Models Of Urban Governance Research Articles

Empirical Analysis on the Mechanism of Industrial Park Driving Urban Expansion: A Case Study of Xining City

Taking Xining City as an example, this article analyzes the mechanism by which industrial park construction drives the expansion of urban population size and built-up area, based on a review of the process of industrial park development and urban population growth. It also discusses future urban governance models in light of urban development trends. The research finds: (1) In the process of urban development, industrial park construction is often the initial factor in the cumulative and cyclical development of a city; (2) As the level of development improves and the mode of economic growth changes, the government should timely adjust its strategies, shifting from the expansion of industrial park construction towards structural optimization and quality improvement. The most significant difference from previous research is that this paper emphasizes the importance of government planning. This study can not only demonstrate the general process of industrial parks promoting urban expansion, but more importantly, it explains the fundamental reasons for the transition of urban expansion to adjustment from a mechanism perspective, thereby eliminating the drawbacks of simply predicting urban scale evolution through data models.

Evaluating Nighttime Governance Structures: Implications for Urban Policy in Night Mayor and Consultative Body Models

The rise of night mayors and other nighttime governance bodies represents an emerging model of urban governance. Vibrant nightlife scenes have become central to the identity and economy of global cities. However, the complex needs of nightlife stakeholders pose unique governance challenges. In response, some cities have instituted specialized offices of night mayor to oversee nighttime economic policy. This goal of this article is to examine this solution as a unique governance approach and compare the roles of night mayors to other nighttime consultative bodies like councils, commissions, panels, and boards. Taking into account all kinds of utility derived from nighttime activities, externalities, and stakeholders needs, the author differentiates night mayors’ concentrated leadership from the broader representation of advisory panels. It turns out that night mayors provide centralized oversight, while councils offer grassroots expertise. By working together they can create holistic strategies tailored to nighttime economies.

Research on Urban Governance Models and Innovativeness under the Vision of Smart City

In recent years, with the rise and development of smart cities, people have gradually shifted their attention to how to conduct urban governance. Through the use of urban governance model, Internet technology and smart city governance concept, the city is carried out fine governance, search for a more efficient and scientific model of governance, which will replace the old model of government leadership. This article analyses the status quo of city governance in the context of Intelligent city, and puts forward innovative governance modes: multi-department collaborative innovative governance mode, subdivision multi-subject participation innovative governance mode, people-oriented innovative governance mode, and scientific evaluation mode of smart city governance.

Comparative Analysis of Economic Governance Models for Street Vendors Across Urban Scales —— A Case Study of Suzhou, Jiaxing, and Taicang

With the rapid advancement of urbanization, the street vendor economy, as an important component of the informal sector in cities, plays an indispensable role in promoting employment, activating markets, and meeting diverse consumer needs. However, the unregulated expansion of the street vendor economy has posed urban management challenges, including issues related to environmental hygiene, traffic order, and urban safety. This study explores and compares the patterns and differences in the economic governance of street vendors across cities of varying scales, offering a theoretical basis and practical guidance for urban management. By integrating urban governance theory with desktop research, we define the concept and attributes of the street vendor economy. Following this, we select representative cities of various scales as research objects. Subsequently, we conduct a comparative analysis of the impacts and challenges posed by different urban governance models. Furthermore, we discuss the economic, social, cultural, and policy factors that lead to these differences. Lastly, this study provides strategic suggestions for the economic governance of street vendors in cities of different scales, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a balance between social inclusiveness and economic development.

The smart city and urban governance: the urban transformation of Barcelona, 2011–2023

ABSTRACT This study explores the changes and stability of urban governance through the lens of smart city policy in Barcelona. It argues that the concept of smart cities is flexible and can be applied to both the neoliberal and participatory models of urban governance. Smart city policies undergo gradual rather than radical changes, with public–private relationships remaining stable despite fluctuations in the prominence of different actors. Comparing the smart city policy approaches of two ideologically opposite local governments, this study reveals similarities in the use of the scale, which is limited to local and global dimensions, and dismissal of metropolitan scale.

A New Model for a New Nature

Smart city applications, evolving from technological to socially inclusive, aim to prioritize sustainability and livability. Despite growing interest, a lack of standardized definitions and planning methodologies hinders smart city development. Urban living labs (ULLs), on the other hand, play a pivotal role in implementing smart city solutions, acting as testing grounds for technologies and policies. Their integration into local government practices is essential. However, ULLs in Turkiye, such as the Basaksehir Living Lab and Istanbul Planning Agency, focus on local problem-solving and sustainable development. While ULLs hold promise, it is unclear if they can entirely replace existing urban governance models. Research is needed to assess their effectiveness. Effective collaboration between national and local governments is essential for comprehensive urban planning. Addressing these challenges, the article emphasizes the interaction between ULL and local government by analyzing Istanbul's landscape transformation process and management system as a model for other countries.

The Relationship Between Urban Community Collaborative Governance and Building Resilience Cities in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, China

Purpose: This study explores the impact of urban community collaborative governance on building resilience cities. Theoretical framework: The Synergistic Governance Theory (SGT) was applied in this study. Design/Methodology/Approach: The population of this study is the community of Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, China. The unit of analysis is individuals living in the community of Zhengzhou City. Through random sampling method, 384 community residents were selected to participate in the research. This study used a questionnaire survey method to obtain primary data for analysis. Findings: The results of the study show that (1) there is a significant positive correlation between government regulation, corporate capabilities, social organization involvement and building resilience cities. (2) Strengthening government regulation, corporate capabilities, and social organization involvement can effectively strengthen urban community collaborative governance, which is beneficial to building resilience cities. Thus, it is favorable to building Resilience Cities. Research, Practical & Social implications: This research will be useful in creating a new model of urban community governance that will enhance the ability of cities to cope with disasters and achieve the goal of building resilient cities. A multifaceted and collaborative urban community governance model will be developed by strengthening the collaboration of the three groups - government, corporations, and social organizations，in order to ensure that the collaborative urban community governance model promotes the city's ability to cope with disasters, thereby enhancing the city's resilience. Enhancing urban resilience can fundamentally improve residents' ability to cope with the potential risks that persist in cities, thereby resolving social conflicts and satisfying people's pursuit of a better life. Originality/Value: This study presents an innovative form of urban community management model that provides valuable insights on the impact of collaborative urban community governance models on resilient city buildings.

Experimentation-based Policymaking for Urban Regeneration in Shenzhen, China

AbstractA growing appreciation of the potential benefits of experimentation to tame the complexities of urban transformation has led to an increase in related research activity. Building on a “practice-to-policy” experimentation-based framework, this paper investigates the adaptive policymaking process for urban regeneration in Shenzhen since the 2000s. It finds that “explorative experimentation” is used to identify a general direction in the absence of a clear route for the policy process, while “generative experimentation” is sequentially dedicated to specific issues for the improvement of the entire policy package within a particular reform. We argue that understanding the successive roles or hybrid functions of these two types of experiment adds new insights to the development rationales for Shenzhen's urban regeneration and provides inspiration for an experimental model of urban governance. Governments and policymakers can benefit from the experimentation-based approach, as presented in the Shenzhen case, to pursue policy innovation embedded in local contexts.

Urban governance: A review of intellectual structure and topic evolution

As the world becomes increasingly urbanized, urban governance has attracted more academic attention. There have been some review articles on the state of urban governance research, as they are in the form of selected themes by the authors, it is difficult to gain a systematic understanding of the field.This review article conducts bibliometrics and domain knowledge map analysis of 1280 papers on urban governance. It produces a comprehensive picture of the intellectual structure, the evolution and trends of the research topics on urban governance. The findings show scholars from three disciplines covering three subfields of urban governance: urbanity, publicity and technology. USA, UK and mainland China are the main contributors to urban governance research. University College London, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, University of Amsterdam, and the University of Sheffield are key players in international collaboration. However, the international research collaboration network is rather weak. There are nine highly researched topics: citizenship, urban monitoring and evaluation, global south development and challenges, urban mobility and sustainable development, institutional concept and challenge, technological change and governance transformation, metropolitan governance and innovation, urban politics and intergovernmental relations, and urban governance in China. Based on highlighted words in the research themes, urban governance research gradually moves from the connotation and theoretical basis to the subject and practice model of urban governance, and then to the influencing factors and evaluation of urban governance as well as the innovation and challenges of urban governance.

Construction of Community Grid Unit Assessment System from the Perspective of Refined Governance

On the basis of reviewing the typical models of urban community grid governance, the framework of the community grid unit assessment system was put forward according to the main tasks of current grid management. The five grid governance tasks such as convenient service, risk reporting, contradiction persuasion, grid patrol, and problem investigation were taken as the first-level indicators, a theoretical model of a three-level grid unit assessment was established, and the community grid unit assessment system was constructed. Combined with big data platforms such as public security, civil administration, and the politics and law committee, this paper aims to solve the problems of performance assessment of community grid members, the distribution of grid members, the needs of the people, and the service of enterprises and volunteers, and promote the common development of communities, grid members, enterprises, and volunteers, and realize the refinement of grid governance.

Construction and Path of Urban Public Safety Governance and Crisis Management Optimization Model Integrating Artificial Intelligence Technology

As urbanization and population growth continue to accelerate in China, maintaining public safety and crisis management has become increasingly complex. To address this issue, this research article proposes a new model for optimizing urban public safety governance and crisis management by integrating artificial intelligence (AI) technology with a focus on sustainability. This study aims to explore the construction and path of an urban public safety governance and crisis management optimization model integrating artificial intelligence (AI) technology in China. We developed a linear regression model to examine the relationship between public safety technologies and outcomes, with public safety outcomes (PSO) as the dependent variable and public safety governance structure (PSGS), AI-driven data collection and analysis (AIDC&A), crisis prediction and early warning system (CPEWS), AI-assisted decision-making (AIADM), and public safety response mechanisms (PSRM) as independent variables. The model summary revealed that the independent variables accounted for a moderate proportion of the variance in public safety outcomes, with an R² value of 0.5 and an adjusted R² value of 0.45. The results supported the hypothesis that the integration of different public safety technologies has a positive impact on public safety outcomes. The effective governance structure, AI-driven data collection and analysis, crisis prediction and early warning system, AI-assisted decision-making, and efficient public safety response mechanisms were all found to be crucial for enhancing public safety outcomes. The proposed model was validated through a case study in a Chinese city, with feedback from stakeholders confirming its effectiveness. Overall, the findings suggest that the urban public safety governance and crisis management optimization model integrating AI technology can significantly improve public safety management in urban areas.

IoT-based entrepreneurial city: a new model of urban governance to achieve economic sustainability

PurposeOne of the challenges of urban management is to provide an entrepreneurial environment for the general population, which can be realized by the development of the entrepreneurial city, which will ultimately cause economic sustainability. In order to create an entrepreneur city, it is necessary to create and develop some infrastructures, one of the most important of which is Internet of things (IoT)-based technological infrastructures, so that municipalities have a leading role. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this phenomenon.Design/methodology/approachThe research method is a case study type, and a triangulation mixed-method research design has been used for it. For data collection in the quantitative section, questionnaire tools and in the qualitative section, interview tools as well as coding related upstream documents in the municipality were used.FindingsThe findings showed that with the development of the IoT infrastructure, the conditions will be provided for creating an entrepreneurial city and its formation process will be accelerated, so that it will eventually leading to economic sustainability. It was also found that the conditions for the development of urban entrepreneurship based on IoT in the metropolis in question are not favorable. Finally, suggestions were made to improve this situation.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the entrepreneurship literature and economic sustainability by explaining a new concept of an entrepreneurial city and defines the role of IoT infrastructure in its development. Existing literature on the systematic use of IoT in applied fields is still scarce, and this study provides useful insights into it.

Municipal Councillors and the Everyday State: New Representations of Political Accountability in Ahmedabad, India

ABSTRACTScholarly literature on municipal councillors in urban India has variously labelled them as ‘lords’, ‘captains’ and ‘shrewd operators’ who have the power to mobilize resources and act as political intermediaries between the state and ordinary citizens. Conversely, voters are seen as collectively trading their votes to secure access to the state's resources. In this article, empirical fieldwork in the city of Ahmedabad, India, suggests that while traditional modes of patron–client relationships continue to exist at the municipal urban governance level, there has been a shift in the roles as perceived by municipal councillors themselves. The ‘state at the roadside’ model of urban governance is being expanded to include new modes and sites of mediation with citizens. Drawing from the literature on political representative claims and social representation theory, this article argues that the changes in the practices of municipal councillors are driven partly by political aspirations that are distinct from their identity as a party karyakarta (worker) and partly as a response to a better‐informed citizenry, referred to as jagrukt janta (public awareness). These shifts create the conditions for new modes of civic engagement and political accountability within existing patronage‐based networks.

Are Cities Saving Energy by Getting Smarter? Evidence from Smart City Pilots in China

Taking smart city pilots (SCP) in China as a quasi-experiment, this paper uses the staggered difference-in-differences (staggered DID) to examine the impact of the SCP policy on energy consumption by using panel data of 224 prefecture-level cities from 2006 to 2019. The results showed that the SCP policy reduces energy consumption and energy intensity by 3.3% and 5.3%, respectively. Heterogeneity analysis found that the energy-saving effect of the SCP policy is stronger in western cities, resource-based cities, and in cities that were the pioneering pilots. Mechanism analysis showed that smart industry transformation is the main transmission mechanism. Our findings have important practical implications for reforming urban governance models and achieving a low-carbon transition.

A strategy for sustainable urban water management using water network partitioning with optimal booster pump configuration: A case study

The functionality of water distribution networks (WDNs) plays an important role in preserving human welfare and the sustainable development of cities and society. Like administrative units in urban governance models, a large-scale WDN is partitioned into district metered areas (DMAs) to improve operation and management efficiency. Conventional approaches for water network partitioning (WNP) into DMAs mainly focus on the determination of DMA sizes and configurations (i.e., the clustering phase). They subsequently form a set of boundary pipes to optimally locate flowmeters and gate valves (i.e., the sectorization phase) aimed at minimizing costs and water leakage and improving network reliability. Alternatively, this paper presents a new approach that considers the phasing of the optimal booster pump installation combined with the design of a DMA configuration aimed at optimizing the operation cost and hydraulic performance. The proposed method combines the overall sectorization process to simultaneously optimize the locations of the flowmeters, gate valves, and booster pumps, as well as the pump sizes. The proposed method was applied to a real-world WDN and the results showed two advantages: first, the boundary pipes are good candidate locations for booster pump installation, which makes it possible to improve hydraulic performance; and second, operation costs are reduced when compared to those of the source-connecting central pump configuration. This study provides a methodology to select the most suitable pumping configurations for DMA design/operation in WDNs.

Do Honored Cities Achieve a Sustainable Development? A Quasi-Natural Experimental Study Based on “National Civilized City” Campaign in China

As a new model of urban governance with Chinese characteristics, the national honored cities from city evaluation competitions, represented by the “National Civilized City” campaign, has always been popular among Chinese cities. Can the honored cities of the campaigns achieve sustainable development, and how? Based on the five concepts of sustainable development, which are innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing, this study sets up a comprehensive index to measure the sustainability of the growth of a city. Then, the data of 242 Chinese cities from 2011 to 2019 and the difference-in-differences (DID) approach are used to evaluate the impacts of the Civilized City honored in the campaigns on the sustainability of growth. The results show that: (1) the “Civilized City” honor promotes sustainable development in Chinese cities; (2) the mechanism analysis shows that the “Civilized City” honor contributes to the sustainability of growth by effectively promoting the level of industrial agglomeration in cities; (3) further heterogeneity analysis shows that the effect of the “Civilized City” honor on the sustainability of growth varies by city size, the administrative level and the location of the city. By providing the evidence of economic effects of the “Civilized City” honor, this research rationalizes the city campaigns run by the Chinese government and provides important enlightenment for the continuous improvement of the selection mechanism of the national honored cities to promote sustainable development.

Governing diversity: a comparative analysis of pragmatic diversity regimes in city centres

ABSTRACT This article examines how cultural diversity is incorporated into processes of urban renewal, creating images of the city, and considering local governance actors and strategies. It adopts the concept of diversity regimes to compare the two major cities in Portugal. The two cases studied here demonstrate the multiplicity of strategies employed to accommodate immigration and cultural diversity in local political action, but where city policy is in both cases aimed at the integration of migrants. The comparison of differentiated agency levels of local policy reveals distinct positions and models of intervention. These result from differences in the number of migrants, institutional settings and how the discourse of diversity does or does not incorporate narratives of territorial development and images of the city. We argue that what is relevant is the interplay between how governance networks are structured and participated in by migrants and how diversity discourse is incorporated (or not) into territorial development narratives. Both are part of new models of urban governance where the language of diversity and the symbolic arrangements to which it gives rise do not constitute a migration policy but rather a set of representational techniques for the creation of urban imaginaries.

The Effect of Cross-Boundary Supply on the Accessibility of Public Services in Urban Governance: An Example of Shanghai

Due to regional variations in urban governance and the division of functions across different government departments, administrative divisions have caused serious fragmentations in local governance and raised serious obstacles to the standardization and equitable delivery of public services within communities. Existing studies have put forward solutions to the problem of governance fragmentation that prioritize optimizing organizational structures. However, these studies neglect to take into account the impact of administrative divisions on public service supply. Current developments in information technology (IT) have brought new opportunities to urban governance. In this study, we take the Community Public Service Centers (CPSCs) of Shanghai as an example to illustrate the impact of administrative divisions on the equitable delivery of public services. We then explore the use of IT-driven implementation of cross-boundary public services to establish an innovative urban governance model that improves the accessibility of public services. The study found that the cross-boundary supply with the support of IT will effectively improve the equitable delivery of public services. This research will provide references for improving the accessibility of public services, the efficiency of resource allocation, and the promotion of the equitable delivery of public services among communities—all of which contribute to the optimization of urban governance.

Ownership diversity and fragmentation: A barrier to urban centre resilience

Fragmentation of ownership has long been a recognised constraint to UK city centre development, a complexity that is growing in significance as centres try to manage the decline in physical retailing and transform obsolete retail units. Yet, our understanding of the structure of ownership and how that might be facilitating or inhibiting urban change remains weak. In this paper, the objective is to address this gap by examining the structure and diversity of land ownership in five retailing centres - Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hull, Liverpool, and Nottingham – between 2000–2017 using original databases created by linking administrative and commercial property data sets. Overall, the analysis finds property ownership to be spatially complex with ownership richness and diversity generally rising over the study period. The study also reveals that ownership structure has been shifting away from financial institutions towards overseas investors, private individuals and unlisted property companies, implying greater fragmentation of ownership. While the greater diversity in ownership should stimulate competition and innovation in property market practices, the shift in balance from equity-rich larger investors towards smaller and sometimes unknown investors makes urban centre management harder to manage. This suggests policymakers need to rethink the urban governance model to find a better way to galvanise the actions of this increasing disparate group of stakeholders if their visions of more resilient, mixed use city centres are to be realised.

Urban Disaster Risk Prevention and Mitigation Strategies from the Perspective of Climate Resilience

Enhancing urban climate resilience and innovating urban risk governance model are of great significance to promote the security development of cities. This paper discusses urban disaster risk prevention and mitigation strategies from the perspective of climate resilience. The urban climate resilience index system is constructed through text mining. The entropy weight TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution) method and obstacle degree model are used to measure the climate resilience index and identify the main obstacle factors that affect the improvement of urban climate resilience. This provides a quantitative representation method for the analysis of urban climate resilience and clarifies the contribution of climate resilience to urban disaster risk prevention and mitigation, as well as the key and difficult points of urban disaster risk prevention and mitigation. Therefore, based on the quantitative analysis of climate resilience, this paper puts forward disaster risk prevention and mitigation strategies from five aspects: collaborative governance, urban planning, early warning system, scientific and technological empowerment, and disaster education. It is expected to provide a reference for the urban system to maintain green, low-carbon, and high-quality development under climate change.