Whatever happened to local government? A review symposium

Abstract

This collection of contributions uses the 21nd anniversary of the publication of Allan Cochrane's Whatever Happened to Local Government? (1993) to reflect on the state of contemporary English local government, and in the process assess the book's intellectual legacy.

The role of open access in a changing academy: reflections on a new publishing paradigm

“…We remain committed to our mentored route for publication, led by the early career papers editors, but we encourage all scholars -from doctoral students to professors -to submit their work. We offer field-leading review times (currently averaging 35 days) and your work will sit alongside papers by such luminaries as Rob Kitchin (Kitchin, Lauriault, & McArdle, 2015), Alan Wilson (2016) , Ana Rita Cruz (2014), Kevin Ward (Ward et al, 2015) and Martin Jones (Beel, Jones, & Jones, 2016). One particularly appealing feature of RSRS is that we publish a variety of paper types, from our 'regional graphics' of two or three pages (including maps or graphics) to full-length more traditional manuscripts of around 8000 words.…”

Vacancy at the edges of the precarious city

“…In the case of Lambeth, although belonging to a wider and longer trajectory of recalling of short-life housing, the disposal of short life housing was ultimately indissociable from the fundamental restructuring in local governance brought about by budget cuts and austerity measures imposed by the state (Ward et al, 2015). One of the effects of an 'austerity urbanism' (Peck, 2012) is a new-found emphasis on the financialisation of housing assets as a means to generate revenue and redistribute funding.…”

Commissioning for change: A new model for commissioning adult social care in England

“…The underpinning issue here is the startling demise of the significance of local governance in England (Ward et al, 2015). Thirty years ago Gamble warned that the logic of government policy at that time was the eventual abolition of local government (Gamble, 1988) and austerity and marketisation are now helping to complete that mission.…”