PhD (x3) and Postdoc: Participatory urban governance
'Participatory urban governance between democracy and clientelism: Brokers and (in)formal politics' is a five-year research project financed by the European Research Council (2016-2021), led by Dr Martijn Koster. This research project investigates ethnographically how brokers position themselves in participatory urban governance. It examines their practices, discourses and networks, both in and outside officially sanctioned channels and institutions. The research conceptualizes brokers as 'assemblers', connective agents who actively bring together different government and citizen actors, institutions and resources and who combine formal and informal politics.
The project focuses on four cities, two in the Global North and two in the Global South: Rotterdam (NL), Manchester (UK), Cochabamba (Bolivia) and Recife (Brazil). It will develop a new framework for analysing brokerage in participatory urban governance, which will enhance our ability to understand the challenges of political representation more broadly, as well as the impact of brokerage on state-citizen engagement and on decision-making regarding the allocation of resources.
