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The place and practices of wellbeing in local governance

Atkinson, S.; Joyce, K.E.

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Authors

K.E. Joyce



Abstract

The concept of well-being has become prominent within national policy goals in the UK since the end of the 1990s. However, the concept of well-being remains ill defined, an instability that is increasingly understood as problematic to policy making. We engage with this terminological instability through an exploration of how the concept of well-being is practised discursively in local governance and critically examine the place of the concept in local policy making. In contrast to the current enthusiasm to define and measure well-being, we argue that the conceptual instability has inherent value for local governance. The concept of well-being is practised through a number of potentially conflicting discourses, but it is exactly this conceptual instability that enables a local negotiation and combination of alternative policy frameworks for local place-shaping strategies. As such, well-being not only is an overarching goal of governance but also contributes to the dynamics of the policy process.

Citation

Atkinson, S., & Joyce, K. (2011). The place and practices of wellbeing in local governance. Environment and planning. C, Government and policy, 29(1), 133-148. https://doi.org/10.1068/c09200

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Feb 1, 2011
Deposit Date Nov 16, 2010
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy
Print ISSN 0263-774X
Electronic ISSN 1472-3425
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 29
Issue 1
Pages 133-148
DOI https://doi.org/10.1068/c09200

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Copyright Statement
Atkinson, S. and Joyce, K.E. 2011. The definitive peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is published in
Environment and planning C : government and policy., 29 (1). pp. 133-148, 10.1068/c09200





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