Cities, neighbourhoods and multiscalar governance in urban Europe

Abstract

Urban policies, especially those oriented toward neighbourhood development, have not been consistent in time or in their Í€˜urban regimeÍ€™. In Europe, over the last twenty to twenty five years, we have witnessed a pendulum movement in urban policy moving from a neighbourhood-focused, socially-community oriented policy approach in the 1990s to a more city-wide, economy and real-estate driven policy in the 2000s. In the last few years there has been a cry to reintroduce a social innovation and neighbourhood focus into urban policy. On the basis of social innovation initiatives in European cities and the way they were governed by, but also challenged by, public authorities, this article draws lessons for social innovation, urban development and forms of government that are more solid in time and in their relationship with their context. Constancy in funding, articulation and reciprocal learning in governance and a solidary community ethics seem to lay the grounds for this robustness.

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