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In this Chapter, the authors outline their own approach to the analysis of institutional capacity and institutional capacity building processes in urban governance, within a broadly 'constructivist' institutionalist frame of reference. They argue that creating the capacity for collective action in a dynamic, dispersed power context is a challenging enterprise. Socio-cultural changes have co-evolved with these economic developments, diversifying lifestyles and lifecycle dynamics, generating new material demands on urban governments and altering the configurations of values with which citizens judge their representatives. Instances of governance action, in this relational viewpoint, reveal the complex interplay of multiple forces, made active through micro-social relations which themselves generate processes of invention in response to the complexity of situations in which actors find themselves. In any interactive instance, maybe the development of a new policy, or the work of an urban regeneration partnership, a range of geographical and institutional referents may be called up as actions are designed which will impact on particular localities.

Part 1 Conceptualizing institutional capacity: collective action and social milieux transforming governance, institutionalist analysis and institutional capacity institutional capacity-building as an issue of collective action and institutionalization - some theoretical and methodological remarks assessing institutional capacity building in a city centre regeneration partnership - Newcastle's Grainger town. Part 2 Governance in action in complex social milieux: introduction - the challenge of building new institutional capacities transformational pathways and institutional capacity building - the case of the German-Polish twin-city Guben/Gubin the tangled web - neighbourhood governance in a post-Fordist era is partnership possible? searching for a new institutional settlement governance, institutional capacity and planning for growth. Part 3 Building new institutional capacities: introduction - creating milieux for collective action compliance and collaboration in urban governance a strategic approach to community planning - re-positioning the statutory development plan sustainable institutional capacity for planning - the West Midlands urban governance in complex societies - challenges of institutional adaptation.