ABSTRACT
This chapter describes and discusses the thesis of urban managerialism, and furthermore does so in the light of the Stevenage case study. Ray Pahl puts the managerialist position in the following manner: The managers of the urban system exert an independent influence on the allocation of scarce resources and facilities which may reinforce, reflect or reduce the inequalities engendered by the differentially rewarded occupational structures. Peter Norman puts the matter in a rather different and more specific manner when he suggests that urban managerialism can be understood as asserting the overriding importance of local government in the allocation of resources and facilities in localities. There have been of course numerous criticisms of managerialism, and general criticisms include for example the assertion of Newton, who in his study of local government politics states that much of the current literature on officer-member relations overestimates the power of officers while underestimating that of members.
