ABSTRACT:Current economic, organizational, and political forces are presenting urban governments in Britain and the United States of America with new challenges. This article, which draws on current British experience, offers a conceptual framework for understanding emerging trends. Three competing change strategies are examined: the radical right strategy of cutting public expenditure and promoting privitization; the reform of public service conceived as a management strategy for improving the responsiveness of services to the needs of consumers, and the reform of public service conceived as a strategy for empowering the consumer and the citizen in order to strengthen local democracy.