ABSTRACT
This chapter uses the city region to examine the importance of collaborative leadership, as multi-agency elites seek strategies for turning external stimuli into internal responses. It illustrates that the capacity to harmonise social, economic, environmental objectives lies at the heart of any transformation process. Furthermore, it shows how leaders need to have an awareness of the various competing pressures as they align multiple priorities for the regions and subregions. Many of the pressures on a city region lie beyond specific spatial boundaries, such as global or national government pressures or those from lower jurisdictions. Most problems facing city regions are multifaceted and cannot be solved by leaders isolated in their own professional and organisational ‘silos’ but instead must be dealt with more holistically by collaborative leadership. Moreover, to do so requires a deeper understanding of the linkages between formal, hierarchical and statutory frameworks and informal interactions and interconnections. There is a complex interplay between agencies, individuals and communities, so collective leadership of ‘place’ is imperative to seek effective transformation.
