Planning Theory & Practice | 2021
Design Governance, Austerity and the Public Interest: Planning and the Delivery of ‘Well-Designed Places’ in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland
Abstract
ABSTRACT This paper considers how planning authorities can achieve urban design ambitions in the context of deepening neoliberalism and fiscal austerity. Based upon a case study of West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, the paper reveals the innovative steps taken by the local authority to introduce new design governance tools in the face of significant resource constraints. The paper critically examines the role that the private sector plays in the governance of design and argues for a reconceptualisation of design governance that more rigorously attends to the challenge of delivering well-designed places in the public interest.