Co-management in urban regeneration : New perspectives on transferable collaborative practice

To illustrate the advantages of the co-production concept in comparative analysis and to develop a deeper understanding of the co-management process in regeneration contexts this chapter analyses two cases where staff working for LDPs have produced new services in collaboration with workers from TSOs. These two cases are then contrasted with a case where the LDP placed a strong emphasis on contracting and commissioning procedures with limited scope for collaborative practice. The analysis shows that co-management can occur in very different institutional contexts, and that TSOs and LDPs can both derive significant benefits from co-managing the development and delivery of new services. In addition, a number of variables can be identified which support the co-management process specifically in regeneration contexts. These include a high degree of organizational flexibility in participating organizations; workers who together share responsibility for the provision of a new service; and senior managers who are able to navigate regulatory, institutional and political barriers which stand in the way of collaborative cross-organizational working. A commissioning approach, in contrast, was found to have created a situation where the TSO considered the LDP and programme management staff as a barrier to their creating new services.