ABSTRACT
Partnership has always been a concept associated with the inner cities and urban regeneration. It has been dismissed as “containing a high level of ambiguity” (Mackintosh 1992:210) and “a meaningless concept” (Lawless 1991:10) because of its application to a wide variety of policy initiatives by both advocates and critics. As Lawless rightly notes, “There is no legal definition of partnership, nor is there anything we can call the “typical” partnership (ibid.). Yet increasingly, the term is seen not only as an essential adjunct of policy but as the most important foundation of the government’s strategy towards urban areas. It may not be overstating the case to say that there is now a broad consensus among the main political parties and practitioners that claims that partnership is now the only basis on which successful urban regeneration can be achieved. The extent of this transformation is indicated in the recent review of urban policy sponsored by the Department of the Environment (DoE), which puts the need to encourage longterm collaborative partnerships at the head of five policy conclusions (Robson et al. 1994:xiv). As we argue in the text, the reasons for the promotion of partnership to the top of the political agenda have much to do with the economic restructuring of local economies and deep-seated changes in the machinery of government at both local and national levels.
