Governance by and of Imagination: Outlining the Uses of Imagination within Urban Environmental Governance
David C. Eisenhauer
Abstract
Environmental governance must engage with and intervene within complex and frequently contradictory imaginative structures and relations. Navigating the tensions and opportunities within collective and individual imaginations requires attention to how different governance techniques and strategies integrate, draw on, and target ways of seeing, valuing, and making sense of the world. This article outlines a theory of imaginative governance and distinguishes between two broad forms imaginative governance can take—one in which imagination is a tool of governance and another in which imagination is an object of governance. This approach to conceptualizing imaginative governance is applied to efforts to address urban environmental issues. The article concludes by highlighting ways in which human geography can contribute to better understanding how, why, and through what means imaginative governance unfolds, as well as exploring possibilities for more just and transformative governance approaches. Key Words: environmental governance, imagination, transformation, urban governance.