Prospects for local co-governance

British local authorities and their partners are increasingly developing new ways of working together with local communities. The nature of this co-working, however, is complex, multi-faceted and little understood. This article argues for greater clarity of thinking on the topic, by analysing this co-working as a form of political co-governance, and drawing attention in particular to issues of scale and democracy. Using evidence from a study of 43 local authority areas, 16 authorities are identified where co-governance is practised, following three main types of approach: service-influencing, service-delivering and parish council developing. It is concluded that strengthening political co-governance is essential for a healthy democracy

Mobilising Urban Policies: The Policy Transfer of US Business Improvement Districts to England and Wales

This paper examines the ways in which policies are transferred between places: how they are disembedded from, and re-embedded into, new political, economic and social contexts. To do this, the paper will draw upon a case study of the transfer of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) from the US to England and Wales. Within this, the paper demonstrates how they were a response to fiscal problems facing city-centre management in England and Wales; how US BIDs were socially constructed as `successful' and `transferable'; and how the BID `model' was reshaped prior to and following its rolling-out in England and Wales. The paper concludes by stressing six wider conceptual points about the nature of urban policy transfer

Interactions between perceptions of fatigue, effort, and affect decrease knee extensor endurance performance following upper body motor activity, independent of changes in neuromuscular function

Prior exercise has previously been shown to impair subsequent endurance performance in non‐activated muscles. Declines in the neuromuscular function and altered perceptual/affective responses offer possible mechanisms through which endurance performance may be limited in these remote muscle groups. We thus conducted two experiments to better understand these performance‐limiting mechanisms. In the first experiment, we examined the effect of prior handgrip exercise on the behavioral, perceptual, and affective responses to a sustained, sub‐maximal contraction of the knee extensors. In the second experiment, transcranial magnetic stimulation was used to assess the neuromuscular function of the knee extensors before and after the handgrip exercise. The results of the first experiment demonstrated prior handgrip exercise increased the perceptions of effort and reduced affective valence during the subsequent knee extensor endurance exercise. Both effort and affect were associated with endurance performance. Subjective ratings of fatigue were also increased by the preceding handgrip exercise but were not directly related to knee extensor endurance performance. However, perceptions of fatigue were correlated with heightened effort perception and reduced affect during the knee extensor contraction. In the second experiment, prior handgrip exercise did not significantly alter the neuromuscular function of the knee extensors. The findings of the present study indicate that motor performance in the lower limbs following demanding exercise in the upper body appears to be regulated by complex, cognitive‐emotional interactions, which may emerge independent of altered neuromuscular function. Subjective fatigue states are implicated in the control of perceptual and affective processes responsible for the regulation of endurance performance