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Community influence and the contemporary local state: potentials and contradictions in the neo-liberal city

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Geoff Vigar

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Abstract

This paper assesses contemporary power relations between the local state, capital and community interests in managing urban area development. It draws on work conducted under a Framework V EU project called SINGOCOM, focusing on one case among nine studied1. The case of the Ouseburn Valley in Newcastle upon Tyne, England is mobilised to show how, despite comparatively well-organised community interests, the local state and its approach to urban development still determines in understanding built environment outcomes. Yet the local state is heavily constrained in its actions by: its cultures and practices; its financial and intellectual resources; a highly centralised governance context; and a pervasive discourse of neo-liberalism. The case also highlights the contradictions inherent in state commitments to public participation and the role of communities in shaping development outcomes, especially given these constraints.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Gonzalez S, Vigar G

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: City: analysis of urban trends, culture, theory, policy, action

Year: 2008

Volume: 12

Issue: 1

Pages: 64-78

Print publication date: 01/04/2008

ISSN (print): 1360-4813

ISSN (electronic): 1470-3629

Publisher: Routledge

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13604810801933545

DOI: 10.1080/13604810801933545

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