Abstract
Reviewed by: Andrew Jones, London South Bank University, UK
The core concern of the journal Local Economy has always been with the empowerment and enablement of local communities in the pursuit of economic security and social justice, more lately joined by a recognition of the imperatives of environmental sustainability. Since its founding over 30 years ago, this journal has published analyses of local struggles and reflections on practical interventions pursued by local governments and local formations of civil society. At the time of Local Economy’s founding in 1986, local government in Great Britain was grappling with a sequence of problems accompanying rapid industrial restructuring but was under attack by a central government determined to roll back the power and scope of public agency. The vexed and problematic relationship between central and local government in Britain has been a perennial theme in Local Economy, both under the Conservative Governments of 1979–1997 and throughout the New Labour years between 1997 and 2010 (for a detailed analysis of the convoluted twists and turn in the local–central relationship under New Labour, see Atkinson, 2011).
The central–local relationship in Britain has recently assumed an especially labyrinthine form. The 2010 Conservative-Lib-Dem Coalition committed itself to a policy of ‘localism’, but in the context of austerity and dramatic cuts to local government funding, the result was somewhat threadbare, certainly in comparison with the extravagant rhetoric that accompanied the Coalition’s various announcements. The Coalition also embarked on a re-organisation of sub-national institutions and instruments for economic development, an exercise that came with both a downscaling in resources and a re-centralisation of some key functions. However, it was for considerations of economic development that the case for devolution gained real impetus, notably in the publication of Michael Heseltine’s (2012) report on national economic growth. Heseltine argued for the devolution of substantial chunks of central government budgets to local partnerships, the primary concern being with the superior efficacy of locally directed investment. The demand for devolution in England became irresistible following the Scottish Referendum in 2014, in which promises of further devolution from London to Edinburgh formed part of the ‘No’ (to independence) campaign. English local government could hardly be denied the largesse offered to the Scottish Government and measures to devolve powers to local government in England were promised alongside further devolution to Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The first ‘devolution deal’ was announced by the Government and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority in November 2014. Further deals followed in advance of the 2015 General Election, and statutory provision for devolution was made in the Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016.
Commenting on the devolution deals announced in 2014 in a Local Economy article published in March 2015 (Hambleton, 2015), the author of this book remarked on the degree of central direction in the process. Ministers decided which areas of the country should have new governance arrangements, the criteria for devolving power, and the details of what would be agreed. Mercifully, this book does delve into the hideously arcane and occasionally bizarre details of the current devolution process in Britain, which no doubt will be considered in some depth in other academic publications, some of which will find its way into this journal (interested readers can consult an early volume edited by Bailey and Budd, 2016). Instead, the book explores innovative examples of city leadership where localised power is a reality.
The book is organised along four themes – place in public policy, public leadership, innovation in public management, and power. An unabashedly normative approach is adopted, in which inclusiveness and equality form the basis of social sustainability, public purpose imposes limits on markets, and local political formations defend the interests of place and community against what Saskia Sassen (2014) called the ‘predatory formations of capitalism,’ or what the author describes as ‘place-less power’. The various themes are illustrated through 17 ‘innovation stories’, or case studies of cities in different countries, including Chicago, Auckland, Curitiba, Guangzhou, Freiburg, and Toronto. Despite not being known for civic autonomy, England supplies two case studies. One of these is Bristol, which was only 1 of 10 cities that voted to have a directly elected mayor in referendums required by the Localism Act 2011. The mayor has gained high visibility and has been active in making new use of public space and building on earlier achievements in low carbon, despite having to negotiate £35 million in spending reductions. Another is The Family LIFE (Lives for Families to Enjoy) programme in Swindon, which was an initiative aimed at improving the lives of troubled families. The programme was developed by a multi-professional team from a range of service agencies (including health, housing, police, and social services) and a social enterprise called Participle. Swindon was selected by central government to be one of 16 national community budget pilots which later changed into the troubled families initiative but serves to contrast the potential for integrated local solutions with the fragmented nature of centrally directed programmes.
Universities are not forgotten among the range of local agencies that can contribute to place-based innovation, and feature centrally in two case studies, one from Portland, Oregon, and the other from Ahmedabad, India. The first features Portland State University (PSU) which has a long history of, and a declared commitment to community engagement. Examples are given of PSU’s involvement in the testing of charging stations for electric vehicles and of collaboration in initiatives for child development. The second is the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) which was involved in preparing Ahmedabad’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, a policy innovation which won national and international awards. Ahmedabad is a city of explosive population growth and a troubled history of inter-communal violence.
Malmö is an example of imaginative local leadership successfully steering through spectacular plan for the city’s re-invention following the near total collapse of its former industrial base. Civic leadership in Malmö is multi-level, and while the construction of the Øresund Bridge was undertaken by the Swedish and Danish central governments, local leaders pressed for it. Within the new regional context, city leaders orchestrated the preparation of a Comprehensive Plan, but health care, individual and family services, and leisure and culture are devolved to five districts. This case study is one of the longest in the book, and it is perhaps no coincidence that Swedish local authorities enjoy constitutional protection and substantial fiscal powers – Swedish local authorities raise about 70% of their income from local taxes.
Some of the more successful regeneration initiatives in Malmö were propelled by local, community-based movements, and perhaps of most relevance to this edition of Local Economy is the book’s advocacy for a productive interaction between statutory structures and civil society in the co-creation of local solutions, offering the most promising possibilities for public service reform and local democracy. Langrug, an informal settlement in Stellenbosch, South Africa, is used as an example of a bottom-up agglomeration supporting the urban poor in improving service delivery and housing provision (once again, universities played a part). In New York, a grassroots organisation succeeded in transforming the High Line, a derelict elevated railway, into a public park. In doing so, it overcame opposition from a powerful property development lobby and an initially reluctant City Hall.
The case studies collected for this book (accompanied by sensible advice on how to use them) are sufficient to recommend it, but the interpretation of the case studies draws from an impressive and multi-disciplinary range of scholarship. The book offers both a thorough analysis of contemporary urban realities and a convincing challenge to dominant orthodoxies and ‘place-less power.’ It is a timely re-formulation and consolidation of various strands in current thinking about places, and its optimistic signposting of a possible future makes it required reading.