The architecture of partnerships: urban communities in the shadow of hierarchy

Partnerships have offered Britain's New Labour government a pre-existing structure for urban policy delivery that appears ideally suited to the discourses of the Third Way it supports. This article considers why the New Labour government has adopted partnerships so enthusiastically and what it is about partnerships that now means they are such a fundamental part of urban policy initiatives. Through an analysis of the architecture of eight urban partnerships this article casts doubt on the purported democratic and administrative virtues typically associated with partnerships and suggests that they are best thought of as part of a new breed of meta-governance.