“Seeing Like a Project”:

How Project-Based Governance Shapes Culture-Led Regeneration in EU Policy Mobility Contexts

Abstract

This article seeks to contribute to the academic debate about policy mobility processes in the field of culture-led regeneration (CLR), focusing on how this policy model is understood and realised through project-based collaborative governance processes established in the framework of EU projects. It uses the Horizon 2020 project “ROCK” as a case-study, to explore how particular local and supra-local governance dynamics shaped CLR in Lisbon, through selective processes of inclusion and exclusion of actors, ideas and practices. Within the EU, CLR is taking place in contexts where a project logic is prevalent, with associated constraints in the duration, structure and requirements of specific funding programmes. This case-study shows how this can lead to short-sighted, instrumental, fragmented and temporary forms of governing CLR, that influence how different actors and perspectives are engaged in these processes. The current tendency for “seeing like a project” in EU urban development action, is seen to limit what and who is seen throughout these processes, contributing to the reproduction of biased CLR narratives and fast policy initiatives that may be unsuited to local realities and capacities. The article suggests a need to move beyond project-based thinking and to strategically and consistently invest in collaborative governance approaches that open space for plural visions and practices to influence the speed, the content and shape of CLR initiatives.