ABSTRACT
Social science and public policy debate in Europe have focused attention on the changing governance of cities and urban regions. Any analyst of governance processes is inherently concerned with the 'institutions' through which social action is mobilized and regulated and hence is to some extent an institutionalist, as political scientists recognize. As M. Hajer argues, politics and policy-formation emerge from many institutional sites and processes. The chapter summarizes an approach to the analysis of urban governance transformation processes, and illustrates its use in relation to three examples from different arenas of governance within an urban region, all of which in some way challenge established governance processes. The first is a city centre regeneration partnership. The second is an attempt at a city-wide development strategy. The third is an initiative arising from outside the range of formal government which has slowly been drawn into a more formalized relationship.
