Iain Docherty

Civic Culture, Community and Citizen Participation in Contrasting Neighbourhoods

This paper uses survey and qualitative evidence from four neighbourhoods in two cities to explore the hypothesis that citizen participation in urban governance is fostered by political structures and public policy as well as by a civic culture supportive of citizen involvement. The analysis shows that although the prospects for citizen participation are likely to be least propitious in poor neighbourhoods demonstrating lower educational attainment levels, for example, such factors may be mitigated by political mobilisation and the approaches to urban governance, including citizen participation, adopted by local institutions. Citizen participation may be fostered as much by the creation of opportunity structures that build confidence in the efficacy of participation as by the intrinsic levels of civic culture. The key policy lesson is that the effort devoted to creating greater institutional thickness and participatory structures is not wasted.

Divergence or convergence? Devolution and transport policy in the United Kingdom

We examine the impact of devolution in the United Kingdom on transport policies in the first two terms of devolved government, from 1999/2000 to 2007/08. In particular, we discuss the nature and extent of policy convergence and divergence between the devolved territories (Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and London) and England (wherein responsibility for policy formulation remains with the UK government at Westminster), and between the devolved territories themselves. Our analysis builds on existing work on devolution and public policy not only through its focus on transport policy, but also by distinguishing between ‘horizontal’ and ‘vertical’ dimensions of policy divergence and convergence, referring to relations between territories and to links to previous policies adopted within the same territory, respectively. Findings point to a convergence of overarching transport strategies and a complex picture of both convergence and divergence in terms of specific policy measures. The latter provides evidence of a devolution effect on transport policy.

Responsible Participation and Housing: Restoring Democratic Theory to the Scene

Tensions between individual liberty and collective social justice characterise many advanced liberal societies. These tensions are reflected in the challenges posed for representative democracy both by participatory democratic practices and by the current emphasis on (so-called) responsible participation. Based on the example of ‘community’ housing associations in Scotland, this paper explores these tensions. It is argued that the critique of responsibility may have been over-stated, that, in particular, ‘community’ housing associations offer the basis for relatively more inclusive and effective processes of decision making than council housing, which relies on the traditional processes and institutions of representative local government for its legitimacy.

The transformation of transport policy in Great Britain? ‘New Realism’ and New Labour’s decade of displacement activity

In 1999 Goodwin announced ‘the transformation of transport policy in Great Britain’. His central point was that consensus was emerging among policy makers and academics, based on earlier work, including “Transport: the new realism”, which rejected previous orthodoxy that the supply of road space could and should be continually expanded to match demand. Instead, a combination of investment in public transport, walking and cycling opportunities, and—crucially—demand management, should form the basis of transport policy to address rising vehicle use and associated increases in congestion and pollution/carbon emissions. This thinking formed the basis of the 1997 Labour governments ‘sustainable transport’ policy, but after thirteen years in power ministers had neither transformed policy nor tackled longstanding transport trends. Our main aim in this paper is to revisit the concept of New Realism and reexamine its potential utility as an agent of change in British transport policy. Notwithstanding the outcome of Labours approach to transport policy, we find that the central tenets of the New Realism remain robust and that the main barriers to change are related to broader political and governance issues which suppress radical policy innovation.

Exploring the Potential Benefits of City Collaboration

Docherty I., Gulliver S. and Drake P. (2004) Exploring the potential benefits of city collaboration, Reg. Studies 38, 445– 456. As they emerge from extended periods of economic restructuring, many large cities are searching for innovative, more effective ways to achieve and maintain competitive advantage in the international economy. Strategic collaboration, although in the early stages of development, might offer a means for nearby cities to enhance their competitiveness and improve their position in regional and global hierarchies. This paper sets out a range of potential answers to the question ‘why collaborate?’ by exploring the likely benefits to be gained from such collaboration, and suggests possible ways in which the collaborative process between cities could be established and sustained.

Transport Strategy in Scotland Since Devolution

This article critically reviews how the Scottish Executives approach to transport has developed since devolution. Although there is much to commend, a number of concerns can be identified, including the possibility that a number of strategic infrastructure schemes appear to have been approved on political rather than on technical grounds. It is difficult to know whether the current set of transport infrastructure investment plans represents good value for public money.

Looking ‘Beyond the Factory Gates’: Towards more Pluralist and Radical Approaches to Intraorganizational Trust Research

The aim of this paper is to suggest new avenues for trust research by critiquing the extant literature on this topic. We analyse the most influential research on intraorganizational trust from the perspective of a classic industrial sociology framework from the 1970s – Alan Fox’s work on frames of reference and trust dynamics. Our analysis of intraorganizational trust studies leads us to three conclusions. First, the large majority of intraorganizational trust research has strong unitarist underpinnings, which support a managerial agenda that is potentially detrimental to employees’ (and indeed managers’) long-term interests. Second, most of this research fails to explain how trust in organizations is embedded in societal and field-level institutions, hence it would benefit from looking ‘beyond the factory gates’ for a more complete understanding of trust dynamics in organizations. In this connection, we argue that Fox’s pluralist and radical perspectives, which are under-represented in intraorganizational trust research, could provide new lines of inquiry by locating internal trust relations in a wider institutional context. Third, Fox’s explanation of how low and high trust dynamics in organizations are embedded in wider society may help address the concerns about under-socialized, endogenous explanations and open the way for structure-agency analyses of building, maintaining and repairing intraorganizational trust.

Devolution as Process: Institutional Structures, State Personnel and Transport Policy in the United Kingdom

Abstract. Devolution has been described as a key ‘global trend’ over recent decades as governments have decentralised power and responsibilities to subordinate regional institutions. UK devolution is characterised by its asymmetrical nature with different territories granted different institutional arrangements and powers. This paper seeks to examine the role of state personnel in mobilising the new institutional machinery and managing the process of devolution, focusing on transport policy. The research presented shows a clear contrast between London and Northern Ireland, on the one hand, and Scotland and Wales, on the other, in terms of the effectiveness of political leaders in creating clear policy priorities and momentum in transport.

Connecting for competitiveness: future transport in UK city regions

Britains major cities have fallen behind the best practice in transport of European and north American cities, and need to address this to compete in global markets. A number of potential mechanisms are available to UK cities, but only if central government is willing to transfer (limited) financial powers to the city regions.

Scenario planning for the Edinburgh city region

We examine the application of scenario-planning techniques to the detailed and daunting challenge of city repositioning when policy makers are faced with a heavy history and a complex future context. We review a process of scenario planning undertaken in the Edinburgh city region, exploring the scenario process and its contribution to strategies and policies for city repositioning. Strongly rooted in the recent literature on urban and regional economic development, the text outlines how key individuals and organisations involved in the process participated in far-reaching analyses of the possible future worlds in which the Edinburgh city region might find itself.