Nuno F Da Cruz
Biographic Data
| ID | 4387219 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Nuno F Da Cruz |
| GIVEN NAMES | Nuno F |
| FAMILY NAME | Da Cruz |
| SIGNATURE | DA CRUZ N F |
| AFFILIATIONS | London School of Economics and Political Science |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3381-6359 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 129 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Political (in)visibility and governance disconnects
Like many large cities in the Global South, Addis Ababa and Faisalabad have struggled to improve their solid waste management (SWM) systems. The political economy of the sector, alongside local attitudes towards waste work, creates a complex governance environment in which solutions are far from obvious. This article traces social, political and institutional change in the SWM systems of the two cities through a comparative, interdisciplinary ana…
Between promise and practice
Youth participation in governance is widely endorsed by international institutions and scholars alike, yet its democratic outcomes remain poorly understood. This article presents a scoping review of 48 empirical studies on youth participation in local governance across 24 countries, using a structured framework to analyse individual, community, and government-level outcomes. The analysis identifies a range of rationales behind youth participation…
Social structures of urban governance
Focusing on strategic planning for spatial development, this paper explores the social structures that underpin urban governance in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. To bridge the divide in the literature between studies that are narrowly focused on public service networks (typically more quantitative) and broader studies of urban governance (typically more qualitative), we use a social network analysis approach based on structured interviews to chart the a…
Networked Urban Governance
This paper investigates urban governance empirically by applying social network analysis methods to data gathered through structured interviews in London and New York. We explore how decisions are made in complex institutional environments inhabited by various types of actors. Owing to the time-consuming data collection and treatment processes, the research zooms in on transport. The comparative approach enabled the detection of different structu…
The quality of local democracy
Much of the literature on quality of democracy is case study-oriented and focused on nation states. Theoretical work and, in particular, comparative empirical research on the quality of local democracy are less advanced. This paper contributes to our understanding of how democracy works from below. It develops a conceptual framing and employs a multidimensional index of the quality of democracy across all 278 municipalities in mainland Portugal b…
Infrastructure governance in the post-networked city
Ethiopia’s mass-scale subsidized housing delivery programme has driven the rapid expansion of middle-income, mid-rise settlements on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, requiring the provision of infrastructure to newly developed areas. In the case of the Kotari housing project, established sanitation systems were deemed inappropriate for the site, resulting in the deployment of novel technology, a Membrane Bioreactor (MBR). Such decentralised technolo…
The metropolitan scale
New urban governance
This review article explores some of the key concepts, trends, and approaches in contemporary urban governance research. Based on a horizon scan of recent literature and a survey of local government officials, it provides a big picture on the topic and identifies areas for future research. Bridging the gap between the scholarly research focus and the perceptions and requirements of city administrators represents a major challenge for the field. F…
An Application of a Multicriteria Model to Assess the Quality of Local Governance
This article presents a method to assess the quality of local governance practices. The multicriteria decision analysis modeling approach is illustrated through a real application (Portuguese municipalities). To define the criteria, performance descriptors, and reference levels in each dimension of local governance, and to account for the differences in preference of scoring in each criterion, the judgments of legitimate stakeholders were conside…
Governing urban accessibility
Access to people, goods, ideas and services is the basis of economic development in cities. The better this access, the greater the economic benefits through economies of scale, agglomeration effects and networking advantages. The way in which cities facilitate accessibility also impacts directly on other key aspects of human development, social inclusion and well-being. Accessibility is created through a complex interplay of urban form and trans…
Explaining the transparency of local government websites through a political market framework
This paper contributes to the literature on government transparency by addressing the question of what drives the differences in local government levels of transparency. Our main objective is to ascertain whether transparency is mainly driven by the leadership, capacity and other political traits of the local governments themselves -"supply-side determinants"or, rather, if it hinges on social, cultural and/or other local community factors ("deman…
Measuring Local Government Transparency
Despite the importance of government transparency to promote accountability and prevent maladministration, empirical research has failed to produce proper tools to assess and compare government transparency practices. Most contributions to the topic do not address it from a stakeholder’s perspective, particularly in selecting the indicators to include in transparency indexes. This paper contributes to the debate by developing a municipal transpar…
Structuring composite local governance indicators
The importance of good governance is praised by many academics and practitioners. The prominence of the subject suggests that measurement is important. However, setting out to measure the quality of governance empirically is controversial. Doubts regarding the feasibility and meaningfulness of this undertaking are widespread in the literature. Recognizing the potential caveats, the current article discusses a set of guidelines for structuring a t…
Measuring the sustainability of urban water services
Revisiting the determinants of local government performance
Local Mixed Companies
Several factors have been contributing to the growing use of public private‐partnership (PPP) arrangements by local governments, such as, the need for new investments on infrastructure (e.g. decentralization of responsibilities, regulatory requirements demanding better quality and environmental protection, renovation of the networks), imposition of strict debt limits to the localities, and local government reform policies/programs. Whereas contra…
Scorecards for sustainable local governments
Mixed Companies and Local Governance
This article looks at the use of institutionalized public–private partnership (PPP) arrangements by local governments for the delivery of different types of infrastructure. It starts by analyzing the mixed company model from a theoretical point of view, in particular the potential for internal regulation and the achievement of a relational agreement. Then, after discussing the practicalities of crafting this type of governance structure, four Por…
Viability of Municipal Companies in the Provision of Urban Infrastructure Services
This article discusses the organisational and institutional model of municipal company in the provision of urban infrastructure services in Portugal. The law recently enacted which defined the legal regime for the local business sector, as well as the growing awareness that the new public management models represent great advantages in comparison with the bureaucratic ones that characterise the traditional public administration, make this a curre…
Mixed Companies and Local Governance
This article looks at the use of institutionalized public–private partnership (PPP) arrangements by local governments for the delivery of different types of infrastructure. It starts by analyzing the mixed company model from a theoretical point of view, in particular the potential for internal regulation and the achievement of a relational agreement. Then, after discussing the practicalities of crafting this type of governance structure, four Por…
Explaining the transparency of local government websites through a political market framework
This paper contributes to the literature on government transparency by addressing the question of what drives the differences in local government levels of transparency. Our main objective is to ascertain whether transparency is mainly driven by the leadership, capacity and other political traits of the local governments themselves -"supply-side determinants"or, rather, if it hinges on social, cultural and/or other local community factors ("deman…
Viability of Municipal Companies in the Provision of Urban Infrastructure Services
This article discusses the organisational and institutional model of municipal company in the provision of urban infrastructure services in Portugal. The law recently enacted which defined the legal regime for the local business sector, as well as the growing awareness that the new public management models represent great advantages in comparison with the bureaucratic ones that characterise the traditional public administration, make this a curre…
Infrastructure governance in the post-networked city
Ethiopia’s mass-scale subsidized housing delivery programme has driven the rapid expansion of middle-income, mid-rise settlements on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, requiring the provision of infrastructure to newly developed areas. In the case of the Kotari housing project, established sanitation systems were deemed inappropriate for the site, resulting in the deployment of novel technology, a Membrane Bioreactor (MBR). Such decentralised technolo…
Local Mixed Companies
Several factors have been contributing to the growing use of public private‐partnership (PPP) arrangements by local governments, such as, the need for new investments on infrastructure (e.g. decentralization of responsibilities, regulatory requirements demanding better quality and environmental protection, renovation of the networks), imposition of strict debt limits to the localities, and local government reform policies/programs. Whereas contra…
Networked Urban Governance
This paper investigates urban governance empirically by applying social network analysis methods to data gathered through structured interviews in London and New York. We explore how decisions are made in complex institutional environments inhabited by various types of actors. Owing to the time-consuming data collection and treatment processes, the research zooms in on transport. The comparative approach enabled the detection of different structu…
The quality of local democracy
Much of the literature on quality of democracy is case study-oriented and focused on nation states. Theoretical work and, in particular, comparative empirical research on the quality of local democracy are less advanced. This paper contributes to our understanding of how democracy works from below. It develops a conceptual framing and employs a multidimensional index of the quality of democracy across all 278 municipalities in mainland Portugal b…
Measuring the sustainability of urban water services
The metropolitan scale
Scorecards for sustainable local governments
Social structures of urban governance
Focusing on strategic planning for spatial development, this paper explores the social structures that underpin urban governance in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. To bridge the divide in the literature between studies that are narrowly focused on public service networks (typically more quantitative) and broader studies of urban governance (typically more qualitative), we use a social network analysis approach based on structured interviews to chart the a…
An Application of a Multicriteria Model to Assess the Quality of Local Governance
This article presents a method to assess the quality of local governance practices. The multicriteria decision analysis modeling approach is illustrated through a real application (Portuguese municipalities). To define the criteria, performance descriptors, and reference levels in each dimension of local governance, and to account for the differences in preference of scoring in each criterion, the judgments of legitimate stakeholders were conside…
Governing urban accessibility
Access to people, goods, ideas and services is the basis of economic development in cities. The better this access, the greater the economic benefits through economies of scale, agglomeration effects and networking advantages. The way in which cities facilitate accessibility also impacts directly on other key aspects of human development, social inclusion and well-being. Accessibility is created through a complex interplay of urban form and trans…
Structuring composite local governance indicators
The importance of good governance is praised by many academics and practitioners. The prominence of the subject suggests that measurement is important. However, setting out to measure the quality of governance empirically is controversial. Doubts regarding the feasibility and meaningfulness of this undertaking are widespread in the literature. Recognizing the potential caveats, the current article discusses a set of guidelines for structuring a t…
Viability of Municipal Companies in the Provision of Urban Infrastructure Services
This article discusses the organisational and institutional model of municipal company in the provision of urban infrastructure services in Portugal. The law recently enacted which defined the legal regime for the local business sector, as well as the growing awareness that the new public management models represent great advantages in comparison with the bureaucratic ones that characterise the traditional public administration, make this a curre…
Mixed Companies and Local Governance
This article looks at the use of institutionalized public–private partnership (PPP) arrangements by local governments for the delivery of different types of infrastructure. It starts by analyzing the mixed company model from a theoretical point of view, in particular the potential for internal regulation and the achievement of a relational agreement. Then, after discussing the practicalities of crafting this type of governance structure, four Por…
Revisiting the determinants of local government performance
Local Mixed Companies
Several factors have been contributing to the growing use of public private‐partnership (PPP) arrangements by local governments, such as, the need for new investments on infrastructure (e.g. decentralization of responsibilities, regulatory requirements demanding better quality and environmental protection, renovation of the networks), imposition of strict debt limits to the localities, and local government reform policies/programs. Whereas contra…
Scorecards for sustainable local governments
Measuring the sustainability of urban water services
Measuring Local Government Transparency
Despite the importance of government transparency to promote accountability and prevent maladministration, empirical research has failed to produce proper tools to assess and compare government transparency practices. Most contributions to the topic do not address it from a stakeholder’s perspective, particularly in selecting the indicators to include in transparency indexes. This paper contributes to the debate by developing a municipal transpar…
Structuring composite local governance indicators
The importance of good governance is praised by many academics and practitioners. The prominence of the subject suggests that measurement is important. However, setting out to measure the quality of governance empirically is controversial. Doubts regarding the feasibility and meaningfulness of this undertaking are widespread in the literature. Recognizing the potential caveats, the current article discusses a set of guidelines for structuring a t…
Explaining the transparency of local government websites through a political market framework
This paper contributes to the literature on government transparency by addressing the question of what drives the differences in local government levels of transparency. Our main objective is to ascertain whether transparency is mainly driven by the leadership, capacity and other political traits of the local governments themselves -"supply-side determinants"or, rather, if it hinges on social, cultural and/or other local community factors ("deman…
Governing urban accessibility
Access to people, goods, ideas and services is the basis of economic development in cities. The better this access, the greater the economic benefits through economies of scale, agglomeration effects and networking advantages. The way in which cities facilitate accessibility also impacts directly on other key aspects of human development, social inclusion and well-being. Accessibility is created through a complex interplay of urban form and trans…
New urban governance
This review article explores some of the key concepts, trends, and approaches in contemporary urban governance research. Based on a horizon scan of recent literature and a survey of local government officials, it provides a big picture on the topic and identifies areas for future research. Bridging the gap between the scholarly research focus and the perceptions and requirements of city administrators represents a major challenge for the field. F…
An Application of a Multicriteria Model to Assess the Quality of Local Governance
This article presents a method to assess the quality of local governance practices. The multicriteria decision analysis modeling approach is illustrated through a real application (Portuguese municipalities). To define the criteria, performance descriptors, and reference levels in each dimension of local governance, and to account for the differences in preference of scoring in each criterion, the judgments of legitimate stakeholders were conside…
The metropolitan scale
Infrastructure governance in the post-networked city
Ethiopia’s mass-scale subsidized housing delivery programme has driven the rapid expansion of middle-income, mid-rise settlements on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, requiring the provision of infrastructure to newly developed areas. In the case of the Kotari housing project, established sanitation systems were deemed inappropriate for the site, resulting in the deployment of novel technology, a Membrane Bioreactor (MBR). Such decentralised technolo…
Networked Urban Governance
This paper investigates urban governance empirically by applying social network analysis methods to data gathered through structured interviews in London and New York. We explore how decisions are made in complex institutional environments inhabited by various types of actors. Owing to the time-consuming data collection and treatment processes, the research zooms in on transport. The comparative approach enabled the detection of different structu…
The quality of local democracy
Much of the literature on quality of democracy is case study-oriented and focused on nation states. Theoretical work and, in particular, comparative empirical research on the quality of local democracy are less advanced. This paper contributes to our understanding of how democracy works from below. It develops a conceptual framing and employs a multidimensional index of the quality of democracy across all 278 municipalities in mainland Portugal b…
Social structures of urban governance
Focusing on strategic planning for spatial development, this paper explores the social structures that underpin urban governance in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. To bridge the divide in the literature between studies that are narrowly focused on public service networks (typically more quantitative) and broader studies of urban governance (typically more qualitative), we use a social network analysis approach based on structured interviews to chart the a…
Political (in)visibility and governance disconnects
Like many large cities in the Global South, Addis Ababa and Faisalabad have struggled to improve their solid waste management (SWM) systems. The political economy of the sector, alongside local attitudes towards waste work, creates a complex governance environment in which solutions are far from obvious. This article traces social, political and institutional change in the SWM systems of the two cities through a comparative, interdisciplinary ana…
Between promise and practice
Youth participation in governance is widely endorsed by international institutions and scholars alike, yet its democratic outcomes remain poorly understood. This article presents a scoping review of 48 empirical studies on youth participation in local governance across 24 countries, using a structured framework to analyse individual, community, and government-level outcomes. The analysis identifies a range of rationales behind youth participation…
Business (14 works) · Political science (13 works) · Corporate governance (11 works) · Economics (11 works) · Local Government Finance and Decentralization (10 works) · Public Administration (10 works) · Politics (7 works) · Public Administration (7 works) · Finance (6 works) · Computer Science (5 works)