Commissioners or co-producers of services? Challenges and opportunities for public sector organisations in the delivery of urban regeneration initiatives

Abstract

This paper builds on a doctoral study which examined the benefits and challenges encountered by third sector organisations (TSOs) in the implementation of European Union (EU) funded urban renewal programmes. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate, through a number of examples, how services can be co-produced between public sector organisations, TSOs and citizens. Programme Managers and Local Development Partnerships (LDPs) have been found to be able to use EU funding to develop the organisational capacity of TSOs and, at the same time, to deliver targeted services in deprived neighbourhoods. The paper then argues that the extent to which LDPs have moved beyond the mere allocation of EU funding and engaged in a process of co-production could be an effective indicator of performance in relation to the reduction of social and economic exclusion in some of the most deprived urban neighbourhoods in Europe