Abstract
Leading the Inclusive City is an engaging exploration of local leadership and the potential for social and environmental justice. The book argues for innovation in technology but most significantly in civic leadership and governance, through inclusion of local communities in democratic and participatory processes. Seventeen international ‘innovation stories’ bring conceptual discussions in the book to life, including initiatives that have transformed public spaces, transport systems and public services. Discrediting the ‘best practice’ approach that has dominated public policy-making, this book is not about naïve replication of policies. It is about ideas and the possibility of doing things differently, whilst recognising that to be successful, change must develop out of `place-based social invention’ (p. 319). Furthermore, as challenges to political and economic order have been expressed across the globe through urban unrest, this book could not be better timed. The orthodoxy of neoliberalism and marketisation is confronted through a focus on equality, justice and local communities.
The author brings together years of experience as a practitioner within local and central government, along with extensive international research within the field of urban studies and civic leadership. This results in a pragmatic and vigorous analysis that could only be achieved through Hambleton’s breadth of knowledge about the workings of local governance in numerous global contexts. Indeed, one of the main contributions of this book is the holistic and interdisciplinary approach taken. One of Hambleton’s central arguments is that policy-makers and academics too often work in silos. In response, this book seeks to bring them together through innovative examples of practice from across the world and seminal literature from areas of management, urban studies, planning, sociology and psychology to name a few. It is this synthesis of ideas and visionary approach to learning that is the book’s main strength and, as intended, results in a discussion that will engage both practitioners and academics in equal measure.
The book is organised into four main sections. The first is a broad diagnosis of some of the most critical issues to arise from urbanisation and globalisation processes in cities across the world. As the title suggests, these stories reveal the bounded nature of the planet through issues that cities have in common, such as ever-changing patterns of migration. The development of political and human landscapes in cities is outlined in an insightful contextual analysis. This includes public service reform in 19th century Britain and the creation of decentralised public services in cities, in response to dangerous living conditions and exploitation faced by the poor. Hambleton then charts the repositioning of citizens to consumers, drawing upon the work of development economist Hirschman (1970, 1971) throughout the book to support a conceptual discussion of citizenship and governance. Hirschman’s work on US public administration provides understanding around the meaningful opportunities for participation that citizens have in public services, which rests on the power of ‘voice’, rather than the opportunity for ‘exit’ that consumers of private services have.
One of the strengths of this book is the use of simple frameworks for understanding the position of citizens in relation to civil society, the market and the state, and the potential for cooperation between these distinct realms. The tensions arising from relations between those realms are a driving theme throughout the book and are particularly important given the context of public-sector cuts and increasing reliance upon mixed-economy collaborations in the UK. The commodification of cities by multinational corporations has particular relevance to current political debate, and is covered in section two through widely reported issues such as housing. Innovation in leadership and democratic governance is then offered as a solution to maintaining local public interests, such as the elected mayor system in Bristol and reorganisation of urban governance in Auckland. These stories demonstrate the value of both representative and participatory democracy, critical to studies of urban governance.
The third section continues the theme of urban democratic reorganisation and highlights the need for strong leadership to create both environment and people-friendly cities across the world. Hambleton asserts that leadership has been ‘virtually ignored’ in town planning theory (p. 208), and goes further by arguing for emotion to be recognised within leadership studies. Innovation stories highlight the potential for urban design to respond to the endemic decline in happiness within modern cities. The need to adequately reflect ethnic diversity is also stressed as one of the most prominent and political challenges faced by cities today. The message that ‘civic leadership should assert the power of communities living in particular places’ (p. 327) is a compelling theme throughout this book and maintains the author’s quest for an inclusive city. The potential for public and political discourse to incorporate the voices of local leaders and communities about the value of diversity is highlighted, through examples of immigration worker arrangements in Japan and immigrant access to schooling in Canada.
Examples of particularly disadvantaged communities successfully achieving voice and asserting power are somewhat limited within the innovation stories in this book, raising questions about the type of people who have voice or influence. Perhaps the book could better recognise the increasing level of exclusivity that is taking place within cities, through revanchist urban policies that serve to undermine citizenship rights. Frequent reference to multiculturalism rather than the contemporary community cohesion approach to policy may also be queried, as the latter approach resulted in significantly reduced support for ethnic minority housing associations, community groups and other means for ethnic minority participation in civic matters. However, Hambleton clearly outlines the book’s focus on inspiration for change, rather than focusing on tensions and disadvantage caused by policy. One of this book’s main accomplishments is the process of learning that is promoted from ideas that are adopted in different settings, and the value that this adds to policy-making. Understanding the necessary conditions for something to work, rather than focusing on barriers, shapes the overall tone of innovation and inspiration within the book.