Yasminah Beebeejaun

What's in a nation? Constructing ethnicity in the British planning system

Targeted consultation of ethnic minority groups has been promoted as a tool to address systemic racial disadvantage within society. Within planning there has been an emphasis upon identifying ethnic minority communities in the context of considering differing policy needs within the development planning process. The article draws upon research investigating how the ideology of the nation constructs ethnicity which acts to shape consultation practices within local planning authorities in England. The development of such consultation within urban planning, it is argued, has reinforced false understandings of ethnicity. Despite good intentions in some respects, planning authorities continue to address the needs and interests of ethnic minority people in a superficial manner. The article suggests that there is a need to give greater attention to how the ideology of the nation limits the actions of planners.

Gender, urban space, and the right to everyday life

ABSTRACT Gender remains a neglected focus for theory and practice in shaping cities. Given women’s continuing economic and social marginalization and the prevalence of violence against women, how can this be the case? Despite several decades of feminist scholarship, dominant perspectives within the “the right to the city” literature pay little attention to how “rights” are gendered. In contrast, feminist and queer scholarship concerned with everyday life and the multiple spatial tactics of marginalized city dwellers reveal a more complex urban arena in which rights are negotiated or practiced. This article suggests that a fuller recognition of the contested publics that coexist within the contemporary city and the gendered mediation of everyday experiences could enable planners and policy makers to undertake more inclusive forms of intervention in urban space.

Including the Excluded? Changing the Understandings of Ethnicity in Contemporary English Planning

The inclusion of ethnic and racial groups through participation is a key concern for planners, but far too little attention has been given to the way that groups become identified. Ethnic identity is presumed to be self-evident. Drawing on the political theory of Young and Gilroy the paper questions the basis for ethnic identity as a group membership. These theorists suggest that through attention to relationships between ethnic groups we can open up space to challenge existing ethnic power relations. The paper draws upon qualitative research in two English local authorities to explore how long-standing conceptualisations of ethnicity act to diminish the positive contribution that attention to difference can have. The findings suggest that planners make positive efforts to understand ethnic difference and engage with community groups. However, the identification of groups is not a neutral or objective process, but instead is power-ridden. This article argues that the progressive edge of planning and efforts of planners are undermined if we do not interrogate the basis for the understanding of ethnic difference.

Exploring the intersections between local knowledge and environmental regulation: A study of shale gas extraction in Texas and Lancashire

Contemporary shale gas extraction, also known as ‘fracking’, has become one of the most contentious environmental issues facing Europe and North America. Academic and policy debates have hitherto focused principally on questions related to scientific disputes, risk perception, potential health impacts, and the wider economic and geo-political dimensions to energy security. This paper draws on extensive qualitative research in Texas and Lancashire, undertaken between 2012 and 2015, to explore how differing regulatory frameworks are shaped through highly localized discourses that include communities opposed to fracking. Whilst there are significant differences between these two examples, including the extent of environmental monitoring, the local context remains a pivotal arena within which the regulatory and technical dimensions to fracking are being contested and scrutinized. The two cases illustrate how community opposition has catalysed important processes that have enhanced understanding of the environmental and social impacts of shale gas extraction.