‘In the shadow of hierarchy’: meta‐governance, policy reform and urban regeneration in the West Midlands

Whitehead, Mark

doi:10.1111/1475-4762.00105

Cited by 148 publications

(121 citation statements)

References 27 publications

(42 reference statements)

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“…The influence of the new, less formal, networks operating at the local and regional scales is thus constrained by more established forms of decisionmaking. We might agree with those analysts who describe the 'meta-governance' through which governmental hierarchies continue to coordinate complex local and regional governance (for example Whitehead, 2003) and Allmendinger and Haughton's view of the 'meta governance' of central management of local decisions (Allmendinger and Haughton, 2008). But central government does more than orchestrate the regional and local scales.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 62%

Markets, Large Projects and Sustainable Development: Traditional and New Planning in the Thames Gateway

Greenwood

Newman

2009

Urban Studies

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The transition from traditional hierarchical government to new forms of governance and planning can be overstated. The regionalisation of planning and new ambitions for spatial planning in the UK are commonly understood to have created an overcomplex system concerned with co-ordination and integration across jurisdictional spheres. However, this new governance of planning sits alongside traditional planning processes such as the public inquiry and ministerial decision. This case study of a large port development near London suggests that the emphasis upon the move to new, collaborative practices understimates the influence of traditional governmental structures. This provides cause for questioning the capacity of the current planning system to address the challenge of sustainable development, a central concern for the new planning.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 62%

Markets, Large Projects and Sustainable Development: Traditional and New Planning in the Thames Gateway

Greenwood

Newman

2009

Urban Studies

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“…The state acts as a third party to the cooperation, using mandates and regulatory instruments to resolve conflicts and mediate actions among the government organizations at subnational levels. In this situation, the cooperation may be operated by "state hegemony" [39] or in the shadow of hierarchy [40]. Vertical meta-governance usually happens at the initial stage of cooperation building (e.g., the state pulling in necessary organizations to raise perceived interdependence).…”

Section: Vertical Meta-governancementioning

confidence: 99%

What Conditions, in Combination, Drive Inter-Organizational Activities? Evidence from Cooperation on Environmental Governance in Nine Urban Agglomerations in China

Mu¹,

Jia²,

Leng³

et al. 2018

Sustainability

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Abstract:This study investigates what conditions, in combination, drive varying levels of intensity of inter-organizational activities regarding cooperation on environmental governance in nine urban agglomerations in China. This article distinguishes strong and weak inter-organizational activities; and through a literature review, the article distills five conditions influencing inter-organizational activity, including vertical meta-governance, horizontal meta-governance, leadership, autonomous capacity disparity and environmental status disparity. While these conditions are clearly unique, it is unclear if any of these conditions are necessary or sufficient and how they work collectively, for varying degrees of inter-organization activities. Through the method of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), the article examines this question. The findings suggest that strong horizontal meta-governance and strong leadership are both necessary conditions for strong inter-organizational involvement in joint environmental governance. Small disparities in autonomous capacity and environmental status are sufficient conditions for strong inter-organizational activities. Strong vertical meta-governance is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition. The QCA results reveal that local authorities should put energy in developing their formal structures favorable for cooperation and that local leaders should develop skills to facilitate joint actions between member cities in an agglomeration.

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“…However, such relations are changing, and there is an extensive literature adopting a 'network' perspective, which emphasises a more open, flexible and negotiating approach to modern public governance. Still, it is highly disputed if such network relations are in fact allowing more discretion to the local level in the vertical relation, or if central rule prevails and network governance is conducted 'in the shadow of hierarchy' (Whitehead, 2003;Scharpf, 1994, see also Sharpe, 1985. Also for the vertical dimension one is likely to find a mix where some elements will always be determined by central government, while others will not, or less so.…”

Section: Market Hierarchy and Network In The Bus Transport Sectormentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of governance modes on sustainable transport – the case of bus transport in Greater Manchester, UK

Sørensen

Gudmundsson

2010

WRITR

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'Sustainable transport' has become a priority for transport planning and policy making around the world. Sustainable transport plans often promote efforts to shift passengers from private cars to other modes such as public transport. However, the actual success of such efforts is likely to depend on how the transport sector is organised and governed. In this paper, we study the impacts of new public management (NPM) reforms in the British local transport sector on the attraction of passengers to buses. Britain is an interesting example since high level sustainable transport policies have been pursued in a deregulated context. We focus on bus transport in Greater Manchester as the case in point. First, we study the effects of the NPM reforms on modal shift. We find that the reforms generally have contributed to a decline in bus passengers, while some reform elements have made positive contributions. Second, we apply theoretical notions of 'governance modes', to examine whether the strengths and failures of 'market', 'hierarchy' and 'network' governance respectively can help to explain the results we observe. We find that these concepts are particularly useful to clarify the conditions under which public transport can attract travellers.

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‘In the shadow of hierarchy’: meta‐governance, policy reform and urban regeneration in the West Midlands

Cited by 148 publications

References 27 publications

Markets, Large Projects and Sustainable Development: Traditional and New Planning in the Thames Gateway

Markets, Large Projects and Sustainable Development: Traditional and New Planning in the Thames Gateway

What Conditions, in Combination, Drive Inter-Organizational Activities? Evidence from Cooperation on Environmental Governance in Nine Urban Agglomerations in China

The impact of governance modes on sustainable transport – the case of bus transport in Greater Manchester, UK

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‘In the shadow of hierarchy’: meta‐governance, policy reform and urban regeneration in the West Midlands

Cited by 148 publications

References 27 publications

Markets, Large Projects and Sustainable Development: Traditional and New Planning in the Thames Gateway

Markets, Large Projects and Sustainable Development: Traditional and New Planning in the Thames Gateway

What Conditions, in Combination, Drive Inter-Organizational Activities? Evidence from Cooperation on Environmental Governance in Nine Urban Agglomerations in China

The impact of governance modes on sustainable transport &ndash; the case of bus transport in Greater Manchester, UK

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The impact of governance modes on sustainable transport – the case of bus transport in Greater Manchester, UK