BENVGPL5

Criticallyappraisetheconceptandprinciplesof

spatialplanning

Spatial Planning Essay

Candidate Number: STWD7

Introduction:

“What?” is the usual response when I tell people I’m studying spatial planning. The term,

which is also the title of my MSc degree course, is an insider concept familiar only to

those who have some relation to the planning profession.

“It’s planning jargon,” I reply. “A fancy way of talking about managing future land use.”

Initially I dismissed the term as merely the latest fashion, a new label in planning’s

technocratic parlance. I understood the idea: making planning ‘spatial’ meant it was

supposed to go beyond traditional land use planning to take into account economic,

social and environmental factors. But I was sceptical about how much difference it made

in practice.

This essay has forced me to critically examine my assumption.

The task is to provide an appraisal of the concepts and principles of spatial planning.

Like many academics before me, I start with the European Spatial Development

Perspective, considered the genesis of the term in the UK. I then look critically at how

academics, professional bodies and government departments in the UK understand

spatial planning.

Examining all the different interpretations is beyond the scope of this essay. I will

however attempt to tease out some general underlying principles and examine how

they have been adopted in one specific context: the 2004 National Planning Framework

for Scotland. To understand the impact of that document, I have compared the first and

second versions of the Glasgow City Plan, published before and after the first national

document.

Has my research changed my mind about spatial planning? I’ll leave the answer for the

conclusion.

ESDP

Analyses of spatial planning trace the British origins of the term to the ESDP. Legally,

because it was signed at a so-called “informal council” of ministers, the text is non-

binding. It is intended as “a framework for policy guidance”

(http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/regional_policy/management/g24401_en.ht

m).

EU countries have a habit of interpreting EU policy in ways that suit them and as the

ESDP was never intended to be a “masterplan” (Faludi&Waterhout 2002 pg1) it leaves

plenty room for different interpretations.

According to Cullingworth and Nadin (2006), it is “a generic term to describe all

planning systems” as well as being a “literal translation or close approximation to the

name of planning systems in other countries” (pg90). They also note it is often used as

“a synonym for land use of physical planning.” It was intended to be “a neutral umbrella

term which embraces all the varying national approaches to managing spatial

development but does not equate precisely to any one of them.” (Bishop et al. 1999

p312).

“The very idea of 'spatial planning', or even 'plan', will differ from one country or region

to another” (Shaw et al 1995 p390).

From a Brussels-based perspective, the ESDP is about giving a “geopolitical vision” to

European planning and the “conceptualization of European space” (Faludi&Waterhout

2002 pgx, 10). Britain may have adopted it for different reasons.

Spatial Planning in the UK

Two possible reasons present themselves why the UK – normally a reluctant European

with an aversion to EU territorial claims - might have signed onto the process. The first

is quite simply money. Certainly in Scotland, the government was aware that spatial

planning frameworks would “provide a context for resource allocation in an enlarged

EU” when the focus of structural funding was moving East (Scottish Government 2004

pg1).

A second reason was that in 1999 Britain devolved power to newly created or re-

established governments of Scotland and Wales, creating new spaces for decision

making or new arrangements for control over space.

The Royal Town Planning Institute notes (2003, pg328) that EU influence on UK

planning has been greatest at a local rather than a national level. In England, there was

never a national spatial plan but rather a single tier strategy called Regional Spatial

Strategies, now being abolished. Scotland took a different approach, introducing a

national plan to suit its new devolved status (Allmendinger, Haughton 2007 pg2-3).

Definitions

A 2007 study by UCL and Deloitte sought to address the problem that eight years after

the ESDP was adopted “there is little common understanding what this [spatial

planning] means in practice” (pg1). This was preventing spatial planning from being

effective, the report said. It therefore set out five principles for spatial planning: it

should be broad-ranging, visionary, integrating, deliverable, and participative (pg11).

None of these principles, however, help create a common vision. Take visionary for

example. The report defines it as opening “up planning to a range of participants” and

relating “processes of planning policy-making to notions of place.” Visionary, already a

rather nebulous concept, it is not.

The RTPI says that spatial planning is the “underlying discipline” which gives planners

“the right to claim professional status” (2003 pg1). That sounds serious, but then they

go on to classify spatial planning as “critical thinking about space and place as the basis

for action or intervention” which is one of the most imprecise definitions around. They

also note it “does not replace earlier concepts” but “develops them.” In other words,

spatial planning is the latest way of looking at planning.

Another aspect academics ascribe to spatial planning is the move away from ‘top-down’

prescription. Healey (2007 pg3) says that planning is “moving beyond an analysis of

spatial patterns of activities as organised in two-dimensional space" to take account of

the interplay of economic social and environmental factors.

But what does this mean in practice? Not much, according to some. “The reality of

spatial planning is that it is producing better quality paper plans whilst still delivering

poor quality physical development on the ground” (Haughton et al 2010 inside jacket).

Scotland

The 2004 National Planning Framework for Scotland has been criticised for being a

somewhat timid document (Haughton et al 2010 pg115), lacking concrete targets for

example over housing delivery. Defenders would claim it was only ever intended as a

“perspective, not a prescriptive masterplan or blueprint” (NPF foreword). It has now

been replaced with the 2009 NPF2, a harder-edged statutory document which, for

example, designates key strategic infrastructure projects as national developments.

The 2004 document is an analysis of the trends and challenges facing Scotland. It lists

three key aims for Scotland's spatial development to 2025: improved economic growth

and competitiveness; social and environmental justice; and sustainable development

(pg86). That mirrors the ESDP’s three goals of economic and social cohesion,

conservation, and more balanced competitiveness.

The EU influence can also be seen not only in references to EU structural funds, but also

to sustainability, the first item in the key issues and drivers for change section. The

maps are also interesting to examine. Transport links (pt34) stop at the English border,

although ferry services to elsewhere in Europe are marked. The external links map

(pt119) connects Scotland to Rome, Reykjavik and Stockholm, but bypasses England

completely. The Scottish government is perhaps “using the concepts and tools of spatial

planning as part of interpreting and writing about their territorial identities” (Haughton

et al 2010 pg51).

The EU fashion for polycentric developments – multiple city regions for which joined-up

planning makes sense – is recognised, although research has shown it doesn’t quite

work for Scotland’s two main cities, only 45 minutes apart by train. Bailey (2001) says

that although Edinburgh and Glasgow physically appear to be geographically

polycentric, they operate as more or less separate urban centres in terms of

connectivity. NPF says “viewing the two cities as complementary will benefit the Central

Belt and the Scottish economy as a whole” (pt147) although the city regions are

separate in its development strategy.

In terms of impact on Glasgow, it could be argued that with City Plan 1 (2003), Glasgow

was ahead of Scotland and as such NPF had little influence. For example, NPF mentions

waterfront regeneration in both Edinburgh and Glasgow, but thanks to the City Plan and

better joined-up policy making, the Glasgow scheme is much further ahead (Haughton

et al 2010 pp124-125).

Conclusion

Spatial planning, like many Brussels concepts, is a term designed to mean all things to

all people. As such, it is open to manipulation by policy-makers. Spatial planning

documents do appear to pay lip service to the EU policy guidelines of sustainability, for

example, but the impetus may come from the wider environmental movement rather

than because someone in Brussels coined the term. The link to EU regional funds is

significant enough to appeal particularly to smaller countries and academics (regional

policy accounts for 35 percent of the EU budget, or €348 billion over the period 2007-

2013) meaning the term is unlikely to die out. But in England at least, with a Eurosceptic

party the largest partner in government, spatial planning and its territorial (pro-EU,

pro-devolution) and anti-market connotations may get limited if any traction. That

won’t of course effect Scotland, where planning is a function that is entirely devolved.

As to whether I have changed my mind, I still think ‘spatial planning’ is a label although I

now attribute its lack of meaning to the fact that it means so many different things to

different people. I appreciate the effort behind it in the UK to encourage joined-up

government, forcing planners to think about broader issues of land management, such

as health and even happiness. And I recognise the desire to go from an aloof ‘this-

should-happen’ prescription method to a ‘let’s-see-how-we-can-involve-people-and-

encourage-them-to-make-good-things-happen’ approach. However I think a more

effective method of trying to improve the planning system would be to stop worrying

about what it is called, and start focussing on actual results.

Word count: 1579

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