The Foundations of Multi-channel Neighborhood Governance

Abstract

The book presents various aspects of the current urban development in the context of the recent rapid growth of the ICT sector. It focuses on the local scale, in line with the notion that the neighborhood is the fundamental component of any urban area. Beginning with a critical overview of the urban governance paradigms, through a careful analysis of the multifaceted relationships between the Internet and the urban functions, followed by a description of selected approaches to local urban spatial policy, it concludes with a concept of multi-channel neighborhood governance (MCNG). The key observation is that the accelerating virtualization of urban life has profound consequences for the spatial, social, and economic structures of cities. At the local level, it is changing the functional profile of neighborhoods, replacing some traditional on-site local services with online ones, reducing (or even eliminating) the need for face-to-face social interaction, rejoining work and home roles, and modifying the spatial behaviors of residents. All of this calls for a prompt response from the neighborhood governance, which should include the nonspatial (online) components of contemporary urban lifestyles. The book searches for an alternative to conventional planning, capable of addressing the virtualization of different urban functions at the neighborhood level and providing satisfactory solutions for shaping an optimal balance between online and offline environments. The study defines a comprehensive method for the management of essential services in urban neighborhoods, with special attention to the integration of online and offline channels. The MCNG concept includes a list of recommendations for urban policy practitioners on how to deal with digital conversion, how to manage land use, how to stimulate entrepreneurship, and how to improve quality of life.