No abstract

No abstract

This paper addresses the ways in which urban regions are represented in contemporary urban policies. In doing so, it critically examines how urban trends are reflected in diverse notions of 'cityness' in contemporary policy discourses about spatiality and territoriality. Through a detailed case study of the use and construction of the word 'city' in a range of urban governance contexts in Newcastle upon Tyne, this paper analyses the political work done by diverse representations and invocations of 'cityness' in contemporary urban governance. Such representations matter because the way in which contemporary cities are conceptualised influences policy formulations and policy outcomes. In addition, considerable emphasis is being placed in contemporary urban policy on 'joining-up', 'integrating' and co-ordinating governance efforts. How conceptions of the city are mobilised to do such integrating work provides insight into the challenge such ambitions present. The evidence from the case study suggests that the capacity of local actors to think about the processes of change in metropolitan regions, and to define the ways in which they can respond, is often limited, as they struggle to define what their 'city' actually might be these days. This tends to be to the detriment of collective attempts to maximise conditions for citizens and for investment.

This paper argues that dominant research practices in the urban transport field add to rather than subtract from social cohesion and mobility inequities. While this is recognised as an ongoing political struggle, it is also explained through a failure to mobilise consistently a broad definition of social cohesion in transport research and policy-making; and a technology fixation among communities of transport research and practice, particularly in the commissioning of European Commission research. Elements of a new urban mobility agenda are proposed to address mobility challenges and to improve the fostering of urban social cohesion.

No abstract

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence Newcastle University ePrints-eprint.ncl.ac.uk Vigar G. The Four Knowledges of Transport Planning: enacting a more communicative, trans-disciplinary policy and decision-making.

No abstract

Neighbourhood planning devolves power to communities to create their own planning policy but traditional forms of participation are still relied upon. And despite the ubiquitous nature of technology in society, digital participation methods are rarely used. In this paper, we outline fieldwork with two neighbourhood planning groups who used participatory media technology to improve engagement though the art of storytelling. We focus on the configuration of participatory media as a way to widen participation and enable story creation and sharing amongst citizens. We highlight that storytelling using media technology can provide a model of and a model for the way we 'do' neighbourhood planning whilst emphasising the challenges of ensuring processes are linked to tangible actions and encouraging the multiplicity of stories.