FW: Urban Strategic Planning - the importance of place-based leadership
Robin Hambleton
Dear Sara and colleagues,
The three questions you raise relating to urban strategic planning are good ones. And I have been very interested to read the various comments that have been coming in. The theme I would like to highlight is civic leadership...
In my view city leaders (and urban scholars) across the world need to give more attention to the development of ideas relating to the 'leadership of place'. Urban strategic planning can play a key role in strengthening 'place-based leadership', but it is not always seen in this way.
Place-based leadership... what am I talking about?
Many local authority leaders (politicians and appointed planners/managers) focus their attention on the leadership of the organisation. In many cases these are massive organisations and it is not surprising that leadership of these governing organisations - both the political and the managerial leadership - comes to dominate thinking and activities. The suggestion of 'place-based' leadership is that, from this organisational base, local authority leaders should move to devote more attention to shaping the emotions and behaviour of OTHER actors and agencies in the city and the city region.
The hierarchical power of the elected local authority remains important - election gives legitimacy to those charged with making difficult strategic decisions on priorities and investments. But, alongside hierarchical power, we can see - in many countries - the emergence and growth of the politics of influence in urban strategic planning. This shift of emphasis has major implications for the leadership styles of both politicians and appointed officers and managers. Progress on this agenda is being made in different continents - different styles and models are being tried out. And some of the contributions to this dialogue have already highlighted this. But there is more to do.
Your three questions:
Q1 Main needs for local authorities to lead a strategic planning process... Answer: advance place-based leadership
Taking the above into account it can be claimed that urban strategic planning needs to promote new ways of thinking about 'place' - what it means to people, how to promote the value of place, and how to derive power and strength from place. In work we have been doing with civic leaders in various countries we have developed the notion of three realms of civic leadership. As you all know very well places (and countries!) vary a great deal. So we need to be careful about generalising too freely. However, this idea of three inter-secting realms of leadership seems to work in quite a lot of different settings.
The three realms are: political (elected figures exercising leadership on the basis of political legitimacy); managerial/professional (appointed figures in the state and quasi-state organisations exercising leadership by virtue of their professional and/or managerial skills); and community (meaning the many non-state actors in a city ranging from businesses to universities, from religious institutions to local activists). Implications: we need to create new, safe settings within which actors from these different realms of civic leadership can interact, learn from each other... develop the politics of influence... and develop a shared commitment to the urban strategic plan
There is not space to say too much more on this theme but the main argument is that 'place-based' leadership needs to be strong in opposing and out-maneouvring 'place-less' leadership. Not every actor wants to improve your place. Some just want to exploit it. Many of the most important decision makers in our societies are 'place-less' leaders in the sense that they do not care at all about the implications of their decisions for particular places or communities. For example, many multi-national companies shift their investments around the world without any concern for the impact their decisions have on a given 'place'. The directors of these multi-national companies are not bad people, rather they have different interests from place-based leaders. They serve their share holders. Some big companies realise that 'place' can actually be a major asset and that they can boost profits if they work with place-based leaders, but many do not. Place-based leadership involve building strategic plans that serve the needs of the place, not the needs of interests who do not care about the place.
Q2 How do you consider the concept of urbanism is changing? Answer: innovation is now central to successful cities
Urban historians will argue that this has always been the case - the vibrant, successful cities have always been the ones that spotted trends early, took risks and tried out new ideas. There is a loose parallel here with successful companies. However, for urban leaders and managers the key insight is 'doing what we have been doing but better' is an inadequate response to the global challenges now facing all localities. It is crucial for leaders - strategic plans can play a key role in this - to foster innovation not just in the sense of encouraging creative industries but also innovation in the way the city is governed.
Q3 What is the role of local government regarding participation in planning processes? Answer: orchestrator
If the 'place-based' agenda is accepted as helpful it follows that many different stakeholders in a 'place' need to be brought into the process of decision making. This is easier said than done. For example, in some multicultural cities almost half the population have arrived from another country. The local authority can orchestrate a process of learning about the different needs of different communities. Just as important the local authority can make the strategic decisions that will shape the future of the city.
This is already too long but those interested in the urban leadership agenda might be interested in a report I was invited to prepare for the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance ... on civic leadership. The governance of the city has been altered dramatically over the last year or so and and the first directly elected mayor for the city as a whole was elected earlier this month. I attach a pdf of the report on civic leadership. There is more on the work of the Royal Commission at this website:
I hope these thoughts are helpful. There is more on the website of my company:
But the main ideas are in this email
All good wishes
robin
Robin Hambleton
Professor of City Leadership
Cities Research Centre
Faculty of Environment and Technology
University of the West of England, Bristol