IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ijurrs/v49y2025i4p815-834.html

COMPARING CITY GOVERNANCE MODELS FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: The Emergence of Shared, Visionary Leadership

Author

Listed:
  • Georgina Blakeley
  • Francisco Collado Campaña
  • Caroline Gray
  • Ángel Valencia Sáiz

Abstract

This article provides a theoretically informed and empirically grounded analysis of the local political leadership of economic development policy. It is a small‐N comparative study examining two cities in England and two in Spain: Birmingham in the Midlands and Manchester in the north‐west of England, and Seville and Malaga, both in the southern region of Andalusia. Our analysis draws on the literature of political leadership styles informed by the typology of urban leadership developed by John and Cole in 1999. Our core purpose was to advance empirical knowledge of how local leadership styles affect the governance of economic development policy. We do so by identifying the decisive actors involved in the ecosystem of municipal economic development policy, the style of local political leader in each case and the impact of different local government systems in Spain and England on the governance of municipal economic development policy. Our findings point to the scope for further theoretical development of John and Cole's typology to fully capture a shared and collaborative leadership style which our research revealed as increasingly prevalent in local governance.

Suggested Citation

  • Georgina Blakeley & Francisco Collado Campaña & Caroline Gray & Ángel Valencia Sáiz, 2025. "COMPARING CITY GOVERNANCE MODELS FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: The Emergence of Shared, Visionary Leadership," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 815-834, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ijurrs:v:49:y:2025:i:4:p:815-834
    DOI: 10.1111/1468-2427.13325
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.13325
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1468-2427.13325?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Georgina Blakeley, 2010. "Governing Ourselves: Citizen Participation and Governance in Barcelona and Manchester," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 130-145, March.
    2. John Shutt & Joyce Liddle, 2019. "Are Combined Authorities in England strategic and fit for purpose?," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 34(2), pages 196-207, March.
    3. Markku Sotarauta & Andrew Beer & John Gibney, 2017. "Making sense of leadership in urban and regional development," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(2), pages 187-193, February.
    4. Chris Collinge & John Gibney, 2010. "Connecting place, policy and leadership," Policy Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(4), pages 379-391.
    5. Mia Gray & Anna Barford, 2018. "The depths of the cuts: the uneven geography of local government austerity," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 11(3), pages 541-563.
    6. Mark DESANTIS & Roger R. STOUGH, 1999. "Fast Adjusting Urban Regions, Leadership And Regional Economic Development," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 10, pages 37-57.
    7. Sotarauta Markku, 2016. "Place leadership, governance and power," Administration, Sciendo, vol. 64(3-4), pages 45-58, December.
    8. Richardson Dilworth, 2020. "Comparative Case Study Methods in Urban Political Development," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-12, October.
    9. Markku Sotarauta & Andrew Beer, 2017. "Governance, agency and place leadership: lessons from a cross-national analysis," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(2), pages 210-223, February.
    10. Robert Stimson & Roger R. Stough & Maria Salazar, 2009. "Leadership and Institutions in Regional Endogenous Development," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13246.
    11. Jacob Torfing & Christopher Ansell, 2017. "Strengthening political leadership and policy innovation through the expansion of collaborative forms of governance," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 37-54, January.
    12. A. I. Treivish, 2021. "The Largest, Metropolitan, and Global Centers in the World Arena: Matching Networks," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 543-554, October.
    13. Jane Roberts, 2020. "The leadership of place and people in the new English combined authorities," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(6), pages 995-1014, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dane Anderton, 2017. "Changing leadership in peripheral city region development: The case of Liverpool’s high technology sectors," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 32(4), pages 352-373, June.
    2. Will Rossiter & David J Smith, 2017. "Institutions, place leadership and public entrepreneurship: Reinterpreting the economic development of Nottingham," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 32(4), pages 374-392, June.
    3. Kate Broadhurst & Jennifer Ferreira & Nigel Berkeley, 2021. "Collaborative leadership and place-based development," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 36(2), pages 149-163, March.
    4. Leslie Budd & Alessandro Sancino & Michela Pagani & Ómar Kristmundsson & Borut Roncevic & Michael Steiner, 2017. "Sport as a complex adaptive system for place-based leadership: Comparing five European cities with different administrative and socio-cultural traditions," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 32(4), pages 316-335, June.
    5. Albers, Hans-Hermann & Suwala, Lech, 2020. "Räumliches Unternehmensengagement (Corporate Spatial Responsibility) und Ortsführung (Place Leadership) in Kleinstädten. Perspektiven für eine neue Ortsführung? Eine Zusammenführung von zwei Diskursen," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 63-84.
    6. Jakob Eder & Stefanie Döringer, 2022. "The Limits of Change Agency: Establishing a Peripheral University Campus in East Tyrol," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 37(4), pages 297-316, June.
    7. Albers, Hans-Hermann & Suwala, Lech, 2021. "Place leadership and corporate spatial responsibilities," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 108-130.
    8. Erica Russell & Ian Christie, 2021. "The Remaking of Institutions for Local Climate Governance? Towards Understanding Climate Governance in a Multi-Level UK Local Government Area: A Micro-Local Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-23, December.
    9. Grillitsch, Markus & Sotarauta, Markku, 2018. "Regional Growth Paths: From Structure to Agency and Back," Papers in Innovation Studies 2018/1, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    10. Edward Yates & Ian Clark & William Rossiter, 2021. "Local economic governance strategies in the UK’s post-industrial cities and the challenges of improving local work and employment conditions," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 36(2), pages 115-132, March.
    11. John Shutt & Joyce Liddle, 2020. "Comparing the development of Local Industrial Strategies across the Northern Powerhouse: Key emerging issues," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 35(4), pages 297-315, June.
    12. Arnault Morisson & Heike Mayer, 2021. "An agent of change against all odds? The case of Ledger in Vierzon, France," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 36(5), pages 430-447, August.
    13. Anja Jørgensen & Mia Arp Fallov & Maria Casado-Diaz & Rob Atkinson, 2020. "Rural Cohesion: Collective Efficacy and Leadership in the Territorial Governance of Inclusion," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(4), pages 229-241.
    14. Marianne Sensier & Elvira Uyarra, 2020. "Investigating the Governance Mechanisms that Sustain Regional Economic Resilience and Inclusive Growth," Economics Discussion Paper Series 2005, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    15. Geoff Bates & Charles Larkin & Nick Pearce & Laura Smyth, 2023. "Policy ‘R&D’, capacity and advocacy in English Combined Authorities," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 38(3), pages 226-241, May.
    16. Janice Morphet & John Denham, 2023. "Trailblazer devolution deals: The next oxymoron in the policy litany of sub-national governance in England?," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 38(8), pages 755-772, December.
    17. Lin Ye & Xiangeng Peng & Laura Quadros Aniche & Peter H. T. Scholten & Elena Marie Ensenado, 2021. "Urban renewal as policy innovation in China: From growth stimulation to sustainable development," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(1), pages 23-33, February.
    18. Jacob Torfing & Eva Sørensen, 2019. "Interactive Political Leadership in Theory and Practice: How Elected Politicians May Benefit from Co-Creating Public Value Outcomes," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-18, July.
    19. Imre Lengyel, 2011. "Types of competitiveness of Hungarian regions: agglomeration economies and endogenous regional development," ERSA conference papers ersa11p674, European Regional Science Association.
    20. Batory Agnes & Svensson Sara, 2019. "The fuzzy concept of collaborative governance: A systematic review of the state of the art," Central European Journal of Public Policy, Sciendo, vol. 13(2), pages 28-39, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ijurrs:v:49:y:2025:i:4:p:815-834. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0309-1317 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.