ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book discusses transformative efforts directed at urban governance capacity in a range of different situations different national cultures, local realities, geographical and administrative scales and policy emphases. It shows how the abolition of a formal layer of government liberated energies for informal alliances, which could become freer and more inventive, though hampered by the continual struggle to maintain persuasive power in a fragmented institutional context. The book illustrates how the formal task of writing resource allocation rules at national level subverted political intentions for more community-responsive and empowering forms of local governance. It provides examples of the challenge experienced by key actors within urban governance contexts to re-position their localities in a changing geography of economic, political and cultural relations. The book distinguishes between what government organisations do and the informal practices of the wider society, between state and civil society.
