The creeping influence of consultants on cities: McKinsey's involvement in Berlin's urban economic and social policies

The involvement of management consultants in contemporary urban policymaking exemplifies how experts exercise political influence. In Berlin, the McKinsey consultancy has gained a particularly powerful role in shaping strategies in economic, but also social, issues. We examine two instances of its involvement from two different angles: Berlin 2020, a pro bono study by McKinsey that gives advice for a stronger economic dynamism, provides insights into how the consultancy establishes itself as a powerful actor in urban policymaking through stabilising the consensus on economic growth as a key goal for urban development; and the parliamentary debates on McKinsey's support for the city's integration plans reveal both intensified personal private-public networks and their political contestation. Both examples are thoroughly analysed by applying the documentary method. The entrepreneurial experts' political influence indicates a combination of neoliberalisation, market regulation, urban crises, and a demand for fast policies. We expose consultants' general tactics in contemporary policymaking and conceive these as a creeping expert influence on cities through organising consensuses and networks. We identify the processes of expert-driven local decision-making as mechanisms of concentrating urban political powers that are simultaneously endorsed and contested.