Planning Modernisation, Cultural Change and Making a Difference

1
Planning Modernisation, Cultural Change and
Making a Difference

• Greg Lloyd Deborah Peel
• Department of Civic Design
• University of Liverpool
• International Sustainable Development Fourth
  Annual Conference Sustainability - Creating the
  Culture, Inverness, October 2007.

2
Objectives

• To discuss the ethos and nature of land use
  planning reform and the role of spatial planning
  thinking in Scotland
• To interrogate the associated cultural change
  agenda
• To critically reflect on the implementation of
  the modernisation project protagonists involved.

3
Context ideas

• Fundamentalism - Krugman
• Democracy values the public interest Hutton
• Nothing works physics envy - Ormerod

4
Context - practices

• The influence of the Treasury is all pervasive.
• Land use planning is changing very dramatically,
  including spatial planning
• Challenges are complex fundamental for National
  Planning Framework thinking.

5
Critiques of planning

• Spirit purpose of land use planning
• Changing state-market-civil relations
• Technocratic democratic tensions
• Critiques of land use planning

Reforming land use planning
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Planning in Scotland has been described as

• a complex system
• a poorly focussed system
• a system that is a mechanism for solving local
  disputes which should not have any place in the
  planning system
• a system that has failed to respond in a
  proportionate way to different demands and
• a system where the overall purpose has been
  obscured and where a sense of priorities has been
  lost.
• (White Paper, 2005, p17)

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Criticisms of land use planning

• Technocratic
• Outdated development plans
• Delays, costs and uncertain regulation
• Lack of strategic direction

• Democratic
• Lack of transparency confidence
• Open to capture shouting loudly
• Lack of public interest

8
Modernisation of land use planning

• National Planning Framework spatial planning
  innovation
• Technocratic reform
• Democratic enfranchisement

9
National Planning Framework

• Strong strategic planning traditions
• regional planning in the Highlands Islands,
  West Central Scotland, National Planning
  Guidelines
• Modern influence of European thinking practice
  ESDP
• Theoretically grounded

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Strategic planning?

• Hierarchy contingency
• Match context method
• Scale ambition
• Political resourced
• Leadership risk

11
Cultural change?

• Fuzzy nature evidence from England
• Segmentation experiential standing
• Communities of interest, identity place
• Fundamental challenge the politics of
  austerity the challenge to cavalier
  self-interest

12
Climate change the foundational challenge?

• Impact on sustainable development?
• Planning options metrics?
• Practical implications?
• Mitigation adaptation?

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Conclusions

• that, in turn, requires a richer national
  conversation in which all the phenomena that
  connect - insecurity, inequality, distrust of the
  new, disbelief that private ambitions can have
  public benefits and scepticism about the
  effectiveness of any public action - are openly
  talked about and resolutions sought. That
  requires politicians prepared to dare and
  citizens prepared to respond.
• (Hutton, 2005)