Regional Imaginaries of Governance Agencies: Practising the Region of South West Britain

Changes in government and governmentality in the UK have resulted in what has been termed a ‘regional renaissance’ over the last decade. This has led to an increase in the number of offices, institutions, and agencies operating with a regional remit that is based upon a notion of fixed territorial c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environment and planning. A 2011-02, Vol.43 (2), p.470-486
Main Authors: Harvey, David C, Hawkins, Harriet, Thomas, Nicola J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bgi / Prodig
Case studies
Creativity
England
Europe
Governance
Innovation
Institutions
Regional government
Regional policy
Strategic planning
The British Isles
United Kingdom
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Summary:Changes in government and governmentality in the UK have resulted in what has been termed a ‘regional renaissance’ over the last decade. This has led to an increase in the number of offices, institutions, and agencies operating with a regional remit that is based upon a notion of fixed territorial containers. One sector that has increasingly been brought into the orbit of the new regional policy framework is that of the creative industries, and research is required in order to understand how creative industry governance agencies imagine and interpret the regional spaces that they administer. Notwithstanding the supposedly agreed-upon and bounded nature of the territories over which they have competence, we find that personnel working within these regional bodies negotiate and imagine regional space in a number of ways. Drawing on empirical work with three creative-industry governance agencies in the South West of Britain, we consider a range of dynamic and sometimes contradictory understandings of regional space as practised through their policy development and implementation. The paper traces how the practice of creative-industry governance challenges the governmentally determined region and, by implication, any territorial unit as a naturally given container that is internally coherent and a discrete space available for governance. Hence, the paper has broader lessons for effective policy delivery more generally.
ISSN:0308-518X
1472-3409
DOI:10.1068/a43380