Governance on the Ground: Innovations and Discontinuities in Cities of the Developing World (review)

Governance on the Ground is a collection of ten articles that explore the political and economic changes in urban governance of some of the major cities in the developing world. As its subtitle suggests, the authors are more interested in locating uniqueness in their respective cases rather than identifying an overarching phenomenon for theorizing the arbitrary trends in governance for cities facing similar problems. The cases compiled in the volume encompass numerous cities all over the developing world (e.g., Ahmedabad, Bangkok, Bellavista, Beirut, Dhaka, Durban, Jerusalem, and Santiago). The authors, albeit in isolation, do search for the common denominator in urban governance, one that enables the city to deal with its growing struggles with fairness and efficiency.

The developing world is urbanizing at such a dizzying pace that its institutional and political structure remains insufficient to deal with the associated predicaments. The United Nations Population Division predicts that by 2015 nineteen of the world's twenty-three megacities will be located in the developing world. Because local policies and institutions can make a difference in the effectiveness with which municipalities respond to challenges and engage their citizens, this volume provides important insights on how some of these concerns are already being dealt with and what constitutes success among the various measures undertaken. Since most of the articles discuss a cluster of cities, the cases also provide a regional comparison point, which makes the cases quite distinctive and allows the reader to expand the insights and lessons to other urban contexts. The eight case studies are organized around three major themes: the complexity of urban life (Middle Eastern and Latin American cities), institutional frameworks and reforms (Latin American and Asian cities), and the process of political and social engagements (African and Latin American cities).

The first two essays in the volume undertake a comparative discussion on the new protocols of local government structures and functions in the expanding cities of the third world. These megacities will emerge as commercial and political hubs not only because of population growth, the pace of urbanization, and sheer size but also because of current trends in globalization. The cities have to equip themselves with financial and political capabilities to tackle the needs of their growing numbers of residents. Unfortunately, while globalization is mentioned as a factor shaping these cities, it is never followed through as a serious indicator in any of the articles. A number of the cities are growing so rapidly because of migration patterns, which are stimulated by current trends in globalization. Migration from impoverished rural areas to major cities makes different demands on the city structure compared with the migration of people from smaller cities to major cities in search of employment. Some discussion of the impact of globalization and its different migration patterns would have prepared readers with more knowledge to appreciate the contours of the complex terrains of urban growth in the developing world.

The first two articles in the volume take a stab at theorizing the pattern of governance, current trends, and disjuncture in the urban environment. The first one focuses on local institutional initiatives such as decentralization and democratization, but falls short of inquiring into the connections between the two concepts and hence misses the prospect of creating a broader theoretical base to analyze the cases. Stren suggests that cross-national bodies such as the Global Urban Research Initiative (GURI) can facilitate the process by fostering dialogue and sharing information to counter common problems. In the second piece, Patricia McCarney explores the meaning and implications of governance and identifies two key problems for cities of the developing regions: lack of an appropriate balance between global competitiveness and local needs, and lack of an appropriate balance between formal structures and civil society. Another disjuncture that deserves acknowledgment and analysis as it plagues most megacities of the third world, is the one between...