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Despite considerable evaluator investment in examining partnership activity in UK public policy initiatives, little attention has been paid to the role of strategy in supporting the generation and harnessing of the resources necessary to collaborate effectively. This paper focuses on one of the first New Labour initiatives – Health Action Zones (HAZ) – and draws on national evaluation findings to delineate local strategies, assess their application in practice and reflect on their contribution to collaborative action.The paper argues that even within nationally constrained policy initiatives there is sufficient flexibility for local actors to select strategies to steer collaborative effort, but these strategies are informed by their operating context and are liable to change in response to experience and changes in context. In addition, the evaluation findings suggest that effective strategies are those which harness collaborative capacity across a range of dimensions. The paper concludes by identifying implications for theory, policy and evaluation.

This article presents a theoretical and empirical contribution to the discussions of more inclusive and participatory modes of governing that are taking place in many western countries. It develops a critical evaluation framework for assessing the qualities and outcomes of citizens participating in collaborative planning processes. This is done by introducing the concepts of institutional capacity and empowerment that derives from different fields of literature, but that covers different perspectives when assessing citizen participation. Some of the central questions raised in the article are: What happens when citizens participate together? Does it produce consensus or conflicts? What are the outcome for the individual citizens and for the local community? What are the democratic effects? The empirical foundation for the article is a doctoral study of 49 citizens participating in a collaborative planning process in a urban environment in Denmark that focus on improving deprived urban neighbourhoods by mobilising networks.

Partnering with citizens and civil society in order to find better solutions has become a growing strategy in many urban regeneration projects in Western Europe countries. Street‐level bureaucrats (SLBs) are increasingly recruited to manage what can be labelled 'participatory planning processes', where public and private actors co‐produce joint solutions for the benefit of local neighbourhoods. Despite the fact that the quality of the interaction between SLBs and citizens is considered to be of vital importance for the degree to which a policy is being implemented, there is hardly any research on how SLBs deal with conflicts or the tensions they face mediating between different actors and institutional logics. This article shows how the scholarly literature identifies new and more interactive roles for SLBs, but notes that many of these descriptions are unable to unfold what they imply in practice. The contribution of the article, therefore, is to offer an empirical account of what kind of conflicts and coping strategies SLBs use in their everyday practices. The article is based on a study of 16 SLBs in area‐based initiatives (ABIs) in Malmö and Copenhagen. By zooming in on 'microlevel performances' in a policy field characterised as having a high level of conflictual views of the use of common spaces, the article is able to shed light on contextual factors that can influence the performance of an SLB and thus inspire future work with ABIs and the practice field of public administration.

This book compares the impacts of ABIs in two deprived urban areas in England and Germany on organisations and development actors at the neighbourhood level. It applies a mixed method approach to help the reader with a wider spectrum of illustrations and is aimed at those studying and working in the field of urban regeneration and planning

This article reports recent research that has assessed the achievements of one of the most extensive area-based initiatives (ABIs) that has ever been adopted in England-namely, the Single Regeneration Budget. This research has sought to ascertain whether, at least in relation to the findings from SRB, there is evidence that the ABI has delivered what was expected of it and thus whether the underlying rationale for its deployment was valid. The article focuses on three key areas of relevance to the attainment of local area regeneration. These are: targeting social deprivation; bringing about effective partnership working; and, `bending' the activities of mainstream service providers. This article concludes by considering what the lessons from SRB are for the future shape and form of ABIs.

Community involvement is seen both as means and as ends in contemporary urban policy, and although increasingly popular with policymakers it is not universally welcomed. Incredulous opponents assert that it does not improve the position of poor people and that it distracts attention from structural inequalities, whereas sceptical believers hold that it boosts social cohesion, and improves the position of powerless groups. The authors provide a framework for understanding these conflicting accounts of the processes and impact of community involvement in area-based initiatives (ABIs). They draw on a review of the relevant literature commissioned by the Home Office. The work is grounded in theories of democracy that claim both developmental and instrumental benefits for participants. A third rationale is found in 'due process' claims for involvement as a fundamental right. This framework suggests that answering questions about what works in community involvement in ABIs requires an empirical focus on aims, processes, and effects. The evidence shows that believers are justified in being sceptical but optimistic, and that opponents will remain incredulous in the light of weaknesses in the practice and outcomes of community involvement in ABIs. The authors conclude by discussing the implications for policy and future research.

AbstractTo support schools, improve learning outcomes, create innovative learning opportunities, and reduce social disadvantage, many countries have introduced policies to mandate or incentivize educational networks in the last decade. This study focuses on Germany, where around 80% of municipalities established area-based initiative (ABI) structures following a broad range of ABIs. However, research has revealed a gap between intentions and implementation: There is a strong bias toward governance structures, while educational aims have not been achieved.To provide a foundation for purposeful development, a Delphi study has been conducted. Based on a sample of 180 nationwide ABI experts, data was collected in two steps using an online questionnaire on preferred and probable developments in crucial ABI fields. Statistical analyses offer insights into the relation between desirability and expectation and the degree of consensus or divergence among experts. The study shows that after 10 years of experience, the discrepancy between intentions and implementation is expected to remain. Further, it reveals tendencies on the level of governance and thereby contributes to identifying the scope of ABIs. The study concludes that, for future development, it is necessary to define ABIs' contributions to their initial aims and to reassess their legitimacy.

Complex, area-based initiatives are a widely adopted policy response to problems of health inequalities and social exclusion in industrialized countries such as the UK and the US.This article explores the problems of evaluating such initiatives in a context of rapid national and local policy change by drawing on the Children's Fund, a UK government initiative that established local partnerships in each English local authority to promote children's social inclusion. It is suggested that independent local evaluations commissioned by the partnerships have had limited influence on programme design and implementation, and indeed have been highly contested in their use.The importance of dialogic engagement between evaluators and stakeholders is highlighted.

For forty years area-based initiatives (ABIs) were the primary tool used by UK governments to tackle problems of concentrated deprivation and dereliction. The last decade saw these initiatives end, replaced by new forms of city-wide or region-wide governance: Local Strategic Partnerships in England and Community Planning Partnerships in Scotland. It was argued in both policy documents and policy analysis that this change would deliver more effective regeneration for all communities. Challenging this narrative, I present this policy shift as a change in the meaning of regeneration policy using the methodology of interpretive policy analysis. The evidence from Scottish experience suggests that for a key policy actor—community activists in deprived neighbourhoods—the approach of ABIs had a great deal of meaning as regeneration. Furthermore, this meaning was still present a decade after an ABI had ended. Meanwhile, the newer strategic partnerships were delivering little meaningful change. This difference in meaning is used to reimagine strategic regeneration as a more positive process.