John Sturzaker

The exercise of power to limit the development of new housing in the English countryside

The author argues that power is being exercised by rural elites to prevent much-needed new housing being built in the English countryside. Evidence is presented from five case-study local authorities in rural England, via analysis of interview data and policy documents produced at the regional and local plan-making level. Technocratic explanations for the ongoing failure of the planning system to deliver more housing in line with the well-established need/demand for such are rejected. Drawing on the three dimensions of power presented by Lukes, the author explores how the exercise of power effectively subverts planning processes and leads overwhelmingly to decisions being made which favour the exclusionary preferences of certain groups.

Can Community Empowerment Reduce Opposition to Housing? Evidence from Rural England

Abstract This paper explores the potential benefits of giving local communities a greater role in planning for housing—an approach being pioneered by the government in the UK. That new government has embarked on an ambitious programme of reform, including dismantling the ‘top-down’ system of planning for housing and replacing it with a ‘bottom-up’, community-driven approach. This paper explores the implications of this new approach to ask whether it can be effective in reducing opposition to new housing. It draws upon evidence taken from a study into opposition to small-scale housing schemes in rural England, and broader literature related to opposition to development.

“I Think That Sometimes Reading Is Overrated” Tactical, Strategic, and Epistemological Reflections on Planning Education

This article uses the analogy of tactical and strategic planning to suggest methods for increasing the amount of reading done by planning students, inspired by data revealing disappointingly low levels of reading among students at one institution. The article also advocates reflection on teaching and learning practices at an epistemological level, questioning whether the teaching practices of planning scholars have completed the transition to a constructivist epistemology implied by much of the research within the discipline.

Sustainable urban development in tightly constrained areas: a case study of Darjeeling, India

The quantity of writing on sustainable urban development continues to expand. Much of this writing, whether using a theoretical or empirical focus (or both), takes a strongly normative tone, exhorting actors in locations across the globe to make greater efforts to move development trends in more sustainable directions. This normative work is, of course, of vital importance, but in this paper, we argue for more attention to the context within which development takes place, particularly where that context imposes severe, perhaps crippling, constraints on opportunities for path-breaking actions. To explore this issue, we introduce the case study of the Indian hill station town of Darjeeling. We assess the sustainability issues faced by the town (including rapid population growth, limited availability of land, dynamic development arena) and analyse the ongoing attempts by local governmental and non-governmental actors to deal with those issues, within constraints of physical location and an intensely contested politico-governance framework that we suggest are examples of intense contextual constraints.

‘The planners’ dream goes wrong?’ Questioning citizen-centred planning

ABSTRACT The reform of urban and environmental planning in England since the election of the Coalition government in 2010 has resulted in the emergence of Neighbourhood Planning: a situation in which citizens can autonomously assemble, define the spatial extent of their neighbourhood and author a plan for it. In this paper, we argue that this radical policy is part of a wider agenda to de-professionalise planning as a statutory function and has its roots in an odd assemblage of classical right-wing political thinking and the prescriptions of post-positivist planning theory. This uneasy conceptual relationship reveals a wider inconsistency between the policy in rhetorical form and its practical implementation. Drawing on primary research from England’s North-West and a thorough review of literature, we hope to show that the dream of citizen-centred planning masks deep tensions within the activity of urban and environmental management.

Fear: An Underexplored Motivation for Planners’ Behaviour?

Abstract This paper contributes to the small but growing body of literature on the factors that influence the behavioural nature of planning practice. In this contribution, we specifically focus on fear and fearfulness as emotions that can be seen as having a significant bearing on the emergence of norms of practice. Using case-study evidence from England, we draw upon work in behavioural psychology to argue that in some contexts fear can become a natural reaction for planners; and that helping to create a more positive atmosphere for planning decisions—a space for hope—is something we should all consider important.

Democratic tensions in decentralised planning – Rhetoric, legislation and reality in England

The shifting of power from the central state to local and sub-local arenas of governance (labelled as localism or decentralisation) is a common feature of many 21st-century democracies, popular with both the “left” and “right” in political terms. A common justification for this is that it is assumed to be “more democratic” than the alternative. The superficiality of this assumption, however, conceals much tension and complexity, not least potential tensions between different variants of “democracy”. This paper explores this tension and complexity using the example of the new neighbourhood planning powers in England, introduced through the 2011 Localism Act, which combine representative and direct forms of democracy, and promote public participation. We will argue that whilst opening up new channels for democratic participation by citizens, the reforms introduced in 2011, and similar moves towards decentralisation of (planning) powers elsewhere, may be insufficiently cognisant of power dynamics at the local and community scales, leading to various sets of tensions between the actors involved. We conclude that how the actors respond to these tensions will have a strong influence on the success or otherwise of this experiment with planning and democracy.