Marco Amati

From Green Belts to Green Infrastructure

Abstract Green belts have been a part of the planning landscape for much of the 20th century, yet they have come under attack in recent years. The objective of this article is to inform the future of the green belt concept internationally and in the UK. We first examine recent policy changes in the UK, showing how green belts are being conceived more broadly to include the concept of green infrastructure. We then focus on Canadian green belts, and in particular that of Toronto, which exemplifies some of the challenges with integrating green belts and green infrastructure.

Making the Blood Broil: Conflicts Over Imagined Rurality in Peri-Urban Australia

A key challenge for planning the peri-urban internationally derives from the ability of land-use change to outstrip the development of new concepts and understandings. There are few places where this is more apparent than in the peri-urban areas of Melbourne, Australia, where applications to develop technologically sophisticated broiler or poultry farms are fiercely opposed by local residents and amenity migrants with attendant imaginaries of local community and extensive rural agricultural production. This paper presents the results of an analysis of development application appeals to show how the poultry industry negotiates with the planning system and manages community expectations in a broad swath of Melbournes exurbia. In particular, we question the relevance of the rural–urban duality for planning this space and argue the need for new concepts to lessen the conflict in these hybridized spaces of third nature.

Households' experience of local government during recovery from cyclones in coastal Bangladesh: resilience, equity, and corruption

Households’ links with local Government provide important support for disaster resilience and recovery on the Bangladeshi coast. Few previous studies of disaster resilience and recovery have explored how linking social networks—and in particular local government—contribute. Using household surveys, focus groups, and key informant interviews, we examine strengths and weaknesses of local government’s contribution, using two cyclone-affected coastal villages as case studies. The findings show that local government provides important support, for example relief distribution, livelihood assistance, and reconstruction of major community services. However, patronage relationships (notably favouring political supporters) and bribery play a substantial role in how those responsibilities are discharged. The equity and efficiency of these contributions to recovery are markedly diminished by corruption. Reducing corruption in UP’s contributions to disaster recovery could significantly improve resilience; however, general reform of governance in Bangladesh would needed to bring this about.

All of London's a stage: the 1943 County of London Plan Exhibition

The post-war reconstruction era was marked by numerous planning exhibitions which provide a window on the contemporary nature of communication and consultation in planning practice. The 1943 Exhibition of the County of London Plan prepared by J.H. Forshaw and Patrick Abercrombie was a major event with the king and queen making a high-profile visit. This article describes the making of the exhibition, considers its content, design and historical significance and reflects on its importance as a high water mark in the culture of twentieth-century town planning promotion generally and exhibition culture specifically. Archival research reveals how the London County Council (LCC) negotiated for resources from the central government and the local boroughs in hosting and organizing the event and how crucial these negotiations were in its eventual staging, marketing and impact.

Trans-national promotion of British and American planning practice in the 1940s

The political mandate for postwar reconstruction in the 1940s demanded an ideological consensus for state-directed town planning to regulate urban development. Exhibitions showcasing theoretical and practical proposals proved a popular medium for securing that consensus. Of interest here are two travelling exhibitions spreading the message of modern Anglo-American town planning knowledge globally that were staged by the British Council and the US Office of War Information (OWI). These parallel activities represent an early intersection between planning and the geopolitics of “soft-power”, which harnessed information and culture for the purposes of international diplomacy and influence. Developed from Australian case studies, this paper shows how the parallel marketing of American site planning and housing alongside British town and country planning helped make a general case for town planning in the post-war world to be adapted to local contexts.