Leadership, Power and Multisector Urban Regeneration Partnerships

Abstract

Multisector partnerships have become the central tenet of contemporary urban regeneration policy facilitating a new form of local participative governance. Consequently, neighbourhood renewal and the importance of 'people' and 'places' have encouraged the emergence of a new form of 'community leader' who is more in touch with the problems of local disadvantaged groups. This paper explores the issue of leadership within multisectoral urban regeneration partnerships, focusing on the formation of social capital, power relations and partnership synergy. Conclusions point to the synergistic and social capital benefits of partnerships and the role played by urban leadership in generating a collaborative network capable of achieving more than performance targets.