Leading cities: a global review of city leadership

摘要

In his classic article on urban politics, Molotch (1976, p. 317) portrays American city leaders in an unflattering light. They 'tend to be businessmen [sic], and, among businessmen the more parochial sort', involved in public service neither for altruism nor ideology, but simply 'to wheel and deal'. This framing of city leaders - 'bosses' presiding over incompetent political machines - has a long history in urban studies. Yet in recent years it has been countered by an entirely different portrayal, an alternative perhaps best exemplified by Barber's (2013) claim that 'mayors rule the world'. This alternative describes city leaders as masters of both local and global policy, cosmopolitans equally comfortable in city hall and the United Nations, pragmatists who can fill potholes while also fixing climate change. In practice, of course, most leaders fall somewhere between these extremes, and the nuances matter immensely for urban governance. Those nuances are skilfully analyzed in Elizabeth Rapoport, Michele Acuto and Leonora Grcheva's Leading Cities: A Global Review of City Leadership.