Co-creating the Tolerant City: The Role of Inspirational Civic Leadership

Abstract

The key challenge facing those who want to co-create tolerant and inclusive cities is the growth in place-less power. Place-less decision makers are unconcerned about the impacts of their decisions on communities living in particular places. This chapter examines the way place-less power limits the effectiveness of local civic leadership but it also shows that democratically elected local leaders can take on place-less power. A conceptual framework, described as New Civic Leadership, is introduced to explain how the different realms of place-based civic leadership in a locality can work together to co-create tolerant and inclusive cities and, in effect, confront angry populism. Two inspirational examples of progressive place-based leadership are presented to illustrate the argument - Gdańsk, Poland (written by Wirginia Aksztejn) and Bristol, UK. A closing section identifies emerging themes for future scholarship and practice.