ABSTRACT
In the 1980s and 1990s, urban scholars documented how ‘government’ was being replaced by ‘governance’ (Cochrane 1989, 1991; Harvey 1989a; Pickvance and Preteceille 1991). This process was principally concerned with the ‘growth in nonelected and quango (quasi autonomous non-governmental agencies) local institutions, the increased participation of business actors in local decision making (Peck 1995; Peck and Tickell 1995; Strange 1997), and the introduction of new types of competition-based urban politics …’ (Ward 2000: 169-170). The governing of cities therefore underwent a transformation that brought in new actors into city hall, created new institutions and gave preference to the interests of business. David Harvey (1989a: 4) described this transformation as a shift from managerialism to entrepreneurialism:
Put simply, the ‘managerial’ approach so typical of the 1960s has steadily given way to initiatory and ‘entrepreneurial’ forms of action in the 1970s and 1980s. In recent years in particular, there seems to be a general consensus emerging throughout the advanced capitalist world that positive benefits are to be had by cities taking an entrepreneurial stance to economic development. What is remarkable, is that this consensus seems to hold across national boundaries and even across political parties and ideologies.
