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The creation of public value is a topical debate for Dutch civil society organizations. Over the years, moving from government to governance, they supposedly have gained responsibility and space in meeting public needs. However, meeting the priority public needs and demonstrating actual public value creation has proved difficult. This has led to many discussions on how and if these organizations are creating public value. This study therefore investigated three practical cases to explore and explain how managers of housing associations create public value.

A case study method was employed.

Based on the different cases we can conclude that despite high ambitions, deviating normative views and the will to change displayed by the managers in the cases we investigated, we did not encounter situations where managers actually managed spaces for the creation of public value. The involved managers are still led by formal agendas and policies, rather than engaging in dialogues with their relevant stakeholders. They remain segmented in their approach and offering of services. Managers’ environment and stakeholders are not yet naturally seen as a place for sharing information and reframing boundaries for creating public value.

The opportunity in the investigated cases and for these managers lies in mobilizing and utilizing network relationships. This article provides a public value praxis model that focuses on involving stakeholders in investigating priority needs, collectively (re)designing services that meet these.

This chapter addresses housing policy in England since 2007 and changes in housing opportunities and inequalities. The credit crunch and its aftermath were experienced across the United Kingdom, and speeded the established trend to greater inequality. Many problems identified in England are relevant elsewhere, but the distinctive housing policies adopted in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are not discussed here. The chapter argues that the policy direction adopted since 2010 failed in its ambition to increase housing supply and home ownership and further increased social and spatial inequalities.

The marginalisation of council housing in Britain since the Housing Act of 1980 threatens to obscure some of the very valuable lessons to be learned from almost a century of mass public housing provision. This chapter demonstrates that despite considerable economic problems, and in the face of social change since 1980, a relatively poor council estate remained a site of social capital, and that women were particularly prominent in working with local agencies to solve problems.

This chapter provides a critical examination of the urban renewal process currently taking place in inner-city Johannesburg. It evaluates the effects of an approach to providing social housing which blends commercial, market-based practices with state intervention and regulation and discusses the implications these competing imperatives have for the area and academic understandings of urban renewal.

Findings are based on a qualitative research process, carried out over 9 months in inner-city Johannesburg. Research involved interviews with property developers, housing providers, government officials, and tenants living in renovated social and affordable housing developments.

The process is contradictory and overburdened, and attempts to fulfill competing goals and agendas. Some developmental ambitions are being realized as the supply of social and affordable housing is expanding. However, the benefits are limited, as poor communities are being displaced and, in many cases, commercial concerns trump social and developmental considerations.

Findings highlight the ways in which a range of political circumstances, policy decisions, and spatial conditions combine to create an approach to renewal which is neither entirely neoliberal nor developmental. The case study complicates narratives which stress the global dominance of neoliberal approaches to urban renewal and demonstrates that alternative developmental ambitions exist alongside commercial practices.

The chapter highlights the ambiguity and hybridity of localized approaches to housing provision. In doing so it adds nuance to debates about urban processes around the globe and draws attention back to the uncertainty, agency, and diversity which are continuously shaping urban societies.

By 2030, one in six people in the world will be aged 60 years or over. As the average age of population increases, governments are increasingly called upon to implement policies to address the needs and interests of older people, including those related to housing, employment, health care, social protection, and other forms of intergenerational solidarity. Public libraries, as trusted community hubs, have the opportunity to serve as an environment for reflection and dialogue on age and aging. In this chapter, the authors reflect on the broader contexts and social trends that are shaping older adults’ engagement with public libraries and identify those older adults-focused public library practices that align with specific UN Sustainable Development Goals: Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being, Goal 4: Quality Education, Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, Goal 10: Reduce Inequalities, and Goal 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions. While public libraries are already meeting many facets of UN Sustainable Development Goals, to ensure that libraries can responsively meet older adults’ changing needs and expectations, the authors conclude with suggestions to enhance public libraries’ cross-sector coordination for maximum reach and impact on older patrons’ everyday lives.

It is commonly accepted that the study of urban politics has become increasingly complex and fragmented, characterised by a shift away from formal local government structures to a diverse range of public, private and voluntary agencies. The analysis of ‘multi-level’ local governance (Stoker, 2004) in contemporary urban societies therefore requires a need to focus on informal relationships as well as formal institutions, acknowledging the role of a multiplicity of actors and their interactions within partnership and network structures. In this respect the limitations of a purely quantitative methodology have been well-documented, including a lack of depth, insufficient attention to power relationships and an inability to account for symbolic action (see, e.g. Silverman, 2001 and other chapters in this collection). Qualitative methodologies offer the opportunity to consider meaning, complexity and institutional fragmentation in urban policy through detailed empirical and theoretical analysis. However, it is less clear what kinds of theoretical tools are most appropriate to underpin effective qualitative research. The purpose of this chapter is not only to suggest a general approach (that of social constructionism), but also to demonstrate how recent developments can be applied effectively to overcome some of the criticisms of constructionist social theory. The chapter suggests a number of approaches that can provide a means by which contemporary urban processes can be systematically interpreted.