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Governmentality and Rights and Responsibilities in Urban Policy

Author

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  • Mike Raco

    (Department of Geography, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AB, England)

  • Rob Imrie

    (Department of Geography, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, England)

Abstract

We deploy aspects of Foucault's concept of governmentality to discuss the argument that the recent shift towards a ‘rights and responsibilities' agenda in urban policy is part of broader transformations in the rationalities and techniques of government. Following Rose, we characterise the emergent forms of urban policy as part of ‘advanced liberalism’ or strategies which seek to activate citizens, individually and collectively, to take greater responsibility for their own government. Such strategies are, as Rose notes, seeking to govern through the instrumentalisation of the self-governing properties of the subjects of government themselves in a whole variety of locales. We develop the argument in three parts. The first part justifies the use of a Foucauldian framework in seeking to understand the new political and policy agenda on ‘rights and responsibilities’. In a second part, we investigate the changing nature of governmental rationalities and techniques of governmentality primarily through the context of the Single Regeneration Budget. In so doing, we consider two interrelated dimensions of the rationalities and techniques of government which seek to shape and guide what Foucault refers to as ‘the conduct of others' or those that are the objects of government, that is, active citizens. These dimensions are government through community and the specification of subjects of government. We conclude by specifying the importance we attach to using a Foucauldian framework for the analysis of urban policy and policy processes more generally.

Suggested Citation

  • Mike Raco & Rob Imrie, 2000. "Governmentality and Rights and Responsibilities in Urban Policy," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 32(12), pages 2187-2204, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:32:y:2000:i:12:p:2187-2204
    DOI: 10.1068/a3365
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    Cited by:

    1. Alberto Vanolo, 2014. "Smartmentality: The Smart City as Disciplinary Strategy," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(5), pages 883-898, April.
    2. Carmelina Bevilacqua & Yapeng Ou & Pasquale Pizzimenti & Guglielmo Minervino, 2019. "New Public Institutional Forms and Social Innovation in Urban Governance: Insights from the “Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics” (MONUM) in Boston," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-24, December.
    3. Karen Bickerstaff & Gordon Walker, 2002. "Risk, Responsibility, and Blame: An Analysis of Vocabularies of Motive in Air-Pollution(ing) Discourses," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 34(12), pages 2175-2192, December.
    4. Andrew M. Wood, 2004. "Domesticating Urban Theory? US Concepts, British Cities and the Limits of Cross-national Applications," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 41(11), pages 2103-2118, October.
    5. Justus Uitermark, 2003. "'Social Mixing' and the Management of Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods: The Dutch Policy of Urban Restructuring Revisited," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(3), pages 531-549, March.
    6. Gordon MacLeod & Mike Raco & Kevin Ward, 2003. "Negotiating the Contemporary City: Introduction," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(9), pages 1655-1671, August.
    7. Han Wang & Yueli Xu, 2024. "Achieving Neighborhood-Level Collaborative Governance through Participatory Regeneration: Cases of Three Residential Heritage Neighborhoods in Shanghai," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-17, March.
    8. Venda Louise Pollock & Joanne Sharp, 2012. "Real Participation or the Tyranny of Participatory Practice? Public Art and Community Involvement in the Regeneration of the Raploch, Scotland," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(14), pages 3063-3079, November.
    9. John Clayton & Catherine Donovan & Jacqui Merchant, 2016. "Distancing and limited resourcefulness: Third sector service provision under austerity localism in the north east of England," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(4), pages 723-740, March.
    10. Harriet Bulkeley & Pauline M McGuirk & Robyn Dowling, 2016. "Making a smart city for the smart grid? The urban material politics of actualising smart electricity networks," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(9), pages 1709-1726, September.
    11. Mick Green, 2007. "Governing under advanced liberalism: sport policy and the social investment state," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 40(1), pages 55-71, March.
    12. Anita Kokx & Ronald van Kempen, 2009. "Joining Forces in Urban Restructuring: Dealing with Collaborative Ideals and Role Conflicts in Breda, the Netherlands," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 41(5), pages 1234-1250, May.
    13. Harriet Bulkeley & Matt Watson & Ray Hudson, 2007. "Modes of Governing Municipal Waste," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 39(11), pages 2733-2753, November.
    14. Davide Ponzini & Ugo Rossi, 2010. "Becoming a Creative City: The Entrepreneurial Mayor, Network Politics and the Promise of an Urban Renaissance," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(5), pages 1037-1057, May.
    15. Perri 6 & Charlotte Fletcher‐Morgan & Kate Leyland, 2010. "Making People More Responsible: The Blair Governments' Programme for Changing Citizens' Behaviour," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 58(3), pages 427-449, June.
    16. Canelas, Patricia & Noring, Luise, 2022. "Governmentalities of land value capture in urban redevelopment," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    17. Eugene J McCann, 2008. "Expertise, Truth, and Urban Policy Mobilities: Global Circuits of Knowledge in the Development of Vancouver, Canada's ‘four Pillar’ Drug Strategy," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 40(4), pages 885-904, April.
    18. William Sites, 2012. "God from the Machine? Urban Movements Meet Machine Politics in Neoliberal Chicago," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(11), pages 2574-2590, November.
    19. Athina Arampatzi & Walter J Nicholls, 2012. "The Urban Roots of Anti-Neoliberal Social Movements: The Case of Athens, Greece," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(11), pages 2591-2610, November.
    20. Keith Jacobs, 2004. "Waterfront Redevelopment: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Policy-making Process within the Chatham Maritime Project," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 41(4), pages 817-832, April.
    21. Hölscher, Katharina & Wittmayer, Julia M. & Avelino, Flor & Giezen, Mendel, 2019. "Opening up the transition arena: An analysis of (dis)empowerment of civil society actors in transition management in cities," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 176-185.
    22. Kathryn Furlong, 2012. "Good Water Governance without Good Urban Governance? Regulation, Service Delivery Models, and Local Government," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(11), pages 2721-2741, November.

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