Editing City (section)

=== Governance ===
[[File:Ripon Building panorama.jpg|thumb|The [[Ripon Building]], the headquarters of [[Greater Chennai Corporation]] in Chennai, is one of the oldest city governing corporations in [[Asia]]. ]]
[[Governance]] includes government but refers to a wider domain of [[social control]] functions implemented by many actors including [[non-governmental organization]]s.<ref>Gupta et al. (2015), pp. 4, 29. "We thereby understand urban governance as the multiple ways through which city governments, businesses and residents interact in managing their urban space and life, nested within the context of other government levels and actors who are managing their space, resulting in a variety of urban governance configurations (Peyroux et al. 2014)."</ref> The impact of globalization and the role of [[multinational corporation]]s in local governments worldwide have led to a shift in perspective on urban governance, away from the "urban regime theory" in which a coalition of local interests functionally govern, toward a theory of outside economic control, widely associated in academics with the philosophy of [[neoliberalism]].{{sfn | Latham | McCormack | McNamara | McNeill | 2009 | pp=142–143}} In the neoliberal model of governance, public utilities are [[privatization|privatized]], the industry is [[deregulation|deregulated]], and [[corporation]]s gain the status of governing actors—as indicated by the power they wield in [[public-private partnerships]] and over [[business improvement districts]], and in the expectation of self-regulation through [[corporate social responsibility]]. The biggest [[investor]]s and [[real estate developer]]s act as the city's [[de facto]] urban planners.<ref>Gupta, Verrest, and Jaffe, "Theorizing Governance", in Gupta et al. (2015), pp. 30–31.</ref>

The related concept of [[good governance]] places more emphasis on the state, with the purpose of assessing urban governments for their suitability for [[development assistance]].<ref name="Gupta2015p33">Gupta, Verrest, and Jaffe, "Theorizing Governance", in Gupta et al. (2015), pp. 31–33. "The concept of good governance itself was developed in the 1980s, primarily to guide donors in development aid (Doonbos 2001:93). It has been used both as a condition for aid and a development goal in its own right. Key terms in definitions of good governance include participation, accountability, transparency, equity, efficiency, effectiveness, responsiveness, and rule of law (e.g. Ginther and de Waart 1995; UNDP 1997; Woods 1999; Weiss 2000). [...] At the urban level, this normative model has been articulated through the idea of good urban governance, promoted by agencies such as UN Habitat. The Colombian city of Bogotá has sometimes been presented as a model city, given its rapid improvements in fiscal responsibility, provision of public services and infrastructure, public behavior, honesty of the administration, and civic pride."</ref> The concepts of governance and good governance are especially invoked in emergent megacities, where international organizations consider existing governments inadequate for their large populations.<ref>Shipra Narang Suri & Günther Taube, "Governance in Megacities: Experiences, Challenges and Implications for International Cooperation"; in Kraas et al. (2014), pp. 197–198.</ref>