This article argues that urban governance, and academic theorisations of it, have focused on the role and strategies of real estate developers at the expense of understanding how investors are shaped by regulatory environments. In contrast, using the case of institutional investment in London’s private rental housing (Build to Rent), in this article I argue that unpacking the private sector and the development process helps reveal different types of risk which necessitate variegated responses from within the real estate sector. In doing so, I demonstrate the complexities of the private sector in urban development, especially housing provision, and the limitations of a binary conceptualised around pro- and anti-development narratives when discussing planning decisions. Instead, I show the multiplicity of responses from within the private sector, and how these reflect particular approaches to risk management. Uncovering this helps theorise the complexities of governing housing systems and demonstrates the potential for risk-based urban governance analysis in the future.

本文认为，城市治理及其学术理论侧重于房地产开发商的作用和策略，而忽视了监管环境如何塑造投资者。相比之下，以伦敦私人出租房屋（Build to Rent）的机构投资为例，在本文中，我认为拆开私人部门和开发过程有助于揭示不同类型的风险，这些风险需要房地产部门内部的多样化反应. 在这样做的过程中，我展示了私营部门在城市发展中的复杂性，尤其是住房供应，以及在讨论规划决策时围绕支持和反对发展叙事的二元概念化的局限性。相反，我展示了私营部门内部的多种回应，以及这些如何反映特定的风险管理方法。揭示这一点有助于将管理住房系统的复杂性理论化，并展示未来基于风险的城市治理分析的潜力。