A Passion for Place and Participation

The aim of this chapter is to explore the connections between place and participation in the context of the devolution of statutory governance to local neighbourhoods. The chapter tests the key assumption underpinning the state rationality of localism that the smallest geographical unit of governance – the local neighbourhood or place – provides the greatest opportunities for citizens to participate in decisions. Examining the role of place within an international division of labour between private and public, the chapter maintains that localism provides the statutory framework in which a domestic economy of reciprocity can be practiced as democratic governance. It advances the innovative concept of community identity frames to explain how neighbourly relations can be transformed into more formal processes of participative democracy. In this way, the chapter argues, places can be more democratic simply because they are more local.