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As in many large European Cities, Amsterdam is confronted with a large housing boom, partially fuelled by shortcomings in (affordable) housing development. Simultaneously, there is a persistent need to improve neighbourhoods with a weak socioeconomic status. The municipal government aims to both, develop major housing schemes and designate redevelopment areas. In 2017, Amsterdam presented a new urban renewal program for 32 designated deprived neighbourhoods in three boroughs. The program sets out physical housing ambitions, but also intends to anticipate and integrally address social, economic and ecological challenges. To ensure the developments are inclusive, the active involvement of local communities in the decision making process is central part of the new policy. However, a large body of planning literature emphasizes the tendency of large redevelopment processes to become exclusive rather than inclusive. To avoid these pitfalls, new spatial and programmatic governance arrangements may need to be developed. In close collaboration with the municipality and local communities, we conduct empirical action-research on Amsterdam's urban regeneration program to develop and test promising solutions with practice. The paper analyses the planning process as it evolves. Based on framing theory, we structure and analyse the expected governance barriers hindering the inclusivity during the course of the planning process. The insights gathered regarding inclusivity provide critical input in the conceptualisation of new more forceful inclusive spatial planning strategies. In conclusion, a variety of spatial and programmatic governance arrangements are presented to reinforce the inclusivity of planning processes for a sustained impact of large-scale urban renewal programs.

Why has urban informality in the global North received so little attention? We suggest that this neglect can be explained in part by the tendency of scholarship to reproduce the myth of Northern formality: the widely held belief that informality occurs only in corrupt and clientelist 'developing countries'. This myth has allowed activities and connections that would generally be framed as clientelist or corrupt in the global South to be rebranded as policy innovation in Western Europe and North America. In this brief paper, we challenge the myth of Northern formality by focusing on two empirical cases of informality in Dutch governance that demonstrate how the state frames the toleration and deliberate use of informality as policy innovations. Specifically, we focus on strategic, uncodified and non‐transparent deviation from legal procedure in order to achieve compliance and/or effectiveness. Relying on ethnographic methods and secondary sources, we discuss firstly the governance of Amsterdam's red light district and secondly participatory infrastructure projects in the surrounding province of North Holland. The first case highlights the strategic non‐enforcement or non‐application of laws, while the second case points to the use of personalized relationships and non‐transparency in participatory governance.

This paper profiles Fukuoka City in Kyushu, Japan. We focus on the city's local climate change adaptation policies, and in particular the role of urban and greenspace planning in facilitating adaptation actions within Fukuoka. Fukuoka is a humid subtropical city which is currently experiencing significant population and economic growth. It has also made comparatively rigorous advances in climate adaptation, in a country context where local governments have been criticised for focusing more on mitigation. Fukuoka hence may yield lessons for other rapidly urbanising subtropical Asian cities. We illustrate that Fukuoka has a long tradition of science-policy connection towards the creation of a liveable urban environment. This creates a favourable research and policy infrastructure for adaptation, in particular mitigation of heat risk. This is evidenced in consideration of climate issues within the city's greenspace plans since the 1990s, and in an extensive body of underpinning applied research from local institutions into urban thermal environments in particular. Fukuoka's green terraced ACROS building has come to symbolise adaptation via the built environment, and has been followed by the emergence of further green roofs and through citizen and private sector involvement in smaller-scale greening actions. We caution that challenges remain around connecting different sections of local governments, and in maintaining climate and environmental imperatives in the face of ongoing development and expansion pressures.

What happened to the urban spaces of everyday life when the Soviet Union collapsed? And how may this change be understood? Based on long-term qualitative fieldwork in post-Soviet Russia, this study draws upon time-geographic, social and semiotic theory to formulate a model of how urban space is formed. Mirrored through the case of Ligovo/Uritsk, a high-rise residential district situated on the outskirts of Sankt-Peterburg (St Petersburg), the changing relation between the lifeworlds of people and the system of governance is highlighted with regard to the transformation of Soviet and Russian so.

In recent decades, residential towers have become the main technical catalogue to densify the downtown districts of Chilean cities. Based on ethnographic observations, this article describes the dimensions of these buildings' internal governance, particularly the composition and maintenance that supports their persistence in urban environments. The conclusion is that these regimes are useful to deal with these types of buildings as socio-material collectives that articulate their own versions of technical democracy and present an infrastructural dimension configurable at an urban scale. Thus, the impacts as a typological set in the urban environment can be assessed, introducing architectural variables into urban governance. ; En décadas recientes, los edificios residenciales de altura se han transformado en el principal repertorio técnico para densificar las áreas centrales de las ciudades chilenas. El presente trabajo describe, a partir de datos de observaciones etnográficas, dimensiones de la gobernanza interna de estas edificaciones; en particular, los regímenes de composición y cuidado que las organizan y las ayudan a persistir en los entornos urbanos. A partir de lo anterior, se concluye que estos regímenes son útiles para abordar este tipo de edificaciones como colectivos sociomateriales, que articulan sus propias versiones de democracia técnica, y que presentan una dimensión infraestructural configurable en la escala urbana. Esto último permite evaluar sus efectos como conjunto tipológico en el entorno urbano e incluir variables arquitectónicas dentro de la gobernanza urbana.

The authors examine the extent to which the practices of social and environmental accounting, auditing, and reporting (SEAAR) provide opportunities for the identification, communication, and management of social and environmental risks. In introducing and exploring accounting practices, the theoretical allegiances of accounting are also outlined in order to situate accounting as a social science discipline which experiences similar debates to other areas of scholarship. The authors also extend discussion of risk governance and accounting by reference to the 'new' literature on risk from writers such as Adams, Beck, and Lash. It is suggested that the insights from these broader theorists on risk apply equally to conventional accounting and attempts via SEAAR to create an expanded governance framework. In particular, Beck identifies a number of critical aspects of risk governance that are also central to an understanding of accounting, including: the danger of seeking verifiable and neutral truth; the causal denial of harm; the contestation of expert and lay knowledge of risks; social construction of risk; and the radicalisation of rationality. Paraphrasing Beck, it is argued that accounting and accountants are incapable of managing the risks of industrialisation as they are implicated in the creation and multiplication of these risks, yet accounting and accountants, in particular those engaged in SEAAR, can play an essential role in identifying these risks. It is further argued that the contribution of SEAAR to risk governance will largely depend upon a radicalisation of accounting rationality in practice.

Cities and megacities are getting smart. This strategic transition might be considered as an effective tool to cope with a number of current issues such as the urban population growth, the rapid urbanisation and the social, economic and environmental crisis condition. However, the application of the smart city strategy has mainly involved large-size cities, excluding small towns and villages from this process of innovation and redevelopment of urban fabrics. Coping with this aspect is crucial in countries like Italy which consists of a diffuse urban structure, constituted for its 70% of small urban areas with a population less than 5000 inhabitant. Clustering and networking might be considered as efficient tools to face criticalities connected to small urban areas, such as their individual lack of resources. This approach increases the possibility for asset enhancement through a cooperative system, which can take advantages from 'intelligent' infrastructures of the ICT sector.Grounding on the smart city analysis, a governance model has been defined to effectively manage the transition to more intelligent small towns and villages, shifting from the urban level to the territorial one. This process has lead to the identification of the smart region which consists of a cluster of small urban areas, working together to frame a diffused smart city.This scenario generates the ground to identify new research orientations within the field of Urban Technology Management, linked to an innovative model for the territorial development. Moreover, the spatial and conceptual framework of the smart region is closely connected to European Union's Smart Specialization policies and it might be implemented in the Italian context, creating the rationale for a nationwide project

Climate change (CC) is a new and, up to 2013, voluntary planning area in Denmark, and it is perceived as an interdisciplinary field affecting several professions. CC is integrated into bureaucratised municipal organisations characterised by a fragmented organisational structure and strong institutional traditions and perceptions. With this paper I examine different approaches to CC governance and the institutional dynamics that occur in the integration process within eight Danish municipalities in the initial phase of integrating CC. The results show three different governance approaches related to CC planning: experimental, negotiation, and standardisation. This paper contributes insights into the intrainstitutional dynamics at the local level when climate plans are to be implemented in practice, and it adds perspectives on the role of local established networks rather than international networks for less affluent municipalities to act on CC.

Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Part 1: Cities as Fire Regimes -- 1. Jan van der Heyden and the Origins of Modern Firefighting: Art and Technology in Seventeenth-Century Amsterdam -- 2. Governance, Arson, and Firefighting in Edo, 1600-1868 -- 3. Taming Fire in Valparaíso, Chile, 1840s-1870s -- 4. The Burning of a Modern City? Istanbul as Perceived by the Agents of the Sun Fire Office, 1865-1870 -- 5. Imperial Russia's Urban Fire Regimes, 1700-1905 -- 6. Fighting Fires (or Not) in Porfirian Mexico -- Part 2: Fire as Risk and as a Catalyst if Change -- 7. The Great Fire of Lisbon, 1755 -- 8. A Tale of Two Cities: The Pyro-Seismic Morphology of Nineteenth-Century Manila -- 9. Fire and Urban Morphogenesis: Patterns of Destruction and Reconstruction in Nineteenth-Century Montreal -- 10. The Great Fire of Hamburg, 1842: From Catastrophe to Reform -- 11. Did the Fire Insurance Industry Help Reduce Urban Firesin the United States in the Nineteenth Century? -- 12. Inflaming the Fears of Theatergoers: How Fires Shaped the Public Sphere in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1880-1910 -- 13. Points of Origin: The Social Impact of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire -- Part 3: The Politics of Fire -- 14. The Politics of Singapore's Fire Narrative -- 15. The Beirut Central District on Fire: Firefighting in a Divided City with Shifting Front Lines, 1975-1976 -- 16. Who Burned Cleveland, Ohio? The Forgotten Fires of the 1970s -- 17. "There Is More to This Fire Than Meets the Eye": Anatomy of Fire Outbreaks in Lagos, Nigeria, 1980-2008 -- 18. Fires, Urban Environments, and Politics in Contemporary Jakarta -- Afterword: Fire on the Fringe -- Contributors -- Index.

A coalition of leftist political groups, civic movements, and grassroots organizations led by social activist Ada Colau won the Barcelona municipal elections of 2015 and is now governing the Catalan capital. The key to this success may well have been its critical positioning in relation to its tourism. Until recently considered a best practice in urban regeneration and a successful global destination, Barcelona has seen in the last 2 years a radical change in the public perception on tourism: from "manna from heaven" to serious issues that are affecting the quality of life of its citizens. This article looks into the factors that may have determined this political change, from the growth of tourism beyond what could be considered a critical threshold for an urban system, to the development of a critical discourse on tourism by the new coalition—attributed to its peculiar constituency and working methods—and the role of the media in airing this discursive shift. The article follows the thread of the "growth machine" theorizations and questions whether the increasing dimension of tourism in urban societies could be a driver for regime changes. ; Postprint (author's final draft)

A coalition of leftist political groups, civic movements, and grassroots organizations led by social activist Ada Colau won the Barcelona municipal elections of 2015 and is now governing the Catalan capital. The key to this success may well have been its critical positioning in relation to its tourism. Until recently considered a best practice in urban regeneration and a successful global destination, Barcelona has seen in the last 2 years a radical change in the public perception on tourism: from "manna from heaven" to serious issues that are affecting the quality of life of its citizens. This article looks into the factors that may have determined this political change, from the growth of tourism beyond what could be considered a critical threshold for an urban system, to the development of a critical discourse on tourism by the new coalition—attributed to its peculiar constituency and working methods—and the role of the media in airing this discursive shift. The article follows the thread of the "growth machine" theorizations and questions whether the increasing dimension of tourism in urban societies could be a driver for regime changes. ; Postprint (author's final draft)

Scholarship in urban sociology has pointed to the reliance of city governments on ever–more market mechanisms for organizing social and economic policy. This form of governance involves prioritizing cities' cultural and social assets for their value in a global competition of urban "brands," each competing for new infusions of human and investment capital. At the same time, however, cities have been at the center of seemingly progressive policy efforts aimed at promoting innovation, sustainability, and creativity. These themes represent a newly dominant planning discourse in cities across the globe. While researchers have thoroughly examined how "creative classes" and "creative cities" may exclude everyday, working–class, or poor residents, new urban imaginaries focused on sustainability potentially imply less stratified urban outcomes. Analyzing two high–profile interventions in Buenos Aires, Argentina—a sustainable urban regeneration plan for the historic downtown, and the creation of an arts cluster in the impoverished south of the city—this paper argues that despite divergent narratives, creative and sustainable urban projects suggest similar policy agendas, planning assumptions, and relationships to market mechanisms. Increasingly, global policies, whose design and objectives may appear to contradict market logics, may have outcomes that further them.

abstract: Complexities and uncertainties surrounding urbanization and climate change complicate water resource sustainability. Although research has examined various aspects of complex water systems, including uncertainties, relatively few attempts have been made to synthesize research findings in particular contexts. We fill this gap by examining the complexities, uncertainties, and decision processes for water sustainability and urban adaptation to climate change in the case study region of Phoenix, Arizona. In doing so, we integrate over a decade of research conducted by Arizona State University's Decision Center for a Desert City (DCDC). DCDC is a boundary organization that conducts research in collaboration with policy makers, with the goal of informing decision-making under uncertainty. Our results highlight: the counterintuitive, non-linear, and competing relationships in human–environment dynamics; the myriad uncertainties in climatic, scientific, political, and other domains of knowledge and practice; and, the social learning that has occurred across science and policy spheres. Finally, we reflect on how our interdisciplinary research and boundary organization has evolved over time to enhance adaptive and sustainable governance in the face of complex system dynamics.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and effective board governance.Design/methodology/approachThis study applied a model of emotional intelligence competencies to the practice domains of school boards. A board self‐assessment questionnaire measured board practice domains for the presence or absence of 18 emotional intelligence competencies defined in an emotional competence inventory. Inter‐rater reliabilities were established and confirmed. Current and former school board members in two urban areas rank‐ordered the most critical emotional intelligence competencies for effective board governance and offered explanations for their most highly‐rated competencies.FindingsEmotional intelligence is a critical factor for effective school boards. A set of six core competencies are universal across the six board practice domains: transparency; achievement; initiative; organizational awareness; conflict management; and teamwork and collaboration. Each board practice domain is also characterized by one or two key emotional intelligence competencies.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, one model of school board leadership was used. Future studies should examine additional models of effective board practice for their relationships with emotional intelligence in order to extend the generalizability of these results. Second, there has been some debate regarding the substantive nature of the emotional intelligence construct.Practical implicationsThe six practice domains in the school board effectiveness model are fundamental elements for all boards to develop in order to become more effective governing bodies.Originality/valueThis paper identifies a novel application of emotional intelligence leadership competencies to the work of effective governance boards.

A pragmatic and polity-focused solution for governing a smart city in the direction of sustainability is still missing in theory and practice. A debate about whether a smart city is a pragmatic solution for modern challenges or just a technology-led urban utopia is entangled with the vexed issue of governance. While &lsquo ; smart governance&rsquo ; has drawn unprecedented interest, the combination of its conceptual vagueness and broad applications couple with a lack of focus on its underlying international and local political paradigms have raised concerns about its utility. This study contributes to restoring attention to the original concept of governance, its differences with governing and government, and the potential challenges resulting from its functionality in its real, multi-layered, and complex contexts. This paper explores the intellectual connection between governance and smart cities, from both an empirical and a conceptual/analytical perspective. From the empirical side, we examine which actors, processes, and relational mechanisms at different levels that have had an impact on the initiation of smart cities in three Norwegian cities: Trondheim, Bergen, and Bodø ; . We illustrate how the structural sources of the interests, roles, and power in smart city initiatives have caused governance to emerge and change, but have also affected the goals designed by specific actors.