西方新城市管理:理论轮廓与反思

New City Management:Theory Contour and Reflection

近十几年来,公共服务途径经历了重大转型。一个多世纪建立起来的公共服务精神受到了新公共管理理论的挑战。新公共管理理论主要依赖私部门管理实践,强调将竞争引入公共服务领域的重要性。实践中,新公共管理力求将市民(公民)定义为产品的消费者或公共服务提供者的顾客。研究显示,尽管新公共管理运动促进了某些城市服务的改进,但也存在严重局限。主要表现在它不能释放改进公共服务的关键动力———市民和社区能量。作为一个整体,城市领导者与管理者在重塑公共服务改革议程中有着关键作用。作为改进城市治理质量,必须处理3大关键挑战。并将这一途径称为“新城市管理”,以寻求管理变革与地方政治复兴的融合。

This paper examines the strengths and weaknesses of the‘ New Public Management’. It is suggested that, while the movement has led to improvements in some urban services, the ‘New Public Management’ approach has limitations. A conceptual framework distinguishing three main routes to public service reform is presented. This suggests that 'New Public Management' reforms often fail to connect to a key driver of public service improvement - the energy and enthusiasm of citizens and communities. City leaders and urban managers have a key role to play in reshaping the agenda for public service improvement as a whole. The paper adopts a 'future'orientation and maps out the three key challenges now facing those concerned to improve the quality of urban governance: 1) rethinking the roles of politicians, officials and citizens and their triangular relationships, 2) developing the ‘public innovation ethos’ alongside the ‘public service ethos’ 3) revitalizing the local political process to draw excluded and unheard voices into the decision making process. This broad approach, which is named the ‘New City Management’,seeks to combine managerial change with revitalization of the politics of place.