Urban Regime Theory in Comparative Perspective

1994 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Stoker ◽  
K Mossberger
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Urban Regime Theory ◽  
Urban Regime ◽  
National Comparison ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Essential Contribution ◽  
Cross National

The urban literature has devoted increasing attention to cross-national comparison of urban change and governance. What is lacking, however, is the development of conceptual frameworks that are adequate to embrace the greater variation in conditions encountered in cross-national research, compared with conditions within a single country. Without such a framework, comparison remains an exercise in depicting unique and unrelated cases. Urban regime theory holds potential for explaining the variety of arrangements through which policymakers in cities have coped with change, because of its sensitivity to local conditions and local actors. Its essential contribution is to focus attention on the collective action problems that have to be overcome for effective urban governance to emerge. The nature of the collective action challenge varies according to the purpose, composition, and position of potential regime partners. Substantial differences in motivating factors must be taken into account in order to apply regime analysis cross-nationally. Drawing upon differences already identified in the regime literature, the authors propose a typology of organic, instrumental, and symbolic regimes.

The Possibility of a Housing Authority

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 341-356
Author(s):  
Nicholas Bauroth
Keyword(s):  
Public Housing ◽  
Urban Renewal ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
Housing Authority ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Urban Regime Theory ◽  
Urban Regime ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Civic Center

This study uses urban regime theory to understand the events surrounding Fargo urban renewal during the 1950s. Specifically, it focuses upon the struggle between realtors, banking officers, government officials, and other local actors, as they established a plan for relocating Fargo residents displaced by urban renewal. With a downtown Civic Center as their ultimate goal, coalition partners set aside their differences and produced an unprecedented plan: to avoid any reliance on public housing, relocation would be handled via the private sector, specifically the Fargo Board of Realtors. The study demonstrates that this relocation plan and its subsequent revisions reflected the interests of the individual regime members.

Between Realism and Revolt

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Davies
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
State Theory ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
Urban Regime Theory ◽  
Urban Regime ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis

Between Realism and Revolt explores urban governance in the “age of austerity”, focusing on the period between the global financial crisis of 2008-9 and the beginning of the global Coronavirus pandemic at the end of 2019. It considers urban governance after the 2008 crisis, from the perspective of governability. How did cities navigate the crisis and the aftermath of austerity, with what political ordering and disordering dynamics at the forefront? To answer these questions it engages with two influential theoretical currents, Urban Regime Theory and Gramscian state theory, with a view to understanding how governance enabled austerity, deflected or intensified localised expressions of crisis, and generated more-or-less successful political alternatives. It develops a comparative analysis of case studies undertaken in the cities of Athens, Baltimore, Barcelona, Greater Dandenong (Melbourne), Leicester, Montreal and Nantes, and concludes by highlighting five characteristics that cut across the cities, unevenly and in different configurations: economic rationalism, weak hegemony, retreat to dominance, weak counter-hegemony and radically contagious politicisations.

The Implications of State Takeovers for Urban Politics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Domingo Morel
Keyword(s):  
Urban Politics ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
Urban Regime Theory ◽  
Urban Regime ◽  
Urban Regimes ◽  
State Takeovers ◽  
Changing Role ◽  
Local Leaders

As states increase their presence in localities, what are the enduring implications for urban governance and theories of urban politics? The chapter examines urban regime theory, the dominant urban political theory of the last 30 years, and argues that although urban regime theory is still a relevant framework to analyze urban governance, the changing role of state actors, particularly governors, in urban regimes requires an expansion of urban regime theory as a conceptual framework. The chapter introduces the concept of cohesive and disjointed state-local regimes. The concept proposes that local leaders can best represent the needs of their communities under cohesive state-local regimes, while localities are exposed to less desirable, even hostile, state-led policies under disjointed state-local regimes.

Participating in Partnership

1996 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Strange
Keyword(s):  
Urban Policy ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
Urban Regime Theory ◽  
Urban Affairs ◽  
Urban Regime ◽  
Development Agenda

In the context of changing relations between the state, business, and urban policy, this article focuses on the role of business participation in the regeneration of Sheffield. It assesses whether Sheffield's business leaders have been able to establish a distinctive business-orientated development agenda in Sheffield's regeneration coalition, and considers the extent to which business participation in urban affairs has been influenced by the restructuring of the local state by central government. A further aim of the paper is to explore the relevance of urban regime theory in interpreting the role of local business leaders in urban governance.

‘Imagined San Francisco’: Unpacking Urban Regime Theory through Interactive Cartography

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-143
Author(s):  
Ocean Howell
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
Commercial Development ◽  
Urban Regime Theory ◽  
Digital Mapping ◽  
Urban Regime ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
The City ◽  
Interactive Cartography

American urban historians have begun to understand that digital mapping provides a potentially powerful tool to describe political power. There are now important projects that map change in the American city along a number of dimensions, including zoning, suburbanization, commercial development, transportation infrastructure, and especially segregation. Most projects use their visual sources to illustrate the material consequences of the policies of powerful agencies and dominant planning ‘regimes.’ As useful as these projects are, they often inadvertently imbue their visualizations with an aura of inevitability, and thereby present political power as a kind of static substance–possess this and you can remake the city to serve your interests. A new project called ‘Imagined San Francisco’ is motivated by a desire to expand upon this approach, treating visual material not only to illustrate outcomes, but also to interrogate historical processes, and using maps, plans, drawings, and photographs not only to show what did happen, but also what might have happened. By enabling users to layer a series of historical urban plans–with a special emphasis on unrealized plans–‘Imagined San Francisco’ presents the city not only as a series of material changes, but also as a contingent process and a battleground for political power.

Urban Regimes and the Sporting Events Agenda: A Cross-National Comparison of Civic Development Strategies

2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 603-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Misener ◽  
Daniel S. Mason
Keyword(s):  
Urban Governance ◽  
Development Strategies ◽  
Urban Revitalization ◽  
Sporting Events ◽  
Urban Political Economy ◽  
Sporting Event ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Urban Regimes ◽  
National Comparison ◽  
Cross National

This article examines the coalitions undergirding comprehensive sport-centered growth agendas in three cities actively pursuing sporting event development strategies: Edmonton, Canada; Manchester, United Kingdom; and Melbourne, Australia. Using DiGaetano and Klemanski’s (1999) study of modes of urban governance as a starting point, we review each city’s urban political economy, urban governing agenda, and urban governing alliances. We then discuss whether coalitions in each of the cities can be identified as regimes, by examining the conditions required for the presence of regimes developed by Dowding (2001). Results suggest the presence of regimes in each city, which can be best described using Stoker and Mossberger’s (1994) symbolic regime, developed in their typology of regimes for cross-national research. However, the cities differ slightly, with Edmonton exhibiting the characteristics of a progressive version of a symbolic regime, whereas Manchester and Melbourne more closely resemble urban revitalization regimes.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document