What is governed? Comparing governance modes in large metropolis

Our starting point is to challenge the often-made assumption that large cities are so complex that they have become ungovernable or that globalisation pressures make political and policy choices irrelevant. By going beyond rational or positivist views of governance, it argues that the process of governing a city is never fully complete, nor linear. The paper refers to a systematic review of the academic literature. Urban societies are more or less governed and that may change from one city to the next, from one period to the next. Processes of government and governance are always work in progress, but make crucial differences over time. Case studies show that modes of governance have long term consequences for their inhabitants and governing failures may have severe negative effects (e.g. housing shortages, low levels of educational attainment, crime, low productivity, health). The review shows also a lack of comparitive studies. 

The paper highligths questions that lie at the heart of contemporary research on large metropolises. It articulates the main achivements of the literature, in terms of cumulative knowledge about the delivery of urban policies, development and infrastructure projects. It explores broader questions over how contemporary forms of governance operate including democratic systems of accountability and decision-making functions. Large metropolises are characterized by a myriad of actors, powerful interest groups, diverse inhabitants, networks and assemblages of public sector institutions and global investors, developers, and others involved in the development industry. The systematic analysis of the literature shows the need to describe and document at the same time (1) how processes of governance operate in relation to major urban development projects, the implementation of public policies and (2) the implications of such practices for urban politics, inequalities, sustainable development and growth; so to say articulating an analysis of the governance processes and their outcomes.