Doktorarbeit
Mobility of urban public policies of co-production and co-governance: a study of the circulation of knowledge in the BIP/ZIP case (working title)
Co-production and co-governance policies are more and more developed by municipalities. These policies are also increasingly a source of inspiration for other cities to develop their own policies in this direction. In Europe, this translation of policies is often supported by transnational transfer networks, the results of which are still poorly known, due also to the scarcity of the application of adequate monitoring and evaluation tools. A central question is how to know if the best practice for some is a good practice for somewhere else.
In this direction that the proposed study goes, of following the transfer of the BIP/ZIP Strategy, a public policy of local development in Lisbon, through the Com.Unity.Lab.Transfer Network – supported by URBACT – represents the first transfer efforts of BIP/ZIP to several European cities. There are still few studies on the transfer of public policies that, like BIP-ZIP, combine the promotion and support of local co-production and co-governance, especially the ones considering indicators and measuring.
The proposal of this research is to analyze the transfer methodologies used in the proposed case, what aspects are being transferred and what are their results, especially with regard to implementation and evaluation. The research focuses on the following concepts/themes: urban public policy transfer/mobility, specifically the modus operandi of European intercity transfer networks. In addition, the literature on co-production and co-governance is being revised, such as that of power analysis. Additionally to the literature review, other methods will be implemented inspired by the „follow the policy“ methodology proposed by Peck and Theodore (2015) and making use of the power cube method developed by Gaventa (2006).
The hypothesis considered is that the analysis of power distribution can assist in the analysis of the limitations and potentialities of the mobility of public policies for co-production and co-governance, helping to point out recommendations regarding the translation process and implementation.
Based on these theoretical frameworks, it is expected to produce a more in-depth analysis of local co-production and co-governance policies, understanding how these public policies have circulated and what their potential is to allow and encourage local co-production and co-governance in the cities where they are implemented.