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One of the questions when undertaking comparative research into local politics and processes of collective organization is what frame should be used. In recent decades, many scholars have opted for the urban regime. There is however much debate about the usefulness of this concept for comparative purposes, with the urban regime accused of being theoretically both too narrow as well as too general. In three Dutch case studies, researchers have sought a middle way by applying the urban regime's four building blocks (agenda, coalition, resources, and scheme of cooperation) as a heuristic framework. The results show that this approach has several advantages, especially for comparative purposes, as it provides a clear oversight as to which agendas dominate where and when, and how certain coalitions, resources, and schemes of cooperation align. These benefits however require close attention to certain points: researchers should interpret the building blocks consistently and try to avoid overlap and repetition between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global discussions on the future of high streets, especially today in times of epidemiological, political, and market turmoil, emphasize the importance of high streets as laboratories for urban walkability, resilience, and sustainability. The major condition, however, is a collaborative, cross-sectoral approach towards high street development. Such efforts have been recently undertaken in Warsaw, Poland, to develop a lively but organized shopping street almost from scratch—a few promising joint initiatives with this goal have been undertaken in Warsaw over the last two decades. Building upon a broad document review and in-depth interviews with sixteen pioneers (business consultants, public authority leaders, and planning experts) directly involved in the development of high streets in Warsaw, this study reconstructs and analyzes their efforts in urban collaboration through the lens of Urban Regime Theory. By discussing strengths and weaknesses of the regime structuring process, this paper points at critical difficulties in high street sustainable development (and consequently, also to overall urban walkability, resilience, and sustainability) which are the inertia of mutual perception by stakeholders, dependency on singular leaders and their personal motivation, the necessity to reinvent the very idea of a high street anew, lack of adequate legal tools for cross-sectoral collaboration, and the stiffening effect of previously set guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Promoted by sustainable urban agendas and urged by global pandemic measures, street experiments (SE) are booming in Europe but remain latent in Asia. These experiments aim to reconfigure streets as more than spaces for motorized traffic movements, enabling a temporary urban paradigm shift. Such a shift involves balancing active mobility and public space uses in streets while envisioning radically different settings and uses. Recently, eminent scholars urged considering SE in connection to the system and planning framework within which SE are conceived to trace their trajectories. This article examines four decades of temporary-pedestrianization policies and planning instruments in Hong Kong, an Asian city representative of high-density urban environments with highly intensive use of road space and conservative and prescriptive planning. In doing so, the article identifies four trajectories and illustrates two emblematic cases: Chater Road, the first street temporarily pedestrianized under a commercial initiative, and Sai Yeung Choi Street South, a street pedestrianized under a government initiative, now turned back to its original function. The competing roles and practical uses that pedestrianized streets must fulfil partially determined their fate. However, the trajectories these cases followed also differ due to the contextual planning approach and decision-making process. The study contributes to scholarship on SE by shedding new light on the geographical context of high-density urban Asia, forwarding challenges that policymakers might need to address in the planning and governance of SE in similar environments.

The paper proposes theoretical and methodological principles, conceptual apparatus and substantiation of the prospects of empirical data analysis for the research of the political factors underlying urban development. Based on the theory of urban regimes (С. Stone) and the theory of interactive rituals (R. Collins), the author proposes to use a set of interrelated concepts of “arena”, “interactive ritual”, “mobilization agenda”, “emotional energy”, “urban regime”, “urban ideology” to explain high rates of urban well-being in some cities and its decline in other cities. It is shown that a set of factors influence the main characteristics of the regime and communicative practices both within the elite and between the elite and the citizens, based on different types of power relations (collective or distributive power), which subsequently in various degrees limits the number of participants and topics for discussion in a process of making decision. To test the hypothesis, the article proposes the empirical comparison on the ground of contrasting cases method, and provides the substantiation of choosing diametrically opposed cases of Siberian cities (Novosibirsk and Novokuznetsk). In the late 80s, cities had little chance for growth, development and viability of economy, politics and culture, but the political processes had led to different trajectories of power groups and regimes formation, according to the models of “coordination” and “control”.

The relative hegemony of land rentiers and real estate developers over the process of urban socio-economic reproduction is a defining characteristic of the "collusive regime" of Rome. Through the analysis of a case study, we tried to establish if the realisation of Urban Development Projects in this regime favours the unequal distribution of the benefits deriving from urban development. Applying a neo-Gramscian lens to urban political economy, we identified an interpretative model for explaining the role of UDPs in the urban regime of Rome. First, UDPs are suitable occasions for realising accumulation strategies based on the capture of rent gaps and the valorisation of urban assets. Second, the actors involved in UDPs mobilise ideational and material resources for gathering consensus for a project, that rewards their specific interests, by framing their investment as the best solution for localised collective needs. UDPs in Rome, therefore, facilitate the concentration of benefits and the generalisation of costs of urban development. Our research contributes to the understanding of Rome's fragile trajectory of growth and offers insights on the mechanisms reinforcing unequal urban development.

Facing hazards and migration from disasters, many cities might benefit from redistributive policies to aid vulnerable residents, requiring changes to 'urban regimes' - the powerbrokers and networks governing local politics. However, to date, changes in urban regimes have been difficult to detect systematically. I introduce a method for Large-N municipality samples, using relative spending over time to measure municipalities' propensities towards each of 4 common urban regime types, including (1) developmental, (2) middle-class, (3) social welfare, and (4) caretaker regimes, developing 3 indices that approximate a municipality's regime type. Using the case of Japan, an industrialized democracy and the 3rd largest economy in the world, I evaluate change in urban regimes over time, using a sample of 1471 Japanese municipalities from 2000 to 2018. Using mapping, visualization, and panel models over time, this study finds that some municipalities' governing coalitions are spending more on redistributive policies than others; these social welfare regimes increased in prevalence by 17 % from 2000 to 2018. Controlling for sociodemographic and political factors, models show that social welfare regimes increased much more consistently than alternative regime types, and bridging social capital was closely linked to regime outcomes. • This study builds urban regime indices for all Japanese municipalities 2000–2018. • Indices for developmental, middle class, and social welfare regimes were developed. • Social welfare regimes increased in prevalence by 17 % from 2000 to 2018. • Panel data models evaluated variation in urban regime indices over time. • Greater bridging social capital was associated with more social welfare spending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gateway cities are connected systems of transportation infrastructure that support the insertion of the urban region in international production, distribution and consumption networks. In this article, we propose a framework through which to grasp how the governance of gateway cities shapes their physical positioning in global value chains. We argue that specific urban governance configurations are best understood through the dynamic relationships between global economic requirements, local infrastructure assets, institutional arrangements, and the communities directly implicated. We put urban regimes, which are composed of urban coalitions of public and private actors acting at a variety of scales, and their sets of goals and norms, at the centre of these configurations. Focusing on the case of four Canadian city-regions, we use this framework to compare the ways in which the governance of these gateway cities occurs as it pertains to the development of physical infrastructure in support of international trade and global value chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses novel methodology. The main aim of the paper is to analyse the explanatory potential of the urban regime theory used in political science studies. The author verifies the hypothesis which states that the explanatory potential of the urban regime theory, understood as the ability to explain the dynamic transformations of the socio-political reality of modern cities, is derived from the possibility of using a set of research methods, and not only those that are of "customary" (traditional) interest to political scientists. Th is set includes eight diff erent research methods, selected on the basis of a review of the positions and methodological approaches dominating in the extensive literature on the subject. The hypothesis verification determines the structure of the article, which consists of the considerations focused around: (1) theoretical issues (2) methodological assumptions of the presented analysis, and (3) variants of the examination of the urban regime. The analysis confirms the hypothesis and proves that the application potential of the urban regime theory results from the possibility of using at least several research methods, with particular emphasis on those that are just gaining popularity among political scientists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Municipal takeovers are a state policy ostensibly designed to address urban fiscal crises by "temporarily" taking over local government, suspending local control, and implementing sweeping austerity measures. Although framed as "apolitical," takeovers have the capacity to reshape local democracy. These changes radically rearrange how decisions are made, who has access to decision makers, and, ultimately, who is in power. Using a policy-centered approach, we compare the cases of Camden, New Jersey and Flint, Michigan, illustrating how variations in policy design and localized implementation reshaped the local political landscape in different ways. While the Camden takeover institutionalized the emergent "community development regime," Flints' grassroots activists and community-based organizations destabilized the emergent regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the production of urban space in the globalizing city of Milan, Italy. The authors present the evolution of a 30-year development process in a semi-central area of the city known as Garibaldi Porta Nuova, contrasting present and past conditions. Initial attempts to develop the area began in the early 1980s but came to nothing; a previous study of the same area attributed that failure to the inability of fragmented local political elites to coalesce into an effective pro-growth coalition. In the early 2000s, a new coalition of political and economic actors, in particular financial and real estate interests, revived the process of regeneration and drove construction of a large-scale mixed-use project. This article offers an account of the process in terms of both the internal dynamics of the local coalition and the contextual and institutional factors framing the bargaining of political and economic elites over the development process. We use two theoretical frameworks – growth machine theory and regime theory – to assess the distribution of power and resources. Our analysis indicates that the outcome is the result of a specific growth machine fuelled by international capital, and that changes in the intergovernmental system in Italy induced local political elites to accommodate the requirements of international investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lean thinking is a management method intended to create better valuefor all stakeholders. The method, which was initiallyformulatedfor the motor industry, has been widely adopted by information and service organisations in both private and public sectors, leading to a significant improvement in their effectivity and efficiency. A smart city uses information technologies to enhance its efficient management and democratic governance. Information technology gathers data, controls facilities, and enables better communication among and between residents and the municipality. However, cities are still looking for guidelines and criteria that can help them move towards a more effective, efficient, and democratic urban regime. We suggest that lean thinking principles and tools can be applied to smart cities and will improve their effectiveness as social and democratic systems. We tested our hypothesis using Tel Aviv Municipality's smart city project as a case study. We found that the project is compatible with many lean thinking principles and can benefitfrom the experience andproven tools that lean thinking has to offer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article aims to foster a conceptual discussion about the potentials and pitfalls that emerge when the two concepts ‘migration regime' and ‘urban regime' are brought together.Recent developments in the field of migration studies have led to the regime concept becoming an increasingly popular strategy. Terms like ‘local migration regime' or ‘urban migration regime' have enjoyed growing popularity due to an expanded interest in the intersection of localities, regulation techniques and immigration. Within this debate, the ‘urban regimes' concept has also gained increased attention.This paper argues that these are two essentially different types of regime analysis, both of which have potentials and problems. Making use of both of them in the field of migration studies requires conceptual clarity and preciseness, and will likely lead to very different findings. A synthesis of the two concepts is, therefore, not achievable, yet a careful and reflected use of them can provide new impulses both for empirical research and theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Portland Metropolitan region, a single economic and ecological region with a bifurcated state and local governance structure, provides an opportunity to compare governance models and state policy environments in a single region. Using stakeholder interviews and secondary sources, we examine the role of state government policy in shaping and supporting different regimes. We find that Portland exhibits a stable, “smart-growth” regime that we characterized as a metropolitan eco-regime whereas Vancouver is in a period of fragmentation without a stable metropolitan regime. This is best explained by the differing state-level regulatory contexts and the different forms of polycentricity influenced by state action. Differences in regime and governance structure result in differently drawn and expanded urban growth boundaries with subsequent differences in land-use outcomes. We conclude with observations about state-level action and subsequent forms of polycentricity to support metropolitan eco-regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this case study, I look at Benton Harbor, Michigan's tenure under a state-appointed "emergency manager," with extensive local powers replacing all local elected government, and a single imperative to balance the city's budget. The law, ostensibly race-neutral, wound up targeting almost all of Michigan's cities with significant Black population. The law ultimately disenfranchised half the state's Black population but only two percent of Whites. This law invalidates a basic civil right and prerequisite for urban political theory: electoral democracy. Who holds power in the urban regime when the state takes over? Drawing on forty-four interviews, observations and archival research, I argue a White urban regime governs without elected representation in this majority-Black city. The ideological framing of emergency management as "neutral," and Black politics as "corrupt" or "self-interested," provides the logic to blame Black governance for structural disinvestment and White-led extraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a part of the inevitable process of industrialization, urbanization and its associated spatial forms generally have a substantial effect on sustainability. This paper considers the spatial form and sustainability of urbanization by evaluating the interaction between land-use planning, urban regimes and the fragmented structure of land ownership. This paper conceptualizes the structure of landownership as an institution that affects the form of spatial development and thereby determines the spatial implications of urban sprawl on sustainability. With reference to the Ilan experience of urbanizing Taiwan, it shows that the development of spatial form and sustainability is the product of planning institution and urban regime mobilization, and it reflects the institutional impact of a fragmented landownership structure. The conclusion also discusses policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The entrepreneurial city is no longer (only) a growth machine: recession and austerity, new forms of financialization, and diverse experiments in urban policy have diluted local elites’ focus on growth. But entrepreneurial urban governance remains remarkably resilient despite its inability to deliver growth. Indeed, in many cities entrepreneurial tactics – e.g. municipal speculation, place branding, and inter-urban competition – are simply standard operating procedure. Recent scholarship on entrepreneurial urban governance demonstrates a need for re-theorizing the assumed interdependence between entrepreneurial practices and growth politics. This calls into question the nature of the ‘entrepreneurs’ of the entrepreneurial city, that is, the nature of municipal states. They increasingly (i) apply entrepreneurial practices to multiple governance agendas in parallel to growth, (ii) evaluate their portfolios in both speculative and more broadly experimental ways, and (iii) challenge top-down narratives about inter-urban competition through inter-urban diplomacy. Each of these characteristics shows the disruptive potential of interventionist forms of municipal statecraft. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new framework for analysing subnational policymaking is applied to climate governance in the ‘twin towns’ of Newcastle upon Tyne and Gelsenkirchen. Low levels of resource interdependence between central and local government in England mean that Newcastle Council has to rely heavily on other horizontal actors to achieve its climate objectives. In contrast, Gelsenkirchen Council receives substantial support from higher tiers of government, which gives it greater control over policymaking within the locality. Greater independence between tiers of government can make it more difficult for subnational bodies to adopt the kind of ambitious policies that may be necessary to combat wicked and/or significant policy challenges such as climate change. Instead, interdependent ‘joint-decision’ systems, which facilitate mutual support across tiers of government, may be better equipped to ensure that subnational public bodies have the capacity to act appropriately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multiplication of logistics establishments in the outer suburbia of large urban regions is embedded in a diversity of public actions in these spaces: transport facilities, land development and building permits. Thus, this economic development supposes a strong interdependence between economic and political spheres. This interdependence is at the heart of “urban regimes” approach (Stone, 1989) and echoes the concepts of “development regimes” (Stone, 1993) and “growth coalitions” (Logan, Molotch, 1987). Thus, this paper proposes to apply these approaches and concepts to the case of the outer suburbia of large urban regions concerned by the logistics industry development. This way, it calls for reopening the issue of the transposition of these theories from the American cities to the European cities (Le Galès, 1995) by linking the analysis of the public capacities of local governments with the analysis of the modalities of involvement of private economic actors in local public actions in the context of the financialization of commercial real estate and governance discontinuities. Eventually, through this lens, quite stable public-private coalitions which are dominated by the logistics property firms appear in the outer suburbia of the Paris city-region, which leads to a silent privatization of the production of logistics spaces.

This paper analyzes the connection between black political protest and mobilization, and the rise and fall of a black urban regime. The case of Oakland is instructive because by the mid-1960s the ideology of "black power" was important in mobilizing two significant elements of the historically disparaged black community: (1) supporters of the Black Panthers and, (2) neighborhood organizations concentrated in West Oakland. Additionally, Oakland like the city of Atlanta also developed a substantial black middle class that was able to mobilize along the lines of its own "racialized" class interests. Collectively, these factors were important elements in molding class-stratified "black power" and coalitional activism into the institutional politics of a black urban regime in Oakland. Ultimately, reversal factors would undermine the black urban regime in Oakland. These included changes in the race and class composition of the local population: black out-migration, the "new immigration," increasing (predominantly white) gentrification, and the continued lack of opportunity for poor and working-class blacks, who served as the unrequited base of the black urban regime. These factors would change the fortunes of black political life in Oakland during the turbulent neoliberal era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guangdong Province started the so-called "three olds redevelopment" in 2009, aiming to advance industrial upgrading. Existing literature points out that appropriate distribution of land rent differential among the stakeholders like urban governments, village collectives, and developers is the most important determinant. Employing the theory of urban regime, the paper focuses on the redevelopment process of the Lianjiao Area in the Pearl River Delta region to reveal how the three entities (government, rural community, and developers) interact. It has been found that the local urban government is the main driver which facilitates the positive accumulation of social capital through the supply of redevelopment policy and financial support. Through the reconstruction of trust of villagers and developers, the government gains the rights to coordinate the redevelopment. As the actual landholder, rural villages represent the profits of villagers in bargaining with the other two parties. The improvement in infrastructure and the formulation of detailed redevelopment plans increase the land rent differential, encouraging developers’ participation in the redevelopment. The three entities form a negotiation-based development alliance and finally lead to successful redevelopment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decades, European cities have been facing serious constraints. In particular, decreasing transfers from central governments, the introduction of domestic 'Stability pacts' and the economic crisis have significantly challenged the capacity of local governments to address societal issues. Within this context, local governments have tried to find new ways by establishing collaborations with a wide range of private actors, including nonprofit organizations and the civil society as a whole. Among these private actors, big philanthropic organizations are gaining prominence, acting as public policy supporters and policy makers. In particular, those philanthropic organizations, which focus the operating activity on single communities, are emerging as potential key actors in local governance, thanks to their capacity to concentrate resourses and efforts in specific and limited territories. For this new emerging role, a recent debate on their impact on local policy making has raised in the last years. This paper aims at presenting the findings of a comparative analysis on the impact that some of the world's biggest philanthropic organizations have produced in two Italian urban contexts. In particular, the comparative analysis of these two cases had the aim of testing a major thesis: the impact of philanthropic foundations on local policy making varies in relation to the consolidated mode of governance within which they operate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land speculation has been an integral component of the political economy of land development in American urban history. In the American Sunbelt, land speculation occurs amid progrowth governance regimes that engage in intermunicipal competition for capital investment. This article presents a mixed-methods case study of vacant land speculation in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, before, during, and after the mid-2000s property boom. Results indicate that land speculation represented a significant barrier to both public and private infill development efforts, and that some municipal development initiatives actually facilitated private speculative profits. Speculative strategies are enabled when weaknesses in the coordination and bargaining power of urban growth regimes, derived from conflict within and between governmental scales, can be exploited by individual market actors. The self-propulsive nature of speculative property market cycles, unconstrained by local regimes increasingly dependent on nonlocal capital investment, represents an autonomous force actively orienting entries into property markets and influencing the ability to enact sustainable infill development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban regime theory has placed the decisional power of urban policy makers in the foreground. From this perspective, enduring governing coalitions can in fact manage to change the consolidated urban policy mix to foster great changes in the social and economic context. The urban regime theory labels this capacity “power to.” Although this higher capacity has frequently been affirmed, the literature has neglected to look at the framing mechanisms and the policy-making processes that allow a new agenda to emerge and be implemented. The present article has the aim of addressing this matter and in particular of trying to answer two main questions: (1) If an incubation phase lays the foundations for the emergence of a new policy agenda, how does this process take place? (2) Is the new agenda a by-product of sectorial policy negotiations or is it the output of a collective effort? The findings of an in-depth analysis of a case study are presented and discussed to address these questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the scope, causes, flourishing, and decline of squatting in Lithuanian society during the period of 1990-2002. Drawing on 16 in-depth interviews conducted with squatters in Vilnius, newspaper articles and legal documents, this paper shows that squatters made contributions to the city with their cultural capital, creating local subcultures and making the urban space more attractive. Squatters promoted an alternative way of life, contributed to the preservation of the city and fostered counter-cultural activities. They offered spaces for performances, exhibits, and concerts. These activities are still present up to this day in the Užupis neighborhood that hosted the most long-lived squat, which in turn was transformed into Art Incubator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the basic concepts on cities within contemporary globalisation. First, it briefly reviews the city perspective within the world system theory (concepts of over-urbanisation, under-urbanisation, and dependent urbanisation), new international division of labour, theory of the second circuit of capital and informational society. The second part of the paper is dedicated to the concepts of global and world cities and their implications for the cities in developed and developing countries (including post-socialist). Urban policy and urban regime concepts are analysed in the third part, by focusing on economic competitiveness and democratic potentials of (developed, developing and post-socialist) cities in the global world. Finally, paper concludes that new analytical concepts on cities developed since the1970’s actually deconstruct and reconstitute inherited forms of urban analysis with more or less success. Increased importance of cities as socio-economic actors in global economy has not contributed to the closure of the developmental gap. Contrary to that, it has been reproducing according to the new regulatory principles.

This epilogue provides an overview and critique of the articles in this symposium, and an invitation to rethink, conceptually and empirically, our urban future. Using examples from cities in Israel/Palestine, it links the articles to the main currents in the literature on urban citizenship and 'right to the city'. It draws attention to several voids in current debates, particularly around the rapid growth of urban informality and the changing nature of globalizing urban regimes. The epilogue introduces the notions of 'gray spacing' to account for recent transformations in these regimes and the rise of 'defensive urban citizenship' under conditions of neoliberal economy and persisting nationalism. It argues for the rethinking of the struggle for urban democracy in terms of 'metrozenship' as a foundation for renewed critical research and political transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With hindsight covering a quarter of a century of Regime Politics, this reflection calls for refashioning the concept of an urban regime into a more encompassing idea of a multitiered political order. As an approach to political change, cross-time comparisons suggest that periodization can highlight how forces conjoin in different ways as political development unfolds. From this perspective, there is little reason to expect to find in today’s cities a stable and cohesive governing coalition held together around a high-priority agenda. Yet the need for resources to be commensurate with policy goals and the strength of purpose in the face of an established mind-set are key lessons to be retained from the past experiences of Atlanta and other cities. While systemic inequality continues as an overarching reality, mitigating responses can be worked out in the middle ground between structure and agency. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The topic of this article is the attempt of an industrial city to convert its model of development through a political strategy, in an age of post-Fordist restructuring and economic globalization. The city is Turin, wherein between 1993 and 2011, in a long cycle of government, a ruling elite acted to avoid the social and economic decline of the city by promoting an ambitious agenda. The category of ‘urban regime’ is the interpretive framework of the analysis. To contribute to the understanding of urban change dynamics and to highlight some still ambiguous questions in urban regime theory, the present study aims at reconstructing: a) which circumstances contributed to the development and then to the establishment of the urban regime; b) which factors have probably undermined its robustness and limited its success.

Building on the relevant international literature, as well as empirical research on urban cases, this article determines and discusses five core values of good urban governance: responsiveness, effectiveness, procedural justice, resilience, and counterbalance. The quest for good governance can take various forms. This article focuses on urban governance, and identifies four different shifts, with increased emphasis on the real decision makers or the ordinary citizens, with increased attention to selective choice or integrative deliberation as modes of urban governance. Urban governance and good urban governance are not synonymous. This article advocates critical reflection, moving beyond the performance bias that tends to accompany governance reform. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article defends the idea according to which it is not satisfactory any more to study the forms of governance of the French cities through the centre-periphery analytical framework. The devolution of new functions to urban governments, the transformations of capitalism and States policies have turned French cities from mere implementation spaces of public policies built at another level to central actors of the production of urban policies and strategies. The «horizontal» relationships linking the urban actors between them can be considered to be the first explanation of the scope and shapes of urban policies. Since then, it is legitimate to study urban governance and policies in French cities through theoretical tools which grant a primary role to the interactions between urban actors and groups and to the conflicts and coalitions in which they are involved. Among these theoretical tools, the approach in terms of urban regimes seems particularly promising.

A tanulmány arra kívánja felhívni a figyelmet, hogy a városok felértékelődő szerepe, amely ma már az uniós kohéziós politikában is tetten érhető, még sok tekintetben nem érvényesül a hazai területfejlesztési intézményrendszerben és a területi közigazgatás modelljében sem. Miközben a fejlesztési források kedvezményezettjeivé egyre inkább hivatalosan is a városok válnak, azok közül is a regionális és metropolisz funkciót betöltő nagyvárosok, helyük az igazgatás rendszerében nem kitüntetett. A másik oldalról viszont a városok térbeli funkciói sem épülnek be szisztematikusan a körzeti szintű szolgáltatások megszervezésének rendszerébe és a tervezésbe sem. Az önkéntes társulások, a kistérségi rendszer és a megyei jogú városi státusz nem nyújt ideális megoldást. A tanulmány utal arra, hogy nagyobb figyelmet kellene fordítani a városi kormányzás új modelljére, filozófiájára, amely az urban regime iskola körül fogalmazódott meg, de hazai adaptálására még csak nagyon részlegesen került sor.

Arts festivals have been on the ascendant since the 1980s. However, while these are proliferating, it remains unclear as to whether they are also flourishing. The present narrow construction of festivals for marketing and economic purposes tends to disregard the festivals’ social and cultural potential, i.e. in terms of functioning as urban laboratories where new and alternative urban and cultural strategies can be tested and developed. In order to address these imbalanced conceptualizations of arts festivals within urban policy frameworks, the article is based on a comparative case study of festivals that try to function as urban laboratories. By examining how these festivals are integrated in or marginalized by the urban regime, and how this influences their operational conditions, the research elucidates the need to create new and more holistic policy frameworks to chart an equitable path for the future development of arts festivals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this article, I develop a framework to account for how groups craft arguments about the costs and benefits of professional sports facilities. My empirical approach centers on two stadium financing referenda in the Seattle area in the 1990s. I analyze 158 op-ed articles, buttressed by archival research and several stakeholder interviews, to examine expectations regarding the capacity and incentives of groups to either frame the issue to highlight different attributes or engage the opposition in dialogue by focusing on the same attributes. The analysis extends research on communication frames to consider how organizational resources and agenda access interact with environmental factors to shape rhetorical strategies. The final section of the article explores the implications of these findings for rhetorical strategy in urban development politics, more generally. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]