'Resilience' has become one of the first fully fledged academic and political buzzwords of the 21st century. Within this context, Geoffrey DeVerteuil proposes a more critically engaged and conceptually robust version, applying it to the conspicuous but now residual clusters of inner-city voluntary sector organisations deemed ‘service hubs’. The process of resilience is compared across ten service hubs in three complex but different global inner-city regions – London, Los Angeles and Sydney – in response to the threat of gentrification-induced displacement. DeVerteuil shows that resilience can be about holding on to previous gains but also about holding out for transformation. The book is the first to move beyond theoretical works on ‘resilience’ and offers a combined conceptual and empirical approach that will interest urban geographers, social planners and researchers in the voluntary sector.

Decentralisation has become an integral part of local government reform programmes in recent years. But how to put these changes into effect? This book explores the reasons for making these changes, and applies recent thinking in change management to the particular challenges facing all those who are seeking to make their local governance systems more responsive. Written by internationally renowned experts from the International Development Department at the University of Birmingham, UK, and advisers at the Commonwealth Secretariat, Managing Change in Local Governance looks at the key drivers for change in local government, and at the factors which those implementing change need to take into account to ensure success. For senior managers in local government, policy makers in ministries of local government, and students and researchers in public administration with an interest in local government issues.

In 2013, Glasgow City Council won £24 million in a competition to become a model for demonstrating smart city technology at scale. Here’s how the city is using the latest technology and open data culture to reinvent itself with greater transparency, responsiveness and as an engine of growth.

This resource guide provides practical guidance for designing, implementing and evaluating decentralisation reforms and local government practices to ensure they are as effective as possible. It also synthesises and presents current debates on the impact of decentralisation and local government on poverty reduction, service delivery and conflict as well as providing links to cutting-edge research and recent case studies.