On Wednesdays, 27 September 2017, 8.45-10.45, Room F, the second lecture/discussion of the series Understanding key concepts of Complex cities graduations will take place The series is dedicated to Complex cities students. Students that have chosen another research group are invited to participate!
Good governance? Discussing governance from a critical perspective.
by Marcin Dabrowski
In this brief introduction to governance, I will first introduce its normative and practical dimensions. We will discuss how the shift from government to governance transforms the role of the state and changes the ways in which spatial planning works. Adopting a critical perspective on governance from the standpoint of political economy and (spatial) justice, we will explore how it empowers or side lines certain actors and how it transforms the ways in which citizens and other stakeholders engage in planning. We will then explore the idea that governance practice is shaped both by formal institutions (of which planning systems, planning laws or territorial governments are examples) and informal institutions (cultural practices and behaviours and informal power relations), which are context-specific and highly differentiated across national settings. We will propose a critique of the style of planning that does not take informal institutions into consideration and thus is not able to react to the challenges stemming from informal practices and tacit ‘ways of doing things’. We will strive to explain why governance matters in planning practice, involving a large number of stakeholders with (often) conflicting interests.
Photo portrait: Roberto Rocco Portraits, https://roccopaintings.wordpress.com/
Planning Complex Cities TU Delft 