ABSTRACT
This chapter overviews of how ideas about governing cities have shifted over the past few decades, from an initial emphasis on centralised planning to a more holistic conception of multi-stakeholder governance. It examines one of the most pervasive governance reform movements of the late twentieth century: decentralisation. Governance and politics play a crucial role in violence reduction, but limiting violence is not the only reason we need political institutions that be effectively channel and resolve conflicts. In the arena of urban development this took shape in UN-HABITAT's Global Campaign for Urban Governance from 1999. Agencies such as the World Bank and UN-Habitat have tended to shy away from explicit consideration or public discussion of politics and power dynamics, despite their centrality to urban change. A critical difference between governing urban as opposed to rural areas relates to the nature of local government finance.
