The potential for neighbourhood regeneration in a period of austerity: changing forms of neighbourhood governance in two cities

Localism is an active political strategy, developed in a period of austerity by the UK's coalition government as a justification for the restructuring of state-civil society relationships. The deprived neighbourhood has long been a site for service delivery and a scale for intervention and action, giving rise to a variety of forms of neighbourhood governance. Prior international comparative research indicated convergence with the US given the rise of the self-help conjuncture and the decline of neighbourhood governance as a medium of regeneration. The subsequent shift in the UK paradigm from ‘big’ to ‘small state’ localism and deficit-reducing cuts to public expenditure confirm these trends, raising questions about the forms of neighbourhood governance currently being established, the role being played by local and central government, and the implications for neighbourhood regeneration. Two emerging forms of neighbourhood governance are examined in two urban local authorities and compared with prior forms examined in earlier research in the case study sites. The emerging forms differ significantly in their design and purpose, but as both are voluntary and receive no additional funding, better organised and more affluent communities are more likely to pursue their development. While it is still rather early to assess the capacity of these forms to promote neighbourhood regeneration, the potential in a period of austerity appears limited. Reduced funding for local services increases the imperative to self-help, while rights to local voice remain limited and the emerging forms provide little scope to influence (declining) local services and (still centralised) planning decisions, especially in neighbourhoods with regeneration needs which are likely to lack the requisite capacities, particularly stores of linking social capital. Initial conclusions suggest greater polarity and the further containment of deprived neighbourhoods

The continuing popularity of the neighbourhood and neighbourhood governance in the transition from the 'big state' to the 'big society' paradigm

The neighbourhood in both the UK and Europe continues to dominate thinking about the quality of life in local communities, representation and empowerment, and how local services can be delivered most effectively. For several decades a series of centrally funded programmes in neighbour- hood governance have targeted localities suffering deprivation and social exclusion in England. From these much can be learnt about the strengths and limitations of a local approach to achieving multiple objectives.We review the findings of a case study of neighbourhood governance in the City of Westminster and draw on evaluations of two national programmes. In the conclusions we discuss the problems arising from multiple objectives and examine the prospects for neighbourhood governance as the national paradigm moves away from `big state' solutions towards the less-well-defined `big society' approach and the reinvention of `localism'. While the rationale for neighbourhood governance may change, the `neighbourhood' as a site for service delivery and planning remains as important now as in the past

The austerity governance of Baltimore’s neighborhoods : “The conversation may have changed but the systems aren’t changing”

The governance of neighborhood redevelopment and revitalization in Baltimore demonstrates the normalization of the logics and practices of austerity governance and the concomitant challenge of governance transformation. Analysis of tiers of governance activity refines understanding of the state–society relationships of austerity governance, characterized by the local state’s absence with the exception of its basic function of (over)policing of the most marginalized. The elites governing Baltimore are corporate developers, major “ed and med” anchor institutions, and nationally operating private philanthropies, with a mix of other nonprofit organizations, anchor institutions, and philanthropies playing roles at the middle and lower tiers. Citizens are excluded from these opaque governance arrangements. Mainstream regime analysis argues for incremental change in response to challenges such as that posed by the uprising in the city in 2015. But the analysis highlights that the city’s iniquitous governance requires the ideological challenge posited by urban governance theory

Local governance under austerity : hybrid organisations and hybrid officers

Using the case of Cardiff, Wales, we argue that the hybridisation of local governance forms is exacerbated by the downscaling and offloading of austerity politics. Conceptualising hybridity as a process which operates across governmental scales, at the organisational and at the individual level helps understand the growing complexities of local governance under austerity and the tensions which arise in seeking to assemble locally appropriate ideas and practices. Conceptualising hybridity as practice, we consider how 'hybrid officers' at the frontline experience austerity, their situated agency, and the implications for higher levels of governance

Hidden homes? Uncovering Sydney’s informal housing market

Australia faces a chronic shortage of affordable rental housing, as do many other nations in the Global North. Unable to access the formal rental sector, lower-income earners are increasingly resorting to share housing and other informal arrangements, sometimes occupying makeshift accommodation or illegal dwellings. This article examines informality in Sydney’s housing market, an important case because of the explicit policy efforts geared towards supporting diverse and higher density housing supply. It draws on analysis of the regulatory planning framework and primary data derived from interviews and focus groups with housing advocates, support workers and building compliance officers from across the metropolitan region. It seeks to understand the drivers of supply and demand within the informal housing market and constructs a typology of informal tenures and dwelling provision. The article contributes new empirical data on the outcomes of planning policies designed to enable flexible housing responses which legitimise some informal practices, and the wider dimensions of informal housing provision within formal urban systems of the Global North

‘Moving from protest to policy’: civil society responses to carceral governance

Baltimore’s exclusionary divisions are palpable in the city's long-standing concentration and segregation of its African American population and in its institutions of governance. The city is synonymous with carceral governance, or governance via the criminal justice system and other practices of control, which constrains the political expression of urban citizenship. A focus on the period since the city uprising in 2015, triggered by racist police violence, underlines that the fundamental struggle concerns the democratisation of the city’s governance and how this is envisaged. The research affirms a key schism between incremental change, associated with co-option into the status quo, and visions of radical, transformative change. But considering the choices and activities of three civil society organisations refines this bifurcated understanding of civil society responses to carceral governance. The organisations move from protest to policy by combining outsider strategies, focused on youth leadership development, with insider strategies of collaboration with, and policy advocacy targeted at, different tiers of government. In making choices about when they work with and when they work against the state and city elites, the organisations navigate the co-optive risks of incrementalism when it is perceived as contributing towards their vision of transformative change

Neighbourhood initiatives in Wales and England: shifting purposes and changing scales

This article compares two government-led ‘flagship’ area-based initiatives (ABIs) targeting deprived neighbourhoods – the New Deal for Communities, launched in England in 1998, and the Communities First programme, launched in a post-devolutionary Wales in 2001. In England, a shift in the national paradigm from ‘big state’ interventions towards the ‘big society’ agenda has heralded the decline of the ABI approach. In Wales, the approach remains but has recently been re-launched. Shifts in the purpose of neighbourhood governance as encapsulated in these two ABIs are considered and contrasted, using Lowndes and Sullivan’s (2008) typology of rationales as a framework. The shift in the emphasis of both ABIs from holistic, place-bound strategies to broader, service-influencing efforts points to the up-scaling of neighbourhood governance, despite the renewed policy emphasis on localism

Rethinking the ‘local state’ and local capacity

Considering the state-society relationships of local governance leads to conceptual and practical questions about local capacity to decide and pursue local priorities and meet local needs and the role of local government in these processes. In England’s extremely centralised governmental system, debates about local capacity tend to be subsumed by the constraints to which it is subject. Combining scholarship on policy capacity, local governance conjunctures over time and local government’s role within these informs conceptualisation of a plural, relational local state. This draws attention to local government’s everyday, intra-locality relations with its constituent communities, broadening a vertical, reductive perspective to a horizontal, more generative understanding of local capacity to care for place through collective practices

Strategic planning, ‘city deals’ and affordable housing

This study examines how local and international funding interventions focussed on specific regions, such as City Deals, deliver affordable rental housing for low income households to enhance urban productivity. Such strategic policy interventions offer some promise in creating new economic opportunities, however explicit policies are needed to ensure low income households can access affordable housing close to employment opportunities