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Hyperlocal: Place Governance in a Fragmented World
An examination of how the (hyper)local is the locus of real change
Many of America’s downtowns, waterfronts, and innovation districts have experienced significant revitalization and reinvestment in recent years, but concentrated poverty and racial segregation remain persistent across thousands of urban, suburban, and rural neighborhoods. The coronavirus pandemic magnified this sustained and growing landscape of inequality.
Uneven patterns of economic growth and investment require a shift in how communities are governed and managed. This shift must take into account the changing socioeconomic realities of regions and the pressing need to bring inclusive economic growth and prosperity to more people and places.
In this context, place-based (“hyperlocal”) governance structures in the United States and around the globe have been both part of the problem and part of the solution. These organizations range from community land trusts to business improvement districts to neighborhood councils. However, very little systematic research has documented the full diversity and evolution of these organizations as part of one interrelated field. Hyperlocal helps fill that gap by describing the challenges and opportunities of “place governance.”
The chapters in Hyperlocal explore both the tensions and benefits associated with governing places in an increasingly fragmented—and inequitable—economic landscape. Together they explore the potential of place governance to give stakeholders a structure through which to share ideas, voice concerns, advocate for investments, and co-design strategies with others both inside and outside their place. They also discuss how place governance can serve the interests of some stakeholders over others, in turn exacerbating wealth-based inequities within and across communities. Finally, they highlight innovative financing, organizing, and ownership models for creating and sustaining more effective and inclusive place governance structures.
The authors hope to provoke new thinking among place governance practitioners, policymakers, private sector leaders, urban planners, scholars, students, and philanthropists about how, why, and for whom place governance matters. The book also provides guidance on how to improve place governance practice to benefit more people and places.
Many of America’s downtowns, waterfronts, and innovation districts have experienced significant revitalization and reinvestment in recent years, but concentrated poverty and racial segregation remain persistent across thousands of urban, suburban, and rural neighborhoods. The coronavirus pandemic magnified this sustained and growing landscape of inequality.
Uneven patterns of economic growth and investment require a shift in how communities are governed and managed. This shift must take into account the changing socioeconomic realities of regions and the pressing need to bring inclusive economic growth and prosperity to more people and places.
In this context, place-based (“hyperlocal”) governance structures in the United States and around the globe have been both part of the problem and part of the solution. These organizations range from community land trusts to business improvement districts to neighborhood councils. However, very little systematic research has documented the full diversity and evolution of these organizations as part of one interrelated field. Hyperlocal helps fill that gap by describing the challenges and opportunities of “place governance.”
The chapters in Hyperlocal explore both the tensions and benefits associated with governing places in an increasingly fragmented—and inequitable—economic landscape. Together they explore the potential of place governance to give stakeholders a structure through which to share ideas, voice concerns, advocate for investments, and co-design strategies with others both inside and outside their place. They also discuss how place governance can serve the interests of some stakeholders over others, in turn exacerbating wealth-based inequities within and across communities. Finally, they highlight innovative financing, organizing, and ownership models for creating and sustaining more effective and inclusive place governance structures.
The authors hope to provoke new thinking among place governance practitioners, policymakers, private sector leaders, urban planners, scholars, students, and philanthropists about how, why, and for whom place governance matters. The book also provides guidance on how to improve place governance practice to benefit more people and places.
275 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 25, 2022
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133 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 21, 2023
A somewhat dry but still readable analysis--both theoretical and comparative--of the evolution and potential of many different types of "place governance" in urban spaces: business improvement districts, home owners associations, public-private partnerships, etc. The most valuable take-away of the book, in my view, is the history of place governance provided by Alexander von Hoffman; there is, it turns out, a large amount of evidence that the contemporary move in the direction of shared place governance between public and private actors isn't not solely the result of the ongoing fiscal crisis of cities--and the ideology of austerity and neoliberalism which lays behind that--which has forced urban governments to depend upon private investment, but rather is also a reflection of something very old. The roots of place governance go back to the earliest history of cities in the U.S., with shared governing bodies being developed for parks, public spaces, and more all through the 19th and early 20th centuries. That doesn't excuse the abuses which the obsession over finding and cutting deals with private investors to keep cities make legitimate, but it does provide some needed context when criticizing them.
December 16, 2022
I'm probably biased, since I know some of the people involved in this book, but I thought it was a very interesting collection of essays and analysis about sub-municipal and often private or semi-private place governance in the US.
October 27, 2023
Useful graphics.
Location
Locale
Sense of place
Cumulative ladder of place governance d. P 10.
From maintenance up to recruitment then development then strategic vision
Location
Locale
Sense of place
Cumulative ladder of place governance d. P 10.
From maintenance up to recruitment then development then strategic vision
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews