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All Outputs (66)

Levelling up - getting beyond the rhetoric (2021)
Journal Article
Hambleton, R. (2021). Levelling up - getting beyond the rhetoric. Town and Country Planning -London- Town and Country Planning Association-, 90(11/12), 373-378

This article examines the UK government's so-called 'levelling up' policy and outlines two scenarios for the future of this policy. The analysis suggests that levelling up can be characterised as a slogan in search of a policy. Despite announcing t... Read More about Levelling up - getting beyond the rhetoric.

Place, power and leadership: Insights from mayoral governance and leadership innovation in Bristol, UK (2021)
Journal Article
Hambleton, R., Sweeting, D., & Oliver, T. (2022). Place, power and leadership: Insights from mayoral governance and leadership innovation in Bristol, UK. Leadership, 18(1), 81-101. https://doi.org/10.1177/17427150211028122

This article aims to enhance understanding of the role of place in urban leadership by examining the way leadership changed significantly following the introduction of mayoral governance into a UK city. In 2012, 10 cities in England held referendums... Read More about Place, power and leadership: Insights from mayoral governance and leadership innovation in Bristol, UK.

COVID-19 opens a new political window (2020)
Journal Article
Hambleton, R. (2020). COVID-19 opens a new political window. Town and Country Planning -London- Town and Country Planning Association-, 89(11/12), 366-370

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused immense suffering and misery. However, at the same time, it has created new possibilities for rethinking the kind of society that we want to create in the future. This article adopts an international perspective and... Read More about COVID-19 opens a new political window.

The Bristol One City Approach to city governance: New Civic Leadership in action (2020)
Journal Article
Hambleton, R. (2020). The Bristol One City Approach to city governance: New Civic Leadership in action. Urban Research and Practice, 13(2), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1080/17535069.2020.1752055

The One City Approach to city governance in Bristol, UK is designed to unify civic purpose in the city: it is ambitious, inclusive and innovative. In 2016 the new, directly elected Mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees, decided to work with a wide range of c... Read More about The Bristol One City Approach to city governance: New Civic Leadership in action.

Leading the healthy city: Taking advantage of the power of place (2020)
Journal Article
Hambleton, R. (2020). Leading the healthy city: Taking advantage of the power of place. Cities and Health, 4(2), 221-228. https://doi.org/10.1080/23748834.2019.1693793

Creating healthy cities requires the exercise of bold city and community leadership. However, our understanding of the role of local leadership, from inside and outside the state, in bringing about processes that can co-create healthy, just and susta... Read More about Leading the healthy city: Taking advantage of the power of place.

Debate: Researching directly elected mayors—key questions to address (2019)
Journal Article
Hambleton, R. (2020). Debate: Researching directly elected mayors—key questions to address. Public Money and Management, 40(1), https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2019.1658998

The directly elected mayor model of governance is long established in many countries – for example, the USA and Japan. However, in some countries the model is fairly new. For example, in the UK there were no directly elected mayors until 2000 – tha... Read More about Debate: Researching directly elected mayors—key questions to address.

Rallying the power of place (2019)
Journal Article
Hambleton, R. (2019). Rallying the power of place. Local Government Chronicle, 30-31

This article, aimed at local governance policy-makers, outlines a new way of conceptualising local leadership, described as New Civic Leadership (NCL). NCL, which involves strong, place-based leadership acting to co-create new solutions to public pol... Read More about Rallying the power of place.

The New Civic Leadership: Place and the co-creation of public innovation (2019)
Journal Article
Hambleton, R. (2019). The New Civic Leadership: Place and the co-creation of public innovation. Public Money and Management, 39(4), 271-279. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2019.1592908

© 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This paper discusses the role of place-based leadership in stimulating the co-creation of inclusive public services and outcomes. A conceptual framework, designed to illuminate t... Read More about The New Civic Leadership: Place and the co-creation of public innovation.

The dynamics of depoliticisation in urban governance: Introducing a directly elected mayor (2019)
Journal Article
Sweeting, D., & Hambleton, R. (2020). The dynamics of depoliticisation in urban governance: Introducing a directly elected mayor. Urban Studies, 57(5), 1068-1086. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098019827506

Within the context of debates regarding depoliticisation, this article considers how the introduction of a directly elected mayor system of governance impacts on urban politics. Directly elected mayors are now a fundamental feature of many political... Read More about The dynamics of depoliticisation in urban governance: Introducing a directly elected mayor.

Inclusive place-based leadership: Lesson-drawing from urban governance innovations in Bristol, UK (2018)
Journal Article
Hambleton, R. (2018). Inclusive place-based leadership: Lesson-drawing from urban governance innovations in Bristol, UK

Across the world progressive city leaders are working to limit the damaging impact of decisions made by place-less leaders, meaning powerful interests that are unconcerned about the consequences of their decisions for particular places and communitie... Read More about Inclusive place-based leadership: Lesson-drawing from urban governance innovations in Bristol, UK.

Town-gown engagement can be chaotic but universities should be local civic leaders (2018)
Journal Article
Hambleton, R. (2018). Town-gown engagement can be chaotic but universities should be local civic leaders. Local Government Chronicle, 19-19

This short article for a professional and practice audience examines the impact of universities on the localities where they are located. Evidence from the author's experience in the USA suggests that British universities could be doing much more to... Read More about Town-gown engagement can be chaotic but universities should be local civic leaders.

OK we didn't win the World Cup but Gareth Southgate offers solutions for local leadership (2018)
Journal Article
Hambleton, R. (2018). OK we didn't win the World Cup but Gareth Southgate offers solutions for local leadership. Local Government Chronicle, 20-20

This short article for a professional and practice audience draws lessons for local leaders from Gareth Southgate's enormously successful leadership of the English national football team. Sports management is, of course, rather different from place-... Read More about OK we didn't win the World Cup but Gareth Southgate offers solutions for local leadership.

British universities - the sleeping giants of place-based leadership? (2018)
Journal Article
Hambleton, R. (2018). British universities - the sleeping giants of place-based leadership?. People, Place and Policy, 11(4), https://doi.org/10.3351/ppp.2018.4889247933

This Alternatives paper explores the changing dynamics of town/gown relationships in modern Britain. It argues that there are major opportunities for improving collaboration between universities and ‘off campus’ actors, opportunities that could bene... Read More about British universities - the sleeping giants of place-based leadership?.

How US local government resists Trump (2017)
Journal Article
Hambleton, R. (2017). How US local government resists Trump. Local Government Chronicle,

This short article argues that, at a time when national politics is being disfigured by angry populism, learning from progressive US cities can be inspirational. It explains how two counties in California took President Trump to court over his attem... Read More about How US local government resists Trump.