What is Urban Planning?
In the UK, urban planning is a term used to describe the ecosystem of activity around the Town & Country Planning Act of 1947. It is a technocratic approach to planning the built environment in relation to the governments’ social and economic goals.
“..whilst the delivery of 1000 homes may look good on paper, the reality is how those homes are delivered is the driving influence on social and health outcomes. Therefore, this means that there should always be protocols and procedures to review applications and plans and determine whether they address determinants of health related to people’s lived experiences.”
From a technical perspective:
The government sets macro agendas, such as housing targets, however local governments hold the power in designing how this will happen on the ground.
The central government instructs the Ministry for Homes, Communities and Local Governments to draft national guidance in how this might be achieved to support the delivery of housing.
Local Planning Authorities, which can vary in size and may be different to local governments, respond to this guidance and apply it to their Local Plan in their area can deliver the highest number of homes whilst keeping in line with other regulations, such as environmental policy.
It is from the Local Plan that private (and some public) sector actors shape their applications to build homes.
Local government planning officers receive an application and determine whether the applicant has appropriately, not accurately, interpreted the Local Plan and delivered an application worthy of being permitted.
There are many discussions that take place within this 5 step process. Here are some provocations we hold and are discussed by others:
Is it right that a political party makes such a dramatic demand on a local region?
When local governments find themselves unable to invest in social housing, due to losing stock after 5 years from the Right to Buy Act, is the government's setting of a target a manipulative way of creating wealth for the private sector by making public officials design policy that has proven time and time again to favour land and property owning people?
British policy is highly interpretive, this can be problematic. As noted above, policy guidance is broad and asks the applicant to interpret information and put their case forward. Therefore, it’s not a case of rules and procedures that allow people to act with confidence and clarity, it leaves personal discrepancy to navigate a system, and that can result in inaccuracies, bias, appeals and a truncated behaviour of a system.
Despite what you read in the media, urban planning is not just about housing delivery. It is also about the management of the built environment, concerned with factors such as licensing of alcohol sales or fast food outlets. It is also concerned with commercial activities such as advertising locations and the allocation of industrial activity, such as warehouses and factories. Urban planners, as a broad group, endeavour to meet economic, social and environmental needs by regulating the activities that can take place within their borders.
There is an unhealthy paradox developing that urban planners often design and deliver policy with the hope that they improve social, economic, and environmental outcomes for their constituents but counterintuitively harms people in the long run as the system they operate in is harmful to citizens. For example, local governments are funded by council tax, business rates, parking fees, and the disposal of owned assets. Therefore, when a local government designs a policy that encourages, and then permits, the development of 1000 homes in an area, they are able to count the council tax revenue of 1000 homes towards their ever-increasing costs. However, the delivery of those 1000 homes can deliver many harms to local communities.
If the homes are not responding to local needs, they can cause gentrification by attracting people from elsewhere who then create influences on the local environment.
If homes are built, who is working for the construction companies and what are the conditions of their employment?
Does the construction of new homes, or neighbourhoods, actively tackle the systemic issues leading to people’s poor health outcomes - such as extractive economics, exposure to pollution, or unjust employment strategies?
Therefore, whilst the delivery of 1000 homes may look good on paper, the reality is how those homes are delivered is the driving influence on social and health outcomes. Therefore, this means that there should always be protocols and procedures to review applications and plans and determine whether they address determinants of health related to people’s lived experiences.