Lecture 4: Governing the city: urban governance and regeneration

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Lecture 4Governing the city urban governance
and regeneration

• Dr Steve Musson

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Last week

• Theorising the city in the global economy
• The world according to GaWC
• Group exercise cities in the world economy
• London as a world city

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This week

• Theories of urban governance
• Elitism
• Pluralism
• Neo-Marxist
• From local government to governance
• Partnership models of regeneration
• The quango state
• Incorporating business interests
• Case study regenerating Manchester

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Governing cities

• Examining how cities are governed
• Who makes decisions?
• What systems of decision-making exist?
• How are decisions made?
• Who controls agendas and how?
• Theoretical interpretations that answer these
  questions
• The urban policy-making process

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Theories of urban governance

• Relationships between people, communities and
  decision-making agencies
• Links between civil society and the state
• The multi-faceted nature of the state
• The dynamic nature of governance

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Theories of urban governanceElitism

• Stresses the power of a few well-organised
  interests (Wright-Mills 1960s)
• Economic elites
• Political elites
• Bureaucratic elites
• Technocratic elites
• Hidden policy-making process

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Theories of urban governance Pluralism

• Dahl (1961)
• A wide distribution of power
• Competing groups and competing agendas
• The neutral state as an arbiter
• Visible and liberal policy-making process

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Theories of urban governance Neo-Marxist

• Harvey, Castells etc
• Governance dominated by business interests
• Competition, capitalism and the role of cities
• Structured coherences and urban governance
• Urban politics as a facade

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Theories of urban governance

• Strengths and weaknesses of competing
  perspectives
• Pluralism, Elitism, Neo-Marxist
• Complexity in urban governance
• Exclusive categories?
• Multiple rationalities in time and space
• One key issue of power

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The fragmentation of urban governance

• Shifts from
• Urban Government
• to
• Urban Governance

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The fragmentation of urban governance

• Examining the fragmentation of local governance
• The growth of non-elected bodies
• Examining the extent of decentralisation or
  recentralisation
• Issues of accountability and democracy

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Key questions

• To what extent has there been continuity and
  change in local governance?
• Characterising the shift from local government to
  governance
• What are the impacts on policy effectiveness
  associated with this shift?
• What are the wider democratic implications?

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Traditional role of local government

• A growth in local government responsibilities in
  the 20th century
• Functional
• Political
• Servicing the welfare state
• Creation of a 2-tier system in 1973-1974
• Reorganisation in 1995-1996
• Effectiveness of local government

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Shift to local governance

• Shifting responsibilities at the local level
• The rise of non-elected local government
• Rationale for reducing the role of local
  authorities
• Functional
• Political
• Ideological
• Fragmented local governance and the rise of the
  quango state

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Defining quangos

• Quasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisations
• At least 4 types of quangos
• Distancing / independent (eg Audit Commission)
• Co-opting external interest / expertise to advise
  (eg Arts Council)
• Clearly defined task (eg Urban Development
  Corporations)
• Distancing quasi-commercial activities from
  government control (eg Welsh Development Agency)

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Quango responsibilities

• 1,057 quangos in the UK
• Administer around 23 billion per year
• Scope and number has mushroomed since the late
  1970s

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Implications

• Lowering of standards of probity?
• Narrow socio-economic background of appointees
• New forms of fragmentation being created
• Undermining authority of elected bodies
• Accountability of service delivery
• Reduced trust in government?

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Traditions of business involvement

• Victorian entrepreneurs
• Local actors in national politics
• Manchester Men
• Use of private sector resources
• Distrust of local government and the state
• Belief in private sector forms of delivery

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Creating the entrepreneurial city

• Municipal socialism in UK cities
• In response to Thatchers national politics
• Local commitment to socialist politics
• 1987 general election
• The 1987 General Election defeat for Labour
  came as a bitter blow to Manchester City
  Council, whose prior strategy had been predicated
  upon an incoming Labour government not only
  meeting the council budget shortfalls but also
  validating its political-economic strategy
  (Tickell and Peck 1996)

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Creating the entrepreneurial city

• Shift in city politics following 1987 election
  around key individuals like Graham Stringer and
  Howard Bernstein
• From municipal socialism to open for business
• City aiming to work more closely with business
  interests
• For example Olympic bids in 1990s

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Creating the entrepreneurial city

• IRA bomb in June 1996
• A whole area of the city centre destroyed by
  3,300lb bomb in lorry
• 200 people injured, but nobody killed
• Central government money made available to help
  with rebuilding at a cost of 1.2bn
• Crucially, partnerships and connections already
  in place to facilitate rapid development

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Conclusion

• Urban governance theorised in different ways
  although actual existing government is more
  complex and contradictory
• Shift from government to governance
• Associated with a redefining of the local state
  and the incorporation of wider interests
• As seen in Manchester

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Suggestions for further reading

• Cochrane, A, Peck, J and Tickell, A (1996)
  Manchester plays games exploring the local
  politics of globalisation, Urban Studies 33,
  1319-1336
• Harding, A, Wilks-Hegg, S and Hutchings, M
  (2000) Business, government and the business of
  urban governance, Urban Studies 37, 975-994
• Harvey, D (1989) From managerialism to
  entrepreneurialism the transformation of urban
  governance in late capitalism, Geografiska
  Annaler 71, 4-17
• Imrie, R and Raco, M (1999) How new is the new
  local governance? Lessons from the UK,
  Transactions of the Institute of British
  Geographers 24, 45-63