The definitive version of this article is published as: Gonzalez and Vigar, Community influence and the contemporary local state, City, 12(1), 64-78, 2008 http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&issn=1360- 4813&volume=12&issue=1&spage=64 Community influence and the contemporary local state: potentials and contradictions in the Neoliberal city. Sara González School of Geography University of Leeds Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, UK LS2 9JT
[email protected] and Geoff Vigar Global Urban Research Unit School of Architecture Planning and Landscape Newcastle University Newcastle upon Tyne, UK NE1 7RU
[email protected] 1 First submitted July 2006 Resubmitted to City February 2007 2 Abstract This paper assesses contemporary power relations between the local state, capital and community interests in managing urban area development. It draws on work conducted under a Framework V EU project called SINGOCOM, focusing on one case among nine studied1. The case of the Ouseburn Valley in Newcastle upon Tyne, England is mobilised to show how, despite comparatively well-organised community interests, the local state and its approach to urban development still determines in understanding built environment outcomes. Yet the local state is heavily constrained in its actions by: its cultures and practices; its financial and intellectual resources; a highly centralised governance context; and a pervasive discourse of neo-liberalism. The case also highlights the contradictions inherent in state commitments to public participation and the role of communities