Hierarchy and Compromise in English and German Municipal Development Projects

This paper draws on over 30 fieldwork interviews to compare the governance of urban development projects in the “twin towns” of Newcastle (England) and Gelsenkirchen (Germany). It finds that Gelsenkirchen has been able to adopt a more hierarchical approach to stipulating the sustainability criteria of new developments, whereas Newcastle has had to work more closely with other partners and seek greater compromises in building design. Using the characterisations of Treib et al (2006), the paper therefore argues that Newcastle adopts more of a ‘governance’ approach to major planning developments, whilst Gelsenkirchen relies more on a traditional ‘government’ model. In a similar vein, it also posits that the concept of distinct “policy styles” for specific countries (Richardson 1982), which previous studies have investigated almost exclusively at the national level, is also relevant for municipalities.