Title: Typologies of national urban policy: a theoretical analysis

Publisher: Elsevier (volume 48, Nov 2015, page 125 - 129)

Author: Brian Holland 

Summary: 

"Much of the literature that covers the foundation of policy design does not reflect a discussion of the impact of where programs or initiatives are implemented. By contrast, the contribution of institutional analysis used to assess how national urban policy is designed, might yield possible answers to this “where” question. The components of a national urban policy can be characterized by three different policy continua: people versus place, economic versus social, and publicly-led versus privately-led. Drawing from the key criteria that characterize the strategies behind urban policy development – placed within the American context – the eight identified typologies can then illustrate the range of options available to decision makers in the policy process. The approach identified here complements traditional evaluation methods as the typologies yield results about which programs are worth pursuing and which programs should no longer are viable choices for decision makers to support in their execution".