CITIES AND THEIR GURUS: The Role of Superstar Consultants in Post?political Urban Governance

While consultants have crept into various aspects of municipal governance, a selected few transcended the others reaching status urban gurus. Although are often perceived as depoliticizing affairs, research shows that guru instigates politicization. Research on gurus does thus highlight distinctions between and ‘lay’ consultants, but it has paid insufficient attention to describing how, through their interaction with cities, politicization occurs. Moreover, literature portrays this an authority relationship in which is superior, while fact cities play important role bestowing ‘guru’ status. Using fieldwork, I examine long-term Richard Florida City Toronto, explaining how Florida's elevation by being brought Toronto ended him self-describing ‘persona non-grata’. To explain anomaly way instigate politicization, differentiate consultants’ ‘substance’ ‘process’ roles policy formulation processes. show that, regarding substance, offers paradigm rather than instruments and, process, strength performing ideas pulling strings behind scenes—in both respects making process more public contested.