Edited by Robyn Keast, Professor, Faculty of Business, Law and Arts, Southern Cross University, Australia, Joris Voets, Associate Professor, Department of Public Governance and Management, Ghent University, Belgium, Jack Wayne Meek, Professor Emeritus of Public Administration, College of Law and Public Service, University of La Verne, US and Christine Flynn, Director, Connexity Associates Pty Ltd, Australia

• Contents:PART I SETTING THE CONTEXT1 Introduction: why a modern guide to networks? 2Robyn Keast, Jack Wayne Meek, Joris Voets andChristine Flynn2 What are networks? A social, relational perspective 15Robyn Keast and Jack Wayne MeekPART II CASE EXAMPLES3 ‘Travelling from 1600 to 2020 in one week’: resilienceand leadership in school networks during the COVID-19pandemic 33Maria Cucciniello, Daniela Cristofoli and Alex Turrini4 The role of communication in public health disastermanagement: city–county engagements during COVID-19in Los Angeles County 53Shawn R. Granger and Jack Wayne Meek5 Strategic planning in a governance network: a life cycle approach 76Laure Vandersmissen, Marianne Schapmans, Joris Voetsand Bert George6 Integrated service networks in Poland: insights from thedelivery of social assistance in two cities 96Piotr Modzelewski, Robyn Keast and Geoff Woolcott7 ‘Coopetition-based’ network governance – mechanismsand pitfalls: the example of the German rehabilitation industry 123Ingo Bode8 A network analysis of a metropolitan affordable housingnetwork: lessons for policy guidance from the City of LosAngeles 141Helen Morales and Jack Wayne Meek9 The role of shared identity in effective governance networks 166Sinead Shannon and Mary Lee Rhodes10 Network bandwidth management in public administration:definition and mechanisms 191Barbara Zyzak11 A modern network gap: a case for the establishmentof formal boundary-spanning organizations to supportinnovation policy 211David Noble12 Global health networks: fostering convergence inwomen’s and children’s health policy 233Mary E. Wiktorowicz, Yeonjoo Lee and Peter Tsasis13 Knowing how, knowing who: the role of a UK onlinehealth informatics practitioner network towardssystem-wide learning 251Louise Wilson and Marcus Baw14 Positioning impact and sustainability under the umbrellaof cultural accumulation theory: framing a novelconceptualization of modern networks 270Geoff Woolcott, Robyn Keast, Amanda Scott, TomCosentino, Joe Harvey-Jones, Helen Lynch andBronwyn RichardsPART III NEXT PRACTICE AND GUIDELINES15 Modern network research: insights from networkpractitioners in addressing the knowing–doing gap 291Robyn Keast, Jack Wayne Meek, Christine Flynn andJoris Voets16 Conclusion: the practices of modern networks 313Robyn Keast, Jack W. Meek, Joris Voets and ChristineFlynnIndex

‘In this volume, Robyn Keast, Joris Voets, Jack Meek, Christine Flynn and their co-authors highlight an important feature of contemporary social networks that are convened to pursue collective actions for the public good: that all social networks boil down to relationships between people and between people and things (e.g., organizations, infrastructure). By elevating the importance of relationship, they necessarily define the essence of a network as a set of practices that have, as they note, been an essential, if not the essential feature of human civilization, and certainly core to the practice of public administration since the dawn of organized and intentional collective action. The chapters in this volume examine contemporary cases through a focus on relationships and underscore that networks can, when fostered with integrity, emotional and cultural intelligence, and deep concerns for public value and public values, enhance the resilience of communities and whole societies. This is an important contribution to the fields of network governance and management because it demonstrates the importance of reflective practice to the craft of network cultivation.’