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City Challenge: Sustainable Process or Temporary Gesture?

In this paper, the processes of governance within the UK government's recent urban policy initiative, City Challenge, are explored. This initiative targets the involvement, through “partnership”, of residents of “areas of concentrated disadvantage” in the processes of programme formulation and delivery. Underlying this is the objective of “incorporating” neighourhood residents in ‘mainstream’ political and economic life. In this paper, that objective is set in the context of contemporary conditions in such neighbourhoods. Experiences of the early stages of two City Challenge programmes are then discussed, in order to assess the character of the partnerships which are evolving. The two examples vary significantly in their style and in the strategy of the local authority, as well as in the characteristics of the areas. It is argued that, although central government's influence over the style of the programmes remains pervasive, the strategy of the local authority and the struggles by the participants in the partnerships have a significant influence on the content and style of the programmes. Further, the style of the programmes affects the balance of power within the programme and the terms of incorporation of the various partnerships in governance processes.