This dissertation explores how urban leaders can leverage urban innovation to address complex challenges and uncertainties, particularly in marginalized communities. Through three standalone articles, it reconceptualizes urban innovation as a platform for collective action, emphasizing community-driven approaches over technocratic and top-down perspectives. The research includes a pilot study on tactical urbanism and two systematic reviews on urban innovation governance and just city implications, offering evidence-based principles for localized innovation governance regimes. The findings contribute to debates on public governance, community development, and innovation, highlighting the transformative potential of urban innovation when approached through a self-governing, community-level lens.
Thomas A. Bryer, Committee Chair.
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