Abstract
Neighborhood governance has become a widespread approach to improving
the quality of life in cities. The idea is that sustained interactions between
public professionals and residents will better meet the needs of local areas
and people. However, neighborhood working approaches purporting to provide
tailor-made policies and solutions tend to perpetuate habitual practices
and hegemonic institutions of hierarchy and competition. This chapter
enquires how conditions can be created for different kinds of conversations
and relationships to emerge that lead to innovative practices and sustainable
change. I argue that public professionals need not only interact extensively
with residents but should also engage in encounters with an open mind.
Empirically illustrated with an innovative approach to neighborhood working
in Amsterdam (the Netherlands), I explain how they can go beyond habitual
practices by letting new shared views and actions emerge in-between them.
Doing so fosters deeper institutional transformations toward a relational
grounding for urban governance and public administration.
the quality of life in cities. The idea is that sustained interactions between
public professionals and residents will better meet the needs of local areas
and people. However, neighborhood working approaches purporting to provide
tailor-made policies and solutions tend to perpetuate habitual practices
and hegemonic institutions of hierarchy and competition. This chapter
enquires how conditions can be created for different kinds of conversations
and relationships to emerge that lead to innovative practices and sustainable
change. I argue that public professionals need not only interact extensively
with residents but should also engage in encounters with an open mind.
Empirically illustrated with an innovative approach to neighborhood working
in Amsterdam (the Netherlands), I explain how they can go beyond habitual
practices by letting new shared views and actions emerge in-between them.
Doing so fosters deeper institutional transformations toward a relational
grounding for urban governance and public administration.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | From Austerity to Abundance? |
| Subtitle of host publication | Creative Approaches to Coordinating the Common Good |
| Editors | Margaret Stout |
| Place of Publication | Bingley |
| Publisher | Emerald |
| Pages | 181-200 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781787144651 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781787144668 |
| Publication status | Published - 2018 |
Access to Document
- Bartels_Encounters_with_an_open_mind_From_Austerity_to_Abundance_2018
Koen P. R. Bartels , (2018), Encounters with an Open Mind: A Relational Grounding for Neighborhood Governance, in Margaret Stout (ed.) From Austerity to Abundance? (Critical Perspectives on International Public Sector Management, Volume 6) Emerald Publishing Limited, pp.181 - 200