| Drawing on network management scholarship, this dissertation examines how leaders from government, arts, and business worked together to implement Philadelphia's cultural district, the Avenue of the Arts, as a strategy for generating tourism and reviving a declining downtown area. This case study analyzes the implementation of fifteen cultural district projects from 1979 to 2001, with particular focus on the network leadership of Mayor Edward G. Rendell (1992-1999). The case study evaluates how each key stakeholder led the network through organizing interests, building consensus, and utilizing policy tools to achieve the network's goals. The findings are contrasted with theories that claim a network is either managed by a single actor who directs it or is self-organized (self-managed), in which mutual adjustment of network actors enables collective goals. This study suggests network management is a process in which multiple leaders 'steer' as a network evolves, and requires different leaders---who utilize different skills and interventions related to their social positions---to be successful.; Three research aims guided the analysis: identifying outcomes of the initiative, analyzing the role of network management in implementation, and determining the most effective network manager. All successful projects benefited from network managers who brought new actors to the project, engaged in problem solving, and facilitated interactions within the network. Conversely, most failed projects lacked a network manager and were undermined by weak organizational leadership.; The success of projects also was influenced by geographical location on Broad Street. South Broad Street projects benefited from their Center City location and proximity to cultural attractions. Network managers also supported them, as the network's primary objective. North Broad Street projects failed because the area lacked an agglomeration of cultural facilities, the proposed projects were not venues or arts-based, and their largely black leadership lacked political power. Thus, network managers did not attempt to re-direct the network's resources toward this component of the initiative.; The success of Mayor Rendell as the most effective network manager depended on the application of different skills and interventions by other network managers at different times. This sequencing of network management activities enabled the network to accomplish its goals. |
