Governance, urban competitivenness and crisis in Spain

[EN] This article describes the rise of the term governance from its beginnings in the business world and the neoliberal economic thought through its application in urban renewal actions in the world’s major cities. Over the analysis, we argue that it was the theoretical discourse of urban governanc...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Somoza Medina, Xosé
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:España
Institución:Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
Repositorio:BULERIA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de León
OAI Identifier:oai:buleria.unileon.es:10612/17633
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10612/17633
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Geografía
Marketing
Governance
Strategic
Planning
Competitiveness
Urban renewal
5403 Geografía Humana
5311.05
Descripción
Sumario:[EN] This article describes the rise of the term governance from its beginnings in the business world and the neoliberal economic thought through its application in urban renewal actions in the world’s major cities. Over the analysis, we argue that it was the theoretical discourse of urban governance and competitiveness that for decades enabled the private property sector to direct the urban regeneration processes of greatest added value. Changes in transport infrastructures and the abandonment of old industrial facilities left large central segments of the city available for redevelopment in line with the theories of post-Fordist capitalism. The global economic crisis has paralysed many of these projects, which had entailed the investment of large sums of public money and yielded low social returns. At the same time, criticism has been levelled against governance and strategic planning. Here, I examine the processes of governance and competitiveness as an urban objective and recent examples of urban renewal in Spanish cities.