Creative discretion and the structure of context-responsive improvising

Tony Evans and Peter Hupe’s studies of discretion enable a practical analysis of the imaginative improvising required of diverse urban managers. Discretion “as granted” bounds the freedom but does not account for the complexity of context-responsive discretionary “uses.” Such responsive improvisation, no longer romanticized as spontaneous jazz, integrates careful judgments of listening, analysis, and negotiation. A narrative case analysis assesses three urban cases (of school administration, neighborhood controversy, and inter-ethnic conflict) to examine how morally sensitive, contextually responsive, practically crafted improvising takes place through distinct interpretive practices of listening for salience, analysis of relationships, and negotiated problem-solving. These findings suggest further research about accountability and possibilities revealed by this structural analysis of urban improvising.