Panagiotis Getimis

Legitimacy and urban governance: A cross-national comparative study

1. Introduction and main findings 2. Sustainability and policy challenge: the cases of economic competitiveness and social inclusion 3. Measuring institutional performance in achieving urban sustainability 4. New urban leaders and community involvement: The Italian case studies 5. Between urban leadership and community involvement: Impacts of EU policies and strong mayors in Greek local government 6. Traces of Governance: Policy networking in Norwegian local government 7. The interplay of central and local: Social inclusion policy from above in Swedish cities 8. Uneven partnerships: Polish city leaders in search of local governance 9. Tackling community leadership in the confined spaces of local governance in England 10. Strong mayors and policy innovations - lessons from two German cities 11. Between vision and consensus: urban leadership and community involvement in the Dutch cases 12. New Zealand: articulating a long-term vision for community well-being 13. Community involvement and legitimation in urban governance: an empirical analysis 14. Local leadership in multi-level governance in Europe 15. Restrictions, opportunities and incentives for leadership and involvement 16. City political culture - what is expected from policy actors? 17. Institutional conditions for complementarities between urban leadership and community involvement 18. The role of political leadership in the promotion of legitimation in urban policy: opportunities and constraints.

Legitimacy and urban governance

1. Introduction and main findings 2. Sustainability and policy challenge: the cases of economic competitiveness and social inclusion 3. Measuring institutional performance in achieving urban sustainability 4. New urban leaders and community involvement: The Italian case studies 5. Between urban leadership and community involvement: Impacts of EU policies and strong mayors in Greek local government 6. Traces of Governance: Policy networking in Norwegian local government 7. The interplay of central and local: Social inclusion policy from above in Swedish cities 8. Uneven partnerships: Polish city leaders in search of local governance 9. Tackling community leadership in the confined spaces of local governance in England 10. Strong mayors and policy innovations - lessons from two German cities 11. Between vision and consensus: urban leadership and community involvement in the Dutch cases 12. New Zealand: articulating a long-term vision for community well-being 13. Community involvement and legitimation in urban governance: an empirical analysis 14. Local leadership in multi-level governance in Europe 15. Restrictions, opportunities and incentives for leadership and involvement 16. City political culture - what is expected from policy actors? 17. Institutional conditions for complementarities between urban leadership and community involvement 18. The role of political leadership in the promotion of legitimation in urban policy: opportunities and constraints.

Aspects of Leadership Styles: An Interaction of Context and Personalities

According to an interactionist approach (Elgie 1995), political leadership derives from a process in which political leaders matter, inasmuch as they not only shape the course of the decision making process, but are, simultaneously, themselves shaped and constrained by a set of factors (Elgie 1995: 13). Therein, the interdependence between the structures and rules that influence leadership and the personality of leaders is highlighted. As Judd (2000: 959) argues, ‘urban leaders have the ability to make choices, but within the parameters imposed both by local political arrangements and by the external forces’. (1995: 23) defines political leadership as ‘the product of the interaction between leaders and the leadership environment with which they are faced’. Based on such an approach, this chapter aims to focus on certain aspects of urban leadership in European cities, referring both to the institutional settings within which urban leaders (mayors) operate and to the behaviour, personal traits and perceptions of the leaders. Of particular relevance in this analysis is the debate on the personalisation of politics (see Clay W. 2000, 172) as an effect of party crises and the growing influence of media in the building of influence.

Introduction and main findings

1. Introduction and main findings 2. Sustainability and policy challenge: the cases of economic competitiveness and social inclusion 3. Measuring institutional performance in achieving urban sustainability 4. New urban leaders and community involvement: The Italian case studies 5. Between urban leadership and community involvement: Impacts of EU policies and strong mayors in Greek local government 6. Traces of Governance: Policy networking in Norwegian local government 7. The interplay of central and local: Social inclusion policy from above in Swedish cities 8. Uneven partnerships: Polish city leaders in search of local governance 9. Tackling community leadership in the confined spaces of local governance in England 10. Strong mayors and policy innovations - lessons from two German cities 11. Between vision and consensus: urban leadership and community involvement in the Dutch cases 12. New Zealand: articulating a long-term vision for community well-being 13. Community involvement and legitimation in urban governance: an empirical analysis 14. Local leadership in multi-level governance in Europe 15. Restrictions, opportunities and incentives for leadership and involvement 16. City political culture - what is expected from policy actors? 17. Institutional conditions for complementarities between urban leadership and community involvement 18. The role of political leadership in the promotion of legitimation in urban policy: opportunities and constraints.

Municipal councillors as interest mediators: Roles, perceptions and enactment

Municipal councillors are the largest group of directly elected politicians. They maintain bonds with a wide spectrum of actors within local society, and many are also active party members. In becoming members of a collective organ, namely the Municipal Council, councillors participate in ongoing processes of deliberation, bargaining and decision-making that occur inside and outside the council chamber. A proportion of councillors (‘executive’ councillors) hold executive posts and functions – both formal and informal – and are part of the municipal ‘government’ that forms a broad municipal leadership (John 2001; Getimis and Gregoriadou 2004: Getimis and Hlepas 2006).

Leadership Styles of European Mayors: How Much Have They Changed Over the Past 12 Years?

The main purpose of this chapter is to trace persistence and change in leadership styles. Empirical findings show that mayoral leadership has changed considerably over the previous 12 years. Nowadays, the European mayors adopt an open and more cooperative exercise of power, instead of the authoritarian track. Strategic leadership predispositions increased substantially, and a visionary leadership style became the most common. Additional contextual and personal factors that were included in the last survey show that the correlation between the financial situation of the municipality and the leadership style was the strongest one. The increase in strategic predisposition and cooperative exercise of power seems reasonable, when taking into account the growing complexity of local governance, the ongoing fiscal stress and growing competition among cities: A demanding environment that puts the mayors under extreme pressure.

Mayors and Spatial Planning in Their Cities

In the last decades, institutional reforms and new informal practices have deeply transformed ‘spatial planning’ systems in Europe; in a context of reduced resources, local actors must simultaneously adapt their agenda and networking strategies for local development and urban transformation. Do European mayors continue to have faith in ‘new’ instruments such as territorial strategic planning, integrated urban projects in public–private partnerships? Or do they presently have more trust in a regulation introduced hierarchically within vertical power relations? Are there particular ‘spatial planning’ practices linked to specific urban agendas? Which are the main difficulties mayors have to face in defining urban plans and projects? The mayors’ declarations on the different ‘spatial planning’ instruments show how local leaders are currently contributing to the re-construction of the planning systems. Under the sign of an increasing adherence to the principles of ‘communicative’ planning emerges a composite trend, in contrast with the hypothesis of a progressive uniformity of cultures and practices around Europe. The three patterns of interpretation of the regulation’s function resulting from the statements of mayors suggest, on the contrary, the appearance of original configurations, new national settings and cultures if not of urban situations, which echo some classical models but, nevertheless, deeply revised.

Municipal priorities in urban planning and local development

The approval of the main documents and policies related to local spatial planning is around Europe a core competence of municipal assemblies. This area of policy ranks among those attracting considerable reform in recent decades, under the impact of European integration and of cultural changes in planning (Faludi 2007; Nadin and Stead 2008). The changing international planning culture increasingly refers to the principles of communicative planning. It calls for improved integration between policies, corresponding frequently with the development of alternative planning processes, entailing the development of strategic plans.

Strategic Planning and Urban Governance: Effectiveness and Legitimacy

Tewdwr-Jones characterises planning as having undergone a “transformation from an end product into a strategic enabling of means-based activity within a much broader framework of governance” driving spatial agendas and resulting in customised policies.

Legitimacy in urban governance

1. Introduction and main findings 2. Sustainability and policy challenge: the cases of economic competitiveness and social inclusion 3. Measuring institutional performance in achieving urban sustainability 4. New urban leaders and community involvement: The Italian case studies 5. Between urban leadership and community involvement: Impacts of EU policies and strong mayors in Greek local government 6. Traces of Governance: Policy networking in Norwegian local government 7. The interplay of central and local: Social inclusion policy from above in Swedish cities 8. Uneven partnerships: Polish city leaders in search of local governance 9. Tackling community leadership in the confined spaces of local governance in England 10. Strong mayors and policy innovations - lessons from two German cities 11. Between vision and consensus: urban leadership and community involvement in the Dutch cases 12. New Zealand: articulating a long-term vision for community well-being 13. Community involvement and legitimation in urban governance: an empirical analysis 14. Local leadership in multi-level governance in Europe 15. Restrictions, opportunities and incentives for leadership and involvement 16. City political culture - what is expected from policy actors? 17. Institutional conditions for complementarities between urban leadership and community involvement 18. The role of political leadership in the promotion of legitimation in urban policy: opportunities and constraints.