Geographies of Urban Governance: Advanced Theories, Methods and Practices

Geographies of Urban Governance is intended as “a state-of-the-art review of the theories, methods, instruments and practices of contemporary urban governance” (page xi). Edited by a team of geographers and development academics, and dedicated to Isa Baud of the University of Amsterdam, the book explores the role of governance in building inclusive, resilient cities.

The first half of the book explores theoretical framings of urban governance. These chapters briefly explain many approaches and models, whether in terms of analytical focus (such as governance networks), geographical focus (such as urban-rural interfaces), or ideological focus (such as neoliberal models). Key concepts and developments in the field are laid out.

The book’s second half takes a more applied approach. Several of these chapters explore how urban governance might be reconfigured with a technological focus on developments like big data, geo-technologies and scenario building. Underlying the review of these technologies is the matter of participation – how can technology be harnessed in a way that strengthens political engagement, rather than entrenching exclusion? The chapter on geo-technologies, for instance, touches upon counter-mapping that challenges elite narratives through participatory processes, while the chapter on big data raises questions around data ownership and access. And the chapter on scenario building describes the participatory processes that took place in Dwarka, a sub-city of Delhi; Guarulhos, part of the São Paulo Metropolitan Region; and Durban. The scenario-building workshops in these cities involved members of the public sector, residents and/or civil society. The participants identified causes and degrees of vulnerability with the aim of shaping related policy, and with the secondary benefit of strengthening relationships between communities and local authorities.

However, there may be a trade-off between genuine participation and the likelihood of impact. The scenario-building process in Durban, for instance, was more influential than the others – due in part to the more limited involvement of those outside policy circles. This example, as well as the chapter dedicated to participation that is authored by Michaela Hordijk et al., shows the importance of overcoming tokenism and focusing on impact when it comes to integrating citizen voices into urban governance. One important finding (page 144) is that “participatory practices tend to function best in localities with a history of participation. They thus have to be practised over and over again to make them work, and will only work where there is true political will to stick to the outcomes of the process.”

Because of the broad-strokes overview that characterizes Geographies of Urban Governance, the book is useful less for specialist analysis, and more for exposure to the literature on various aspects of urban governance.

Further reading:

Banks, Nicola (2008), “A tale of two wards: political participation and the urban poor in Dhaka city”, Environment and Urbanization Vol 20, No 2, pages 361–376, available at http://eau.sagepub.com/content/20/2/361.abstract.

Hordijk, Michaela, Liliana Miranda Sara and Catherine Sutherland (2014), “Resilience, transition or transformation? A comparative analysis of changing water governance systems in four southern cities”, Environment and Urbanization Vol 26, No 1, pages 130–146, available at http://eau.sagepub.com/content/26/1/130.abstract.

Lama-Rewal, Stéphanie Tawa (2011), “Urban governance and health care provision in Delhi”, Environment and Urbanization Vol 23, No 1, pages 563–581, available at http://eau.sagepub.com/content/23/2/563.abstract.

“The Urban Governance Initiative (UNDP–TUGI)” (2003), Environment and Urbanization Vol 15, No 1, pages 159–170, available at http://eau.sagepub.com/content/15/1/159.abstract.

Book note prepared by Christine Ro