Variations on a collaborative theme: Conservatism, pluralism, and place-based urban policy in Central Dandenong, Melbourn

Abstract

Urban governance in Melbourne is a relative outlier compared to the recent experience of austerity politics in many European and North American cities, which has produced extreme programmatic reductions linked to deepening social crises, such as worsening health outcomes. Instead, the Australian experience post the global financial crisis (GFC) demonstrates the enduring normalization of fiscal conservatism and targeted social protectionism in the national political economy but also illustrates the power of urban contexts to generate policy positions and collaborative institutions in support of local conditions in this case study of cultural pluralism. The article brings a singular perspective to comparative international scholarship on austerity urbanism by illustrating how commitment to these principles in one Australian city center combined with the adoption of collaborative governance and attention to multiculturalism can forge a distinctive approach to urban revitalization.