Urban Improvement Districts as new form of local governance

A growing number of German towns established Urban Improvement Districts (UIDs) as instrument of redevelopment of urban neighbourhoods. Real-estate owners and further actors participate politically and contribute financially to the process of revaluation, but this brings about problems of local democracy, legitimation, participation and accountability. The article examines the implementation of UIDs in three German cities and compares experiences made with this new instrument of participative urban development. It focuses on the implications for local democracy and explores whether UIDs could be useful instruments of city governance and appropriate arrangements to unlock additional resources at local level.