Network Governance and Regional Equity: Shared Agendas or Problematic Partners?
Item
Title
Network Governance and Regional Equity: Shared Agendas or Problematic Partners?
Abstract/Description
Over the past decade, scholars from various fields have argued that the salience of the metropolitan region as a scale of real economic interaction and public intervention has increased significantly. Simultaneously, many scholars have identified a shift in governing processes away from formal bureaucratic forms toward “network governance.” This article joins these fields by (1) evaluating the challenges and opportunities posed by network governance systems in a range of policy venues from the local to the global level, and (2) applying these insights to the problem of economic inequality within metropolitan regions and the multiple efforts to address it. Although we are sympathetic with the goals of regional equity and the participatory promise of network governance, our objective is to paint a realistic picture of the limits to joining these agendas. We conclude that, for equity issues, public deliberation does not take place around one fixed “table”—limiting the usefulness of much of the governance literature. Instead, public deliberation around social equity occurs in an evolutionary manner as members of progressive networks engage networks of business and pro-growth interests in a series of skirmishes throughout a region and over time. More often than not, these exchanges occur at “real scales” such as city-council chambers or state legislatures, and involve traditional forms of political action rather than “network governance” per se.
Author/creator
Date
In publication
Volume
12
Issue
2
Pages
115-138
Resource type
Research/Scholarly Media
Resource status/form
Published Text
Scholarship genre
Other
Open access/full-text available
Yes
Peer reviewed
Yes
ISSN
1473-0952
URL
Citation
Lester, T. W., & Reckhow, S. (2013). Network Governance and Regional Equity: Shared Agendas or Problematic Partners? Planning Theory, 12(2), 115–138. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473095212455189
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