The project aims to contribute to the advancement of the public sector through the identification of innovative practices of public administration and governance which, through serving people’s needs best, strengthen social cohesion and inclusion through participative governance within the three countries of Germany, Denmark and the USA and hence, in effect, uphold the legitimacy of the public sector. At the national level, the project will address two objectives: 1) to provide an overview of public administration and management innovations and 2) to assess the level of participative governance achieving gh social cohesion operationalised throuh inclusion and responsiveness. At the local level drawing on a case-study design, the project will research the impact of new modes of public governance on the demand-side from the citizens and beneficiaries of public services and on the supply-side from the civil servants and other providers of the services. The selected “cases” of urban areas, representing the lowest echelon in public governance and service delivery, will be identified by drawing on the results of the analysis conducted at the national level.