Debates on urban regeneration highlight the processes of mobilisation of public and private agents and the diversity of models of partnership. This paper focuses on the relationship between the diversity of partnerships and the processes of institutional change, and discusses the role played by governance culture. By looking at the case of Portugal, it explores a plurality of episodes of policy experimentation and actor—network practices. The results show that it is difficult to build general transformative processes when using specific innovative experiences as a basis. Sectoral institutional agendas and practices make it difficult to establish enduring processes of ‘cross-fertilisation’ for institutional and policy learning and innovation. Governance culture has a constraining influence. In such a context, the issue of the fragmentation of urban policy becomes crucial and the role of an urban policy that establishes the conditions in which innovation can occur seems to be particularly relevant.
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