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Home truths about care-less competitiveness

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Helen Jarvis

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Abstract

The literature on city-regionalism can be criticized for neglecting the mundane ways that cities and regions are socially reproduced (and contested) through processes of household decision-making and routine coordination. Moreover, dominant debates on macro-scale governance and economic competitiveness rarely question the way strategic city-regional partnerships equate notions of liveability with marketability. However smart, these initiatives persistently fetishize growth, allowing little scope for collective endeavour or an ethic of care - values which Linda McDowell (2004 ) points out are fundamentally undermined by neoliberalism. This paper challenges the top-down discourse of city-regionalism both on the grounds of what it examines (economic efficiency and governance) and how this is viewed (partially and globally). The case is made for raising awareness of the structural inequalities which restrict the choice of choices actually available to households competing for public services on the basis of uneven resource entitlement. This calls for an understanding of a whole economy, recognizing the full value of unpaid care-giving, volunteering and free environmental resources. © 2007 The Author. Journal Compilation © 2007 Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Jarvis H

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: International Journal of Urban and Regional Research

Year: 2007

Volume: 31

Issue: 1

Pages: 207-214

Print publication date: 01/03/2007

ISSN (print): 0309-1317

ISSN (electronic): 1468-2427

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2007.00715.x

DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2427.2007.00715.x

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