Program

IGU Commission on Geography of Governance (IGU-GoG)

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Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning - University of Lisbon

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

Local Government and Urban Governance:

Citizen Responsive Innovations in Europe and in Africa

Lisbon, 9-10 April 2015

Program

The 2015 Annual Conference of the IGU Commission on ‘Geography of Governance’ aims to explore recent developments in local government and urban governance in Europe and in Africa, challenges and opportunities confronting local government, and the recent reforms and institutional experiments on both continents.  It is organized in three main themes:

• • Theme 1 - Local Government and Urban Governance in Europe: the impact of austerity, recent reforms and the role of local government in an 'EU Urban Agenda'

  • Theme 2 - Local Government and Urban Governance in Africa: democratic decentralization, good governance and the role of local government in the 'Post-2015 Agenda'

  • Theme 3 – The use of ICT to expand the role of citizens in Urban Governance: national cases and international comparisons

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Theme 1 - Local Government and Urban Governance in Europe: the impact of austerity, recent reforms and the role of local government in an 'EU Urban Agenda'

Local government in Europe has been unevenly affected by the economic and financial crisis and as a consequence of that has been subjected, across Europe, to an intense and diverse reform activity. Despite numerous reports on the state of Local Government in Europe and in other parts of the world, knowledge about the current institutional reforms and urban policy innovation in Europe is highly fragmented and often not directly comparable.

While local governments in some European countries are faced with severe restrictions, in particular in those countries of the Euro zone that are or have been under full or partial bailout, in other countries these constraints are less important and local governments do not seem to have been affected in the same way. Some of these countries face short term challenges but they also need to address long term societal challenges. Fiscal consolidation and structural reform are necessary but not enough to secure economic competitiveness, social cohesion and environmental sustainability. Public action is also needed in other fields in order to achieve the objectives of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

By proposing this theme, the Conference aims to explore and compare current challenges and opportunities confronting local government in Europe, to learn from the reforms and institutional experiments carried out in different parts of Europe, and to benchmark European local government. It aims to address different dimensions of local government, in particular those affected by recent reforms.

Theme 2 - Local Government and Urban Governance in Africa: democratic decentralization, good governance and the role of local government in the ‘Post-2015 Agenda’

Research concerning local government in Africa is fragmented, often incomparable, scattered along linguistic areas, or simple absent for numerous countries, notwithstanding the claims made by international organizations, in recent decades, in favor of a true administrative and territorial decentralization in Africa.

The Conference will provide the opportunity to explore and compare the existing knowledge about local government in Africa and the reforms needed, providing also a platform for the development of comparative research focused on Africa and Europe. As the evidence available suggests, some of the problems and challenges confronting local government in Africa have much in common with those local government is confronted with in Europe, notwithstanding the historical specificities of the African continent. The long colonial period and the multiple forms of institutional cooperation developed in the post-independence period have been responsible for a local government culture that in some way reflects some of the similarities and differences found in Europe, when the former colonial countries are compared.

By including this theme in its working program the Conference aims to explore and to compare the different colonial and postcolonial cultures of local government in Africa.

Theme 3 – The use of ICT to expand the role of citizens in Urban Governance: national cases and international comparisons

Citizen participation in urban governance has been influenced, in different ways and with different outcomes, by the increasing and widespread use of information and communication technologies. With the advent of these new tools, a whole range of new possibilities emerged in the field of citizen participation in urban governance, although a number of barriers, including traditional policy approaches, tend to prevent local government to take full advantage of the concept and tools of open government. To what extent are local policy-makers implementing open government policies and how far are they taking advantage of social media  to influence citizen participation in local policy issues are just some of the questions the Conference seeks to address.

The conference aims to discuss the  different and innovative approaches, methods, and tools that have been employed to inform, engage and increase citizen participation in local government policy-making, in particular in the field of urban planning.

Program - summary ( download pdf )