Urban policy mobilities,argumentation and the case of the model city |
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| Authors: | Sean M Kennedy |
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| Institution: | Geography and Environment, University of Southampton, University Road, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK |
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| Abstract: | In recent years urban geographers have devoted considerable attention to the dynamics of policy mobility. After reviewing the progress achieved in this literature, in this article I offer two distinctive contributions. First, I draw on the “argumentative turn” in policy studies and related fields in order to develop an alternative conceptualization of urban policy mobility that pays greater attention to its discursive and argumentative aspects. I thus reassert the significance of democratic processes in the negotiation of urban policy. Second, I outline an alternative methodology for the study of urban policy mobility, focusing on the analysis of argumentation. I apply this methodology to historical instances of urban policy mobilities arising from a recent research project that aimed to historicize the phenomenon of the “model city,” defined as the local deployment of another city’s experience as an argumentative resource supporting particular policy claims. |
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| Keywords: | model cities argumentation urban policy mobilities |
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