Support for Community Governance in Urban and Rural Partnership Areas

Area-based partnerships have become common across urban and rural areas, and often place an emphasis on participation and the role of communities. But while there has been much research on participation within partnerships, it is also important to ask what role partnerships play in encouraging and supporting participation more widely, across a broader spectrum of community action and decision-making. This research focused on area-based partnerships in urban and rural Scotland.

This project had two stages: first, a survey involving telephone interviews with a range of urban and partnerships in Scotland; and second, detailed case studies in a small number of partnership areas, exploring different approaches in more depth and seeking a range of local perspectives through interviews with partnership members, staff, other local organisations, and members of the public.

Outputs

The following book chapter draws on this research.

Sterling, R. (2005 forthcoming). Promoting democratic governance through partnerships? In: Remaking governance: peoples, politics and the public sphere, edited by Janet Newman. Bristol: The Policy Press.