Urban issues in nation-state agendas: A comparison in western Europe

Taking into account the context of globalization, glocalization and political rescaling, this paper takes stock of the ways urban issues are processed in the political agendas of Western European states. Using four case studies (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom), a typology of 'national urban policies' is proposed, based on their explicit versus implicit focus on issues spatially defined as urban ones, as well as their direct versus indirect character. A comparative perspective is used to consider the resulting types of policies (area-based programmes, mainstream state policies, re-spatialization of local and regional government through institutional reforms, institutional innovationand maintenance of local government) as well as the problematic issue of the formulation of integrated and effective policy strategies for cities. Furthermore, the paper takes a view of the uncertain and weak impacts of many of these actions, and proposes tentative explanation for how and why urban policies enter states' political agendas. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.