Reshaping City Governance

Cities can only exist because of the highly developed systems which underlie them, ensuring that energy, clean water, etc. are moved efficiently from producer to user, and that waste is removed. The urgent need to make the way that these services are provided more environmentally, socially and economically sustainable means that these systems are in a state of transition; from centralized to decentralized energy; from passive to smart infrastructure; from toll-free to road pricing. Such transitions are widely studied in the context of the influence of service providers, users, and regulators. Until now, however, relatively little attention has been given to the growing role of intermediaries in these systems. These consist of institutions and organizations acting in-between production and consumption, for example; NGOs who develop green energy labelling schemes in collaboration with producers and regulators to guide the user; consultants who advise businesses on how to save resources; and travel agents who match users with providers. Such intermediaries are in a position to shape the direction that technological transitions take, and ultimately the sustainability of urban networks. This book presents the first authoritative collection of research and analysis of the intermediaries that underpin the transitions that are taking place within urban infrastructures, showing how intermediaries emerge, the role that they play in key sectors - including energy, water, waste and building - and what impact they have on the governance of urban socio-technical networks.

India’s cities are in the midst of an unprecedented urban expansion. While India is acknowledged as a rising power, poised to emerge into the front rank of global economies, the pace and scale of its urbanisation calls for more effective metropolitan management if that growth is not to be constrained by gathering urban crisis. This book addresses some key issues of governance and management for India’s principal urban areas of Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad. As three of the greatest Indian cities, they have evolved in recent decades into large metropolitan regions with complex, overlapping and often haphazard governance arrangements. All three cities exemplify the challenges of urbanisation and serve here as case studies to explore the five dimensions of urban governance in terms of devolution, planning, structures of delivery, urban leadership and civic participation. London, with its recent establishment of a directly elected Mayor, provides a reference point for this analysis, and signifies the extent to which urban leadership has moved to the top of the urban governance agenda. In arguing the case for reform of metropolitan governance, the book demonstrates that it would be too simplistic to imagine that London’s institutional structure can be readily transposed on to the very different political and cultural fabric of India’s urban life. Confronting India’s urban crisis with a comparative analysis that identifies the limits of policy transfer, the book will be particularly valuable to students and scholars of Politics, Governance, and Urban studies.

This book presents pioneering work on a range of innovative practices, experiments, and ideas that are becoming an integral part of urban climate change governance in the 21st century. Theoretically, the book builds on nearly two decades of scholarships identifying the emergence of new urban actors, spaces and political dynamics in response to climate change priorities. However, it further articulates and applies the concepts associated with urban climate change governance by bridging formerly disparate disciplines and approaches. Empirically, the chapters investigate new multi-level urban governance arrangements from around the world, and leverage the insights they provide for both theory and practice. Cities - both as political and material entities - are increasingly playing a critical role in shaping the trajectory and impacts of climate change action. However, their policy, planning, and governance responses to climate change are fraught with tension and contradictions. While on one hand local actors play a central role in designing institutions, infrastructures, and behaviors that drive decarbonization and adaptation to changing climatic conditions, their options and incentives are inextricably enmeshed within broader political and economic processes. Resolving these tensions and contradictions is likely to require innovative and multi-level approaches to governing climate change in the city: new interactions, new political actors, new ways of coordinating and mobilizing resources, and new frameworks and technical capacities for decision making. We focus explicitly on those innovations that produce new relationships between levels of government, between government and citizens, and among governments, the private sector, and transnational and civil society actors. A more comprehensive understanding is needed of the innovative approaches being used to navigate the complex networks and relationships that constitute contemporary multi-level urban climate change governance. Debra Roberts, Co-Chair, Working Group II, IPCC 6th Assessment Report (AR6) and Acting Head, Sustainable and Resilient City Initiatives, Durban, South Africa “Climate Change in Cities offers a refreshingly frank view of how complex cities and city processes really are.” Christopher Gore, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Politics and Public Administration, Ryerson University, Canada “This book is a rare and welcome contribution engaging critically with questions about cities as central actors in multilevel climate governance but it does so recognizing that there are lessons from cities in both the Global North and South.” Harriet Bulkeley, Professor of Geography, Durham University, United Kingdom “This timely collection provides new insights into how cities can put their rhetoric into action on the ground and explores just how this promise can be realised in cities across the world - from California to Canada, India to Indonesia.”

This report addresses key challenges facing policy makers, practitioners and academics in their efforts to understand and impact on the changing nature of urban environments today. Combining a detailed case study of the city of Bristol with wide-ranging information and analysis from other sources, the report looks at: the dynamics of employment and population change including the challenges of household growth, urban expansion and new patterns of edge-city development; urban renaissance, urban renewal and the prospects for a turn-around in the fortunes of urban areas; patterns and processes of social exclusion and social polarisation, persisting even in the face of competitive success; the role of the new knowledge-based sectors including financial and business services and the cultural and media sectors; the changing spatial architecture of urban and regional governance and its capacity to shape the towns and cities of the future. Urban transformation and urban governance is essential reading for practitioners and policy makers with an interest in urban policy, regeneration and renewal; voluntary and community sector workers; and academics and students.

India's cities are in the midst of an unprecedented urban expansion. While India is acknowledged as a rising power, poised to emerge into the front rank of global economies, the pace and scale of its urbanisation calls for more effective metropolitan management if that growth is not to be constrained by gathering urban crisis. This book addresses some key issues of governance and management for India's principal urban areas of Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad. As three of the greatest Indian cities, they have evolved in recent decades into large metropolitan regions with complex, overlapping and often haphazard governance arrangements. All three cities exemplify the challenges of urbanisation and serve here as case studies to explore the five dimensions of urban governance in terms of devolution, planning, structures of delivery, urban leadership and civic participation. London, with its recent establishment of a directly elected Mayor, provides a reference point for this analysis, and signifies the extent to which urban leadership has moved to the top of the urban governance agenda. In arguing the case for reform of metropolitan governance, the book demonstrates that it would be too simplistic to imagine that London's institutional structure can be readily transposed on to the very different political and cultural fabric of India's urban life. Confronting India's urban crisis with a comparative analysis that identifies the limits of policy transfer, the book will be particularly valuable to students and scholars of Politics, Governance, and Urban studies.

This book uses an international perspective and draws on a wide range of new conceptual and empirical material to examine the sources of conflict and cooperation within the different landscapes of knowledge that are driving contemporary urban change. Based on the premise that historically-established systems of regulation and control are being subject to unprecedented pressures, scholars critically reflect on the changing role of planning and governance in sustainable urban development, looking at how a shift in power relations between expert and local cultures in western planning processes has blurred the traditional boundaries between public, private, and voluntary sectors.

Does planning in contested cities inadvertedly make the divisions worse? The 60s and 70s saw a strong role of planning, social engineering, etc but there has since been a move towards a more decentralised ‘community planning’ approach. The book examines urban planning and policy in the context of deeply contested space, where place identity and cultural affinities are reshaping cities. Throughout the world, contentions around identity and territory abound, and in Britain, this problem has found recent expression in debates about multiculturalism and social cohesion. These issues are most visible in the urban arena, where socially polarised communities co-habit cities also marked by divided ethnic loyalties. The relationship between the two is complicated by the typical pattern that social disadvantage is disproportionately concentrated among ethnic groups, who also experience a social and cultural estrangement, based on religious or racial identity. Navigating between social exclusion and community cohesion is essential for the urban challenges of efficient resource use, environmental enhancement, and the development of a flourishing economy. The book addresses planning in divided cities in a UK and international context, examining cities such as Chicago, hyper-segregated around race, and Jerusalem, acting as a crucible for a wider conflict. The first section deals with concepts and theories, examining the research literature and situating the issue within the urban challenges of competitiveness and inclusion. Section 2 covers collaborative planning and identifies models of planning, policy and urban governance that can operate in contested space. Section 3 presents case studies from Belfast, Chicago and Jerusalem, examining both the historical/contemporary features of these cities and their potential trajectories. The final section offers conclusions and ways forward, drawing the lessons for creating shared space in a pluralist cities and addressing cohesion and multiculturalism. • Addresses important contemporary issue of social cohesion vs. urban competitiveness • focus on impact of government policies will appeal to practitioners in urban management, local government and regeneration • Examines role of planning in cities worldwide divided by religion, race, socio-economic, etc • Explores debate about contested space in urban policy and planning • Identifies models for understanding contested spaces in cities as a way of improving effectiveness of government policy

As a result of global dynamics--the increasing interconnection of people and places--innovations in global environmental governance haved altered the role of cities in shaping the future of the planet. This book is a timely study of the importance of these social transformations in our increasingly global and increasingly urban world. Through analysis of transnational municipal networks, such as Metropolis and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, Sofie Bouteligier's innovative study examines theories of the network society and global cities from a global ecology perspective. Through direct observation and interviews and using two types of city networks that have been treated separately in the literature, she discovers the structure and logic pertaining to office networks of environmental non-governmental organizations and environmental consultancy firms. In doing so she incisively demonstrates the ways in which cities fulfill the role of strategic sites of global environmental governance, concentrating knowledge, infrastructure, and institutions vital to the function of transnational actors.