01738nam a22001577a 4500999001900000008004100019100006700060245010700127260002600234300003400260520108000294650006401374773002601438942000701464952010901471  c528532d528532241211b           ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d  aMerdan Seker, Shearmur, Richard and  Beaudet, Gérard 949441  aDefying stereotypes, populism, and neoliberal discourse: Municipal agility and innovation during COVID  aUrban Affairs Review   a60(5), Sep, 2024: p.1323-1348  aLocal governments are often viewed as basic service and infrastructure providers that are neither particularly proactive nor innovative: in certain influential circles, this view has taken on the trappings of “common-sense,” and underpins the protracted undermining of public-sector organizations, a hallmark of neoliberalism. However, the COVID crisis required municipalities to act with agility and speed, belying this “common sense.” We examine 54 examples of how municipalities in Québec adapted to the pandemic. The range of adaptation and innovation that we report illustrates that local government can be flexible, agile, and innovative when necessary. Our analysis suggests that innovation is not always desired by the innovator, that the impact of a project should be distinguished from its innovativeness, and that any assessment of municipal innovativeness and its impact requires careful consideration of who it is evaluated for, who it is evaluated by, and in what context.- Reproduced 

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/10780874231221469
  aLocal governance, Public sector, Innovation, Covid. 949442  aUrban Affairs Review   cAR  00102ddc40709403625aIIPAbIIPAd2024-12-11h60(5), Sep, 2024: p.1323-1348pAR133925r2024-12-11yAR