scholarly journals The dynamics of depoliticisation in urban governance: Introducing a directly elected mayor

Urban Studies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (5) ◽  
pp. 1068-1086 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Sweeting ◽  
Robin Hambleton
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Leadership Style ◽  
Urban Politics ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
Local Democracy ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Fundamental Feature ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The City

Within the context of debates regarding depoliticisation, this article considers how the introduction of a directly elected mayor system of governance impacts on urban politics. Directly elected mayors are now a fundamental feature of many political systems. They have been widely introduced as a reform to improve processes of local democracy, enhance the effectiveness of governing practices and to offer a more potent form of city leadership. This article focuses on developments in England, by presenting the case of Bristol, a city epitomising many aspects of modern neo-liberalised urban development. Bristol adopted a mayoral system in 2012 and the article presents empirical data from before and after this reform pertaining to two frameworks to understand city leadership. We conclude that the move to mayoral governance, in Bristol in the 2012–2016 period, eroded the influence of party politics and led to the adoption of elements of a leadership style associated with a depoliticisation of urban politics in the city. Nevertheless, the analysis suggests that the mayoral model also provides significant space for the expansion of political agency on the part of the city leader, not least because power becomes concentrated in the mayoral position.

‘Seeing like a city’, or ‘seeing like a state’ in a city? Paris, capital of femonationalism

2021 ◽  
pp. 239965442110025
Author(s):  
Claire Hancock
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Urban Politics ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Common Factor ◽  
Local Democracy ◽  
Municipal Policy ◽  
City Life ◽  
Women In Decision Making ◽  
The City

This paper questions the ‘seeing like a city’ vs. ‘seeing like a state’ opposition through a detailed discussion of urban politics in the city of Paris, France, a prime example of the ways in which the national remains a driving dimension of city life. This claim is examined by a consideration of the shortcomings of Paris’s recent and timid commitment local democracy, lacking recognition of the diversity of its citizens, and the ways in which the inclusion of more women in decision-making arenas has failed to advance the ‘feminization of politics’. A common factor in these defining features of the Hidalgo administration seems to be the prevalence of ‘femonationalism’ and its influence over municipal policy-making.

CENTER FOR URBAN INITIATIVES. EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL TYPOLOGY OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-43
Author(s):  
K. V ChIKRIZOVA ◽  
A. G GOLOVIN
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Urban Communities ◽  
Development Strategy ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Central City ◽  
Development Strategies ◽  
Planning Strategies ◽  
Project Objectives ◽  
The City

The article is an attempt to rethink the interaction between urban communities, Urban governance bodies, architects and town planners in matters of urban development strategy for the case of Ulyanovsk city.A number of problems, such as low functional appeal of the central space, the lack of urban development strategies, formal participation in the development and adoption of urban development programs requires a new approach in the current socio-economic environment. Entering the setting of project objectives for the development of the central city area is not possible without an analysis of the current situation, the development of urban planning strategies and discuss, which is difficulty realizable within the existing administrative structure. Consolidation of efforts to make decisions on urban planning strategies available with the participation of stakeholders: Urban governance bodies, architects, people, and creating an environment of interaction: social complex, the Center for Urban Initiatives (CUI). As part of the CUI is to develop, negotiate and influence decisions on urban development strategies and integration in the development of the city and the creation of a comfortable urban environment.Create a full environment for the public and professional discussion on urban prospects can solve some urgent problems of the city.

scholarly journals The politicisation of diversity planning in a global city: Lessons from London

Urban Studies ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 891-916 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Raco ◽  
Jamie Kesten
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Investment ◽  
Urban Politics ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Physical Development ◽  
Global City ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Global Models ◽  
The One ◽  
The City

This paper explores the politics of diversity planning in one of Europe’s most socially and economically divided and globally oriented cities: London. The analysis draws on Latour’s writings on modes of politicisation to examine the processes and practices that shape contemporary urban governance. It uses the example of diversity planning to examine the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of urban politics. It shows that on the one hand diversity is represented in pragmatic, consensual and celebratory terms. Under prevailing conditions of contemporary global capitalism, the ‘what’ of diversity has been politicised into an agenda for labour market-building and the attraction of ‘talented’ individuals and foreign investment. However, at the same time this celebratory rhetoric represents part of a wider effort to deflect political attention away from the socially and economically divisive impacts of global models of economic growth and physical development. There is little discussion of the ways in which planning frameworks, the ‘how’ of diversity policy, are helping to generate new separations in and beyond the city. Moreover, despite claiming that policy is pragmatic and non-ideological, the paper shows how diversity narratives have become an integral part of broader political projects to orientate the city’s economy towards the needs of a relatively small cluster of powerful economic sectors. The paper concludes with reflections on the recent impacts of the vote for Brexit and the election of an openly Muslim London Mayor. It also assesses the broader relevance of a Latourian framework for the analysis of contemporary urban politics.

scholarly journals O ESTADO BRASILEIRO E A POLÍTICA URBANA:

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 174-194
Author(s):  
Joabio Alekson Cortez Costa ◽  
Júlia Diniz de Oliveira ◽  
Raimundo Nonato Junior
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Urban Politics ◽  
Urban Policy ◽  
Life Quality ◽  
Master Plan ◽  
Basic Sanitation ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
Space Production ◽  
The City

RESUMO   No Brasil, verifica-se um crescimento populacional nas cidades, aumento da demanda por moradia, emprego, serviços de saúde, educação, saneamento básico e lazer. Dadas as limitações econômicas e a própria incapacidade das gestões municipais em lidar com essas questões, observa-se um agravamento dos problemas sociais e ambientais, com repercussões diretas na qualidade de vida da população, sobretudo, daquela parcela menos abastada. Diante disso, políticas urbanas foram adotadas pelo Estado brasileiro no intuito de orientar o desenvolvimento urbano do país. Sob este prima, o presente artigo tem como objetivo apresentar algumas reflexões sobre a efetividade do Estatuto da Cidade (2001). Para tanto, inicialmente, discute-se a produção do espaço urbano e os agentes de sua produção, tomando por base as obras de Carlos (2008, 2011) e Corrêa (1989, 2011), em seguida, aborda-se a trajetória da Política Urbana no Brasil, e a exposição de algumas críticas direcionadas ao Estatuto da Cidade e o plano diretor, tendo como referência os escritos de Souza (2010) e Maricato (2001). Ao final, conclui-se que, apesar dos avanços e inovações presentes na nova lei, principalmente no que se referem à gestão democrática da cidade, questões essenciais como a permanência da estrutura fundiária e o combate à especulação imobiliária continuam irresolutas e constituem entraves ao desenvolvimento urbano justo e igualitário.   Palavras-chave: Produção do espaço. Agentes de produção. Política urbana. Estatuto da cidade. Plano diretor.   ABSTRACT   In Brazil, it turns out a population growth in cities, increasing demand for housing, employment, health services, education, basic sanitation and leisure. Given the economic limitations and the municipal administrations own inability to deal with those issues, it’s observed an aggravation of social and environmental problems, with direct repercussions on the population’s life quality, especially of that less wealthy portion. Given that, urban policies were adopted by the Brazilian State in order to guide the country urban development. Under this concept, this article aims to present some reflections on the City Statute (2001) effectiveness. To do so, initially discusses the urban space production and the agents of its production, based on Carlos’ (2008, 2011) and Corrêa’s (1989, 2011) works, then it approaches the Brazil Urban Politics trajectory, and the exposition of some criticisms directed to the City Statute and the master plan, having as reference the writings of Souza (2010) and Maricato (2001). In the end, it is concluded that, despite the advances and innovations present in the new law, especially regarding the city democratic management, essential issues such as the land structure permanence and the fight against real estate speculation remain unresolved and constitute obstacles to the fair and equitable urban development.   Keywords: Space production. Production agents. Urban policy.  City statute. Master plan.

scholarly journals “LITTLE VIENNA” OR “EUROPEAN AVANT-GARDE CITY”? BRANDING NARRATIVES IN A ROMANIAN CITY

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucian VESALON ◽  
Remus CREȚAN
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Urban Politics ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Place Branding ◽  
City Branding ◽  
Economic Competition ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Development Processes ◽  
The City

By connecting the literature on urban development processes in post-socialist cities with debates from the area of place branding, this paper critically examines recent narratives of city branding in Timișoara, Romania. The aim is to investigate one specific case in the reproduction and adaptation of global urban development policies and to examine its relevance for the context of post-socialist urban politics. Our findings indicate a specific circularity between city branding and urban development, which is used to align the city to the regional inter-urban economic competition and to promote it as a space of rapid development. The outcome is a mélange of different narratives, based on disparate histories and representations of the city, which are assembled in ad-hoc and often contradictory branding discourses.

Governance as ‘Performed’, Governance as ‘Inscribed’

Urban Studies ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 48 (12) ◽  
pp. 2571-2590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ipsita Chatterjee
Keyword(s):  
Urban Politics ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
The City

The ‘new urban politics’ literature highlights local entrepreneurialism as the basis of neo-liberal urbanism; this article adds to this literature by demonstrating how entrepreneurial neo-liberalism and ethno-religiosity are inflected in governance. Two concepts are proposed: ‘governance as performed’ (practice of ethno-religious entrepreneurialism) and ‘governance as inscribed’ (documenting policy through scientific planning). The dialectical interplay between ‘performance’ and ‘inscription’ defines the terrain of ‘new urban governance’ in its global/local entirety. Using examples from Ahmedabad city, India, this paper explicates how ‘governance as performed’ and ‘governance as inscribed’, produce dual narratives of the ‘lived’ and the ‘inscribed’ city. The narrative of abstract and objective Ahmedabad inscribed in planning documents directly contradicts the ‘grubby practices’ of entrepreneurial, ethno-religious neo-liberalism performed in the city. By simultaneously analysing both narratives, this article proposes to demystify the contexts of exclusion, thus exposing injustice embedded in ‘new urban politics’.

The New Urban Politics as a Politics of Carbon Control

Urban Studies ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 48 (12) ◽  
pp. 2537-2554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew E. G. Jonas ◽  
David Gibbs ◽  
Aidan While
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Urban Politics ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Carbon Reduction ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
Development Politics ◽  
Urban Regimes ◽  
Reduction Strategies ◽  
Carbon Control

The new urban politics (NUP) literature has helped to draw attention to a new generation of entrepreneurial urban regimes involved in the competition to attract investment to cities. Interurban competition often had negative environmental consequences for the urban living place. Yet knowledge of the environment was not very central to understanding the NUP. Entrepreneurial urban regimes today are struggling to deal with climate change and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon reduction strategies could have profound implications for interurban competition and the politics of urban development. This paper explores the rise of a distinctive low-carbon urban polity—carbon control—and examines its potential ramifications for a new environmental politics of urban development (NEPUD). The NEPUD signals the growing centrality of carbon control in discourses, strategies and struggles around urban development. Using examples from cities in the US and Europe, the paper examines how these new environmental policy considerations are being mainstreamed in urban development politics. Alongside competitiveness, the management of carbon emissions represents a new yet at the same time contestable mode of calculation in urban governance.

The Indian City and its ‘Restive Publics’

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
DEBJANI BHATTACHARYYA
Keyword(s):  
Urban Studies ◽  
Urban Politics ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Indian City ◽  
World Class ◽  
City Water ◽  
A Site ◽  
The City

Abstract How do we write about cities in a world of deepening inequality, real-estate geopolitics, and the planetary water crisis that is unfolding in parts of Asia and elsewhere? Indian urban studies, which began to gain ground as a legitimate subject of scholarly enquiry two decades ago, has now emerged as a site to study political society, state-making, and citizenship, and to offer rich accounts of how post-colonial urban governance and law-making work. In this review, I explore the powerful analytics developed in three recent books in urban studies: Anindita Ghosh's historical work on colonial Calcutta, Claiming the City: Protest, Crime and Scandals in Colonial Calcutta, c. 1860–1920 (2016); Asher Ghertner's geographical analysis of neoliberal Delhi, Rule by Aesthetics: World-Class City Making in Delhi (2015); and Nikhil Anand's ethnographic account of restive publics and citizenship in Mumbai, Hydraulic City: Water and the Infrastructures of Citizenship in Mumbai (2017). This recent scholarship on urbanization has moved away from earlier rubrics of segregation, biopolitical disciplining, and resistance to offer rich accounts of the frictions that make and unmake political societies, critical tools to study the life of law in post-colonial cities, infrastructures as sites for the production of citizenship, and new financial and legal assemblages of risk-management, building lobbies, and syndicates around which urban politics is swirling. These accounts also deepen our understanding of the long genealogy of the contemporary moment, including populism, electoral politics, and post-colonial state-making. Indeed, the future of urban studies in a rapidly urbanizing world should be one that helps us to understand the nature of politics, contestations around legalities, environmental crises, and new financial geographies of power and dispossession.

City-region governance in transitional contexts: the case of the BRICS

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-49
Author(s):  
Philip Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Extended Period ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
City Region ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
Path Dependencies ◽  
City Regions ◽  
The World ◽  
The City

Abstract The bulk of the scholarly literature on city-regions and their governance is drawn from contexts where economic and political systems have been stable over an extended period. However, many parts of the world, including all countries in the BRICS, have experienced far-reaching national transformations in the recent past in economic and/or political systems. The national transitions are complex, with a mix of continuity and rupture, while their translation into the scale of the city-region is often indirect. But, these transitions have been significant for the city-region, providing a period of opportunity and institutional fluidity. Studies of the BRICS show that outcomes of transitions are varied but that there are junctures of productive comparison including the ways in which the nature of the transitions create new path dependencies, and way in which interests across territorial scales soon consolidate, producing new rigidities in city-region governance.

Urban Development Strategies of City Centers: The Case of Rafah City, Palestinian Territories

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 195
Author(s):  
Omar S. Asfour ◽  
Samar Abu Ghali
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
Geographic Location ◽  
Development Strategies ◽  
Functional Requirements ◽  
City Center ◽  
Palestinian Territories ◽  
The Gaza Strip ◽  
The City ◽  
Commercial Center

City centers worldwide are perceived as essential parts of the city, where city memories are preserved and its identity is expressed. They are planned to satisfy the functional requirements and pleasurable qualities of the city. Under the accelerating urbanization of the modern city, several challenges face these centers including demographic, economic, and environmental challenges. This requires a continuous and incremental urban development process based on clear strategy and action plans. Thus, this study focuses on urban development strategies of city centers, with a focus on Rafah city located in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories. The geographic location of this city near the Palestinian-Egyptian borders makes it a promising commercial city at local and regional levels. Thus, the current situation of Rafah city center has been analyzed, and several development strategies have been proposed. This has been done through a field survey based on observation and a questionnaire directed to city center users. It has been found that there is a great potential of Rafah city center to be developed as a commercial center. In this regard, several strategies and required actions have been proposed in the fields of transportation, environmental quality, shopping activities, investment opportunities, and visual perception.

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