The New Civic Leadership: Place and the co-creation of public innovation

ABSTRACT

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 the forces shaping the power of place, and to provide a fresh way of envisaging the changing nature of modern local leadership and public management, is presented. This New Civic Leadership (NCL) framework, one that can be contrasted with the outdated idea of New Public Management (NPM), is being used to guide the development of the One City Approach to urban governance in Bristol, UK. This effort to unite public purpose in a city is discussed, and emerging themes relating to the role of place-based leadership in spurring new ways of co-creating public service futures are explored.

IMPACT

This paper on New Civic Leadership (NCL) presents specific ideas on how to improve the leadership of collaborative governance in cities and localities. It explains how the power of place—the strong feelings of commitment people have to ‘their’ city or locality—has been seriously neglected in public management theory and practice. The NCL conceptual model is being used by the mayor of Bristol, and other civic leaders to develop a One City Approach to meeting the complex challenges facing the city. This paper provides practical steps that civic leaders can take to improve collaborative governance.

KEYWORDS:

• Co-creation
• collaborative governance
• innovation in public management
• leadership
• local governance
• New Civic Leadership (NCL)
• place

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).