Edinburgh Napier University

  The following examination goes against the current
trend in policy on urban regeneration partnerships by
relaxing the assumption that they represent virtuous
circles of mutually reinforcing actions that are good in their own right. It does this by offering a critique of the market-led urban regeneration initiatives and suggesting that they be replaced by a plan-led alternative. This would entail strategic actions being based on a sufficiently “place-based” knowledge of what communities need to be sustainable.

Urban regeneration now uses partnerships, with cities, regional development agencies, and businesses seeking to leverage resources from the private sector and channel money, capital, and professional expertise into the development of villages and neighborhoods as part of
the search for sustainable communities.

By focusing on the social capital of collaborative platforms and consensus building, it has become possible to recognize the critical role networks, innovation, and creative partnerships play in representing places that are not only sites of ecological integrity, equity, and democratic renewal, but that are also locations where socially inclusive decision making can institutionalize the civic values required for the regeneration of urban villages and neighborhoods as self-sustaining communities.