Abstract
This article investigates the role and ways of action of leaderships in urban contexts characterized by urban revitalization processes (RJ/Brazil). Adopting as its theoretical basis the bibliographical review of the literature on leadership and public area requalification processes, as well as research conducted by Jacobs (2011) on diversity and innovation, the present research may be characterized as qualitative in nature (case study). Results indicate that the Porto Maravilha project has transposed business concepts to public administration. Today, the keynote lies in the attraction of new enterprises and in the construction of urban revitalization projects for the city's makeover. With regard to the leadership, although public leadership has apparently adopted management instruments for decentralizing management and for public participation, these measures were not enough to achieve an effectively shared leadership that would reflect the multiple interests of different actors (as the theory of relational leadership presupposes). Thus, a set of contradictions and dilemmas for the leaders is apparent, among them: how to build an effectively-shared leadership, as every urban transformation project depends on the negotiation and complex interaction between different social actors?
Highlights
The role and relevance of cities in economic, institutional and social organization have been widely recognized in recent decades because of their centrality with regard to population’s everyday life – a space that encompasses basic trades and services, an arena of social interaction, job generation, and many more purposes
Leadership, is a human social construct that emanates from the rich connections between its members, the organizations and their contexts. Such a perspective of relational leadership aligns with the style of leadership necessary in urban spaces going through a process of urban, socioeconomic and political transformation
Considering the traditional typology of research methods, the investigation carried out in the Harbor Area could be described as a qualitative field study, developed as a case study
Summary
The role and relevance of cities in economic, institutional and social organization have been widely recognized in recent decades because of their centrality with regard to population’s everyday life – a space that encompasses basic trades and services, an arena of social interaction, job generation, and many more purposes. Strategic city planning – commonly associated with the notion of entrepreneurial city (Borja & Castells, 1997; Hall, 1995; Harvey, 1989; Kavaratzis, 2007; Vainer, 2000) – eventually weakens urban planning as a sole enterprise of the State, reinforcing perspectives of market rationality and style of leadership clinging more to business enterprises (Luchiari, 2005; Martinez, 2012) In this sense, two implications are important in terms of leadership: one refers to the appropriation by public leaders of discourses and management practices typical of the corporate world – that can overcome the shortcomings from over-centralization and formality; and the other concerning a need to decentralize the power and decisions relating to urban planning with other players, whether private companies, civil society and so on. In addition to this introduction, the article addresses the theoretical review of the topic under analysis, the methodology used in the empirical study, and the empirical data analysis and conclusions of the study
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