Challenging collaborative urban governance under austerity: How local governments and social organizations deal with housing policy in Catalonia (Spain)

During the decades preceding the 2008 global financial crisis, collaborative urban governance had become hegemonic in many European cities. However, the postcrash austerity era seems to have dampened enthusiasm for network governance. This article examines this proposition by analyzing the evolution of collaborative urban governance mechanisms in local housing policy from 2008 to 2014. In addition, new citizen-led movements are explored, demonstrating how new social and political actors are also challenging established processes of collaborative urban governance. Drawing on 4 local case studies in the Spanish region of Catalonia, we identify different urban governance pathways, which are not simply explained by changes in local government but also by institutional path dependencies and the particular social fabric of each place. We conclude that collaborative urban governance has not been used as a significant response to the effects of the recession. Instead, new social and institutional arrangements may be starting to emerge.