Nuno F. da Cruz, Philipp Rode, and Michael McQuarrie have authored New urban governance: A review of current themes and future priorities in the Journal of Urban Affairs. The review article bridges the gap between scholarly research focus and the perceptions and requirements of city administrators by using a horizon scan of recent literature and a survey of local government officials. The article is an output from LSE Cities’ New Urban Governance research project.

Nuno F. da Cruz, Assistant Professorial Research Fellow at LSE Cities, will deliver a session on ‘data and the urban governance research agenda’ on 24 May 2018 at the annual meeting of the ‘Development Partners Network on Decentralisation and Local Governance’ (DeLoG) in The Hague. The session will draw insights from the Centre’s ongoing research into New Urban Governance.

The Urban Governance Survey has been featured in the book Data Visualisation for Success, edited by Steven Braun, as an example of innovatively sharing academic research. The survey, which forms part of the larger LSE Cities New Urban Governance programme, was previously shortlisted for an Information is Beautiful Award. This global database of 127 cities was developed by LSE Cities in partnership with UN-Habitat and UCLG, and supported by the MacArthur Foundation.

Two new articles that will be part of a special issue on ‘New Urban Governance’ have been published ahead of print on the website of the Journal of Urban Affairs.

In his piece ‘Multilevel governance as a strategy to build capacity in cities: Evidence from Sweden’ Jon Pierre argues that, as cities are now expected to address increasingly complex issues, international networks have become key sources of knowledge and expertise. Bruno Paschoal and Kai Wegrich’s article – ‘Urban governance innovations in Rio de Janeiro: The political management of digital innovations’ – explores the role of digital innovations in strengthening mayoral control over the city’s governance.

In addition to these papers on Europe and Brazil, other special issue articles already available online address urban governance in China, India, South Africa and for the case-study cities of London and Berlin.

LSE Cities Research Fellow Nuno Ferreira da Cruz recently attended the Post-Habitat III Cross-Cutting Expert Group Meeting on UN-Habitat’s Action Framework for the Implementation of the New Urban Agenda in New York. The three day meeting (April 5-7) aimed to provide feedback into and refine the framework, suggest indicators, and provide concrete examples in five key areas: national urban policies; urban legislation, rules and regulations; integrated urban and territorial planning and design; financing urbanisation; and local implementation.

The global Urban Governance Survey has been shortlisted for an Information is Beautiful Award. The survey, which forms part of the larger LSE Cities New Urban Governance research and engagement project, seeks new ways of collecting and sharing urban governance data. The global database already includes 127 cities. The survey is undertaken by LSE Cities in partnership with UN-Habitat and UCLG, and supported by the MacArthur Foundation.

LSE Cities today co-hosted a research seminar on the health effects of urban pollution at ETSAM in Madrid. In collaboration with Nerea Calvillo, “Urban Pollution and Health Effects: What Can Cities Do?” was the fourth and final event in the foresight seminar series run by LSE Cities as part of the New Urban Governance programme supported by the MacArthur Foundation. The series of seminars has sought to discuss the notion that ever more complex and interrelated urban challenges as well as technological change will require city institutions to adapt; focusing, in particular, on the role of big data and real-time information which in many cities have already led to the establishment of new urban governance processes and structures.

This final seminar included a general debate on the policies that may alleviate pollution in cities and what are or should be the roles of local governments, citizens, as well as private and third sector actors in facing the problem and shaping these policies. It also explored questions surrounding which innovations may assist Madrid and other cities in facing current environmental and health challenges.

The New Urban Governance project at LSE Cities, working in partnership with UN Habitat and the UCLG Committee on Decentralisation and Local Governance, has launched a new website to present the first round of results from the Urban Governance Survey. The survey attempts to address a general lack of data about how cities are governed around the world and the new online platform explores new ways of communicating and ‘mapping’ urban governance.

We are now inviting local government officials to participate in the second round of the survey. If you would like your city to be included, please complete our survey. We are very keen to feature as many cities as possible in this analysis and include the results on our new website.

The Urban Governance Survey is part of the larger LSE Cities New Urban Governance research and engagement project, co-funded by the MacArthur Foundation to examine multiple aspects of municipal planning, management, and governance.