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This document provides an overview of the current state of planning practice and the values held by planners. It acknowledges that there are differing perspectives within the field, with some expressing frustration and disappointment while others remain optimistic and enthusiastic. The document emphasizes the importance of hearing the voices of practicing planners and explores the diversity of perspectives and experiences in the profession. It also raises six factors for debate, including politics, the public interest, professionalism, the changing context of planning, planning's relationship with the public, and the trend towards proceduralism in planning. The document highlights the challenges and changes facing the planning profession, particularly in the UK, such as the influence of neoliberalism and the impact of austerity measures. It examines the role of planners in engaging with the public and the shift towards proceduralism in planning processes. The document concludes by suggesting the need for reflection and advocacy within the planning profession and the potential for positive change through the actions of a new generation of planners. [Extracted from the article]

The growth of employment opportunities for planners working in the private sector has resulted in a rapid change in the composition of the planning profession in the UK, with over 40% of Royal Town Planning Institute members now employed in private practice. Existing writing on private planning practice is somewhat circumspect, with the private sector being associated largely with a profit-driven approach. Drawing on interviews with private sector planners, this paper argues that this fails to reflect the lived reality of private sector planners, and in so doing sets out an alternative and more nuanced characterisation of private practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses game theory to examine the efforts of public sector actors in the UK to integrate climate change interventions within development processes. Drawing on desk-based analysis and interviews, we identify instances where private-sector developers act strategically to exploit public-sector imperatives to deliver economic growth and housing. We find these imperatives constrained the agency of planners to effectively reconcile climate mitigation/adaptation objectives within wider priorities of economic growth. Yet, we identify instances whereby strategic planning frameworks, informal networks and bespoke development frameworks were effective means to build trust between actors and foster co-operation, better enabling development which meets climate change mitigation/adaptation objectives. In doing so, we illustrate the practical and theoretical value of game theory, whilst highlighting how careful use of strategic planning can support achieving climate change mitigation/adaptation objectives at a local scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study of Neighbourhood Planning in more deprived urban areas of the North West region of England, revealing that the stance of elected representatives is important in shaping the processes and outcomes of this new more citizen-led form of planning. The paper considers how far barriers to Neighbourhood Planning, and the variable support offered by local planning authorities to deprived urban communities, might be accounted for by practices of clientelism. It concludes that clientelism provides a useful lens through which to interpret attitudes towards Neighbourhood Planning as a disruptor of established patterns of influence and powerholding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The green belt, without question the most well-known and influential legacy of town and country planning in the UK, continues to attract interest from a wide range of interested parties – from those eager to maintain the protection it offers to the countryside, to others more concerned at the negative impacts it is argued to have on housing supply and consequently prices. In this paper we explore how the arguments for a green belt around a particular city in the UK – Liverpool – were built up over the middle years of the twentieth century, in particular through three important (sub-)regional plans. Analysis of those plans is situated within national policy and nationwide rhetoric to illustrate how perfectly justifiable arguments about the need to limit urban sprawl "baked in" resentment and opposition to much-needed housing growth. A situation which, as the final section of the paper briefly reflects upon, not only contributed to the wide-scale construction of high-rise flats in the city from the 1950s onwards, but continues to resonate today through the objections lodged against attempts to enhance the spatial footprint of the city through development on the green belt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to the small but growing corpus of literature which analyses the increasing use of digital technologies as part of spatial planning activities. Much of that existing literature focuses on the opportunities such technology brings or explores the use of specific technology. Instead, the article seeks to problematise digital planning, explicitly questioning some of the optimistic claims made on its behalf. To do so, it makes use of a new conceptual framework to reflect upon the promises and potential pitfalls of greater use of digital technology within and beyond planning practice. The paper concludes that digital planning is no more immune to questions about exclusion and power than any other form of activity affecting the built environment, and that it is essential to question the rationale behind how decisions are made regarding the adoption of new technologies in urban planning systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]