Rethinking Comparative Urban Politics: From Urban Regime Theory to Urban Governance?

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Pierre
Keyword(s):  
Urban Politics ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
Urban Regime Theory ◽  
Urban Regime

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.

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.

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.

Race and State in the Urban Regime

2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 490-523
Author(s):  
Domingo Morel
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
Urban Politics ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
Political Empowerment ◽  
Urban Regime Theory ◽  
Urban Regime ◽  
Urban Regimes ◽  
Changing Role

Over the past four decades, cities have experienced greater oversight from state government. Why have states become increasingly involved in local affairs? How has the increasing presence of state government altered how we understand urban politics? Relying on a case study of Newark, New Jersey, this article argues that the increasing presence of state government in local affairs was a response to the growth of Black political empowerment. Furthermore, the Newark case reveals that the changing role of state actors, particularly governors, in urban regimes requires an expansion of urban regime theory as a conceptual framework. Building on the argument that urban regimes should be viewed as intergovernmental regimes, the findings from the case study suggest that local communities are best represented under cohesive state– local regimes, while localities are exposed to less desirable, even hostile, state-led policies, under disjointed state– local regimes.

scholarly journals Urban Regimes in Russia’s Northern Cities: Testing a Concept in a New Environment

ARCTIC ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-66
Author(s):  
Marlene Laruelle
Keyword(s):  
Urban Politics ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
Urban Regime Theory ◽  
Urban Regime ◽  
Urban Activism ◽  
Urban Regimes ◽  
Northern Cities ◽  
Major Trend ◽  
Sustainability Challenges

At a time when urbanization represents a major trend in human history and when the majority of the world’s population lives in an urban environment, the urban regime theory, developed by Clarence Stone in the 1980s, offers an insightful framework for discussing how urban stakeholders are compelled to work together to achieve their goals. While research on urban regimes has historically focused mainly on democratic contexts, this article argues that it is time to use urban regime theory in authoritarian or semi-authoritarian countries in order to better understand how urban politics develop. With growing urban activism and huge territorial contrasts, Russia offers a good case study for testing the notion of “urban regime.” This article focuses on three cities in Russia’s Far North—Murmansk, Norilsk, and Yakutsk—that face common sustainability challenges in Arctic or subarctic conditions; it delves into the mechanisms of their urban regimes and categorizes them by type: instrumental, organic, and symbolic.

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.

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