentation of cities, which has been caused by neo-liberalism. Worldwide, an increasing number of higher income groups have looked to security measures, such as cameras, fences, walls and gates, to separate themselves from other people in the city. These physical measures, in combination with hired guards, replace the 'older' social control mechanisms, which are based on social cohesion within the community concerned. One may question whether those living in gated 'communities' indeed feel responsible for other urbanites. In other words, will such a hard closure (physically-marked segregation) lead to soft closure, reflected in social-cultural and political segregation. What is the impact of the lifestyle(s) of those living in gated communities on the dynamics of the city, urban identity and urban governance?
International audience ; Starting in the 1990s, a series of reforms began to reshape state action and representations of the city in India. Economic reforms and the 74th amendment aimed at empowering urban local governments were especially significant. This chapter analyses how urban governance has evolved in the aftermath, comparing arrangements across several megacities. It discusses how the increasing importance of megacities as sites for economic growth and global competitiveness has generated tensions as the interests and aspirations of various social groups collide. In particular, it examines how state actors leverage urban space to promote economic development and the governance implications. Specific examples illustrate how spatial technologies are used to redefine territorial jurisdictions and create parallel governance mechanisms, for instance via zones of exception that bypass elected local bodies. These rescaling processes question local government sovereignty, urban sustainability and citizenship in cities where the urban poor constitute the vast majority of residents.
The pursuit of cultural heritage conservation is particularly problematic in China as the country has been undergoing substantial changes in its governance processes in the post-reform era. As the regime becomes less authoritarian and more pluralized, a multitude of stakeholders (both state and non-state), are now involved in promoting, constructing, challenging and safeguarding a variety of meanings and values in heritage. This thesis incorporates an urban governance lens to examine the policy and practical problems in conserving urban built heritage in contemporary China. This approach offers a new perspective in understanding the distribution of authority and power between the state and society as well as its effect on the management of public affairs. The reconfigurations of the role of the state, market and civil society have ushered in a new phase of urban politics that have enormous implications for built heritage conservation practices. As a result of reforms, conventional stakeholders have assumed new roles in politics; meanwhile, an increasing variety and number of new stakeholders connected to the non-state sector have also emerged; and their relationships and interactions with the state have become increasingly complex. An urban governance perspective draws attention to the new arrangements embedded in these relationships, which have profoundly impacted the decision-making processes in conservation, re-shaped the interpretation of heritage values, re-defined the scope of heritage and re-thought the use of heritage in Guangzhou. By employing a case-study approach, this thesis provides a detailed analysis of the conservation efforts undertaken by various stakeholder groups in Guangzhou in the post-reform era. Guangzhou is one of the country's designated historic cities; it is also the provincial capital of Guangdong and has experienced rapid marketization over the past three decades. Three district-specific cases are selected to provide an in-depth analysis on the changing relationships among concerned stakeholders. The case of Shamian Island demonstrates the rigidity and constraints of central-local relation; while the case of Xinhepu discloses the evolving state-market relation. Finally, the case of Enning Road examines the rise of non-state stakeholders and their power struggle against the state. These cases were selected because each of them covers a particular heritage aspect that is directly related to the three-pronged national conservation hierarchical framework. The findings in the three cases respectively reveal the intricacies of conservation politics: the bureaucratic politics in the management and conservation of designated heritage; the struggle between state and society over what legitimate type of history is considered as "national" history and the maintenance of its local significance; and the operation-cum-conservation of heritage assets by market forces in China's transitional economy. The findings of this thesis contribute to a broadened understanding of the changing roles and functions of the state, market and civil society in China's transitional period; thus revealing the major deficiencies in the existing institutional and managerial frameworks for built heritage conservation in Guangzhou. This thesis also documents the impacts and outcomes of the actions of various state and non-state stakeholders on the prospect of built heritage conservation at an urban scale in China. ; published_or_final_version ; Geography ; Doctoral ; Doctor of Philosophy
The most stigmatised area of Budapest, the Eighth District (Józsefváros) has been undergoing significant urban and social change since 1989. However, compared with what rent gap theory would have forecast, gentrification took off relatively late. After a historical narrative of how rent gap in Józsefváros had been produced throughout the 20th century, we will argue that examining the mechanisms and outcomes of the three dominant dynamics of rescaling urban governance in Hungary – decentralisation without the redistribution of resources in the 1990s; EU accession and Europeanisation of public policies from the 2000s; and recentralisation after 2010 – help us understand when, where and how gentrification has been unwinding in Middle-Józsefváros, the most dilapidated area of the Eighth District. The article will present three case studies of local urban regeneration as paradigmatic for the three rescaling dynamics: Corvin Promenade, Magdolna Quarter Programme, and the ongoing Orczy Quarter project. It will show the underlying revanchist policies and discourses in each case. The main aim of the current paper is to illustrate how a scale-sensitive political economic approach can go beyond the mainstream public and political discourse in scrutinising gentrification, through shedding light on structural factors contributing to exclusion, criminalisation, displacement, and othering.
According to many scholars, building a smart city requires "smart" governance approaches, including new government structures, new relationships, and new processes. Here, smart governance can be generally understood as the capacity to apply digital technologies and intelligent activities in the processing of information and in decision-making and creating innovative institutional arrangements. It requires reshaping the role of governments, citizens, and other social actors, innovating organizational and decision-making processes, and improving the use of existing and emerging information technologies to conceptualize and frame a new generation of e-participation. In practice, however, neither the development nor the advancement of smart governance is satisfactory. The implementation of smart governance in practice is mainly characterized by a corporate-led, technocratic way of governing cities. This raises the question how a transformative smart governance of cities can be conceptualized and developed and what role ICT should play in the transformative smart governance of cities. More recent studies show that the long experience of planning support ICT studies in handling technological innovations is able to offer potential insights into the innovative development and application of new ICTs in the field of the smart city and its subfield of smart governance. The key statement is that planning support systems (PSS) innovations and applications in urban planning should be closely related to the needs of users and planning practices. Then, authors from urban studies claim that there is a need to link smart city governance to the "urban issue," since knowledge cannot be simply gained through data-mining and ICT-based urban analytics. Then, the urban issue is produced by urban social processes which indicates a set of social relationships. For urban governance to become smart, the development of functionalities, applications, and ICTs in augmenting urban governance should be closely linked to urban issues (e.g., political, social, cultural, historical, and spatial issues) and support a smart urban governance in the service of local communities and ordinary people, rather than a small group of highly skilled experts. To respond to this, I argue that the mentioned perspectives can learn from each other to arrive at smart urban governance. Thus, this dissertation specifically focuses on how smart urban governance approach can be conceptualized and what role ICT could play in such governance. The conceptualization of smart urban governance responds to arguments that alternatives to corporate-led, technocratic smart governance should have "a solid epistemological and ontological understanding of the urban … and be more aware of how urban problems and their proposed smart solution are socially constructed" (Verrest and Pfeffer, 2019). It explores the role of the situated agents and their contribution to promoting a demand-driven smart governance. It also highlights a sociotechnical approach to ICT development and implementation. In other words, it is necessary to understand why smart technologies are designed, developed, and implemented as an appropriate answer to the perceived and constructed problems. Finally, smart urban governance highlights the importance of contextual factors for finding solutions to urban challenges.
The dominant law and economics model of local government, based on the work of Charles M. Tiebout, assumes that decentralization of power to local governments promotes the efficient delivery of public goods and services. In his seminal article, A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures, Tiebout contended that the existence of a large number of local governments in any given area permits a "market solution" to the question of how to determine the level and mix of government services that people desire. The multiplicity of local governments in an area means that, as long as each locality is free to adopt its own mix of services, regulations, and taxes, area residents will have a variety of packages of local government actions to choose among in determining where to live. An individual, as a "consumer-voter," can decide on the type and level of local services she wishes to receive, the type of local regulation she likes, and the local tax burden she is willing to assume by, in effect, shopping around among various localities and moving to the one that best suits her preferences. A metropolitan area, thus, functions as a kind of "marketplace" in which, due to interlocal mobility, residents are more likely to have their preferences satisfied by local government offerings than if comparable public goods and services were offered by higher levels of government.
