The new private urban governance: Vestiges, ventures and visibility

Randy K Lippert, Debra Mackinnon and Stefan Treffers
Additional contact information
Randy K Lippert: University of Windsor, Canada
Debra Mackinnon: Lakehead University, Canada
Stefan Treffers: York University, Canada

Urban Studies, 2024, vol. 61, issue 14, 2673-2685

Abstract: Despite the growth, prevalence and influence of private urban governance, scholarship that explores the intimate workings of these manifold and mutating forms remains limited. While these private ventures carry forward elements from the past, the landscape of urban governance has nonetheless undergone profound transformation. Over the past few decades, the global expansion and influence of private governing ventures have reshaped how cities are managed, organised and experienced. This special issue on the New Private Urban Governance examines the constantly evolving modalities of private governance (i.e. business improvement districts/areas, condominium/strata corporations, gated communities, POPS and others) in a global context. Organised around new, interrelated themes of vestiges, ventures and visibility, this issue comprises case studies, syntheses of longstanding empirical projects and novel theoretical/conceptual interventions into political and spatial practices, knowledges and technologies of these privately governed realms. Focused on the spatialisation of politics, vestiges reflects the idea that while neoliberal forms of private urban governance continue to proliferate, they rely and build upon, rather than fully replace, earlier, more public governance practices, logics and spaces. Ventures emphasises that the private and market-oriented thrust of urban governance is heavily predicated on the protection and extraction of value and the intensifying financialisation of urban landscapes and life. Visibility highlights how governing technologies render private urban governance visible and in doing so highlight the politics of space. These three themes together expose the workings of the new private urban governance while invigorating further explorations of this complex phenomenon.

Keywords: business improvement district; condominiums; gated communities; private; urban governance; 商业改善区; 公寓; å° é—­å¼ ç¤¾åŒº; ç§ äººçš„; åŸŽå¸‚æ²»ç † (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00420980241286305 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:61:y:2024:i:14:p:2673-2685

DOI: 10.1177/00420980241286305

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Urban Studies from Urban Studies Journal Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().