Nancy Holman, Alessandra Mossa, and Erica Pani have published a paper entitled, Planning, value(s) and the market: An analytic for “What comes next?” in the journal Environment and Planning A.

The full paper can be accessed for free by clicking on the picture above, or clicking here: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/85767/

Abstract

For 30 years planning has been attacked both rhetorically and materially in England as governments have sought to promote economic deregulation over land use planning. Our paper examines two new moments of planning deregulation. These are the loosening of regulation around short-term letting (STL) in London and the new permitted development rights (PDR), which allow for office to residential conversion without the need for planning permission. Whilst these may be viewed as rather innocuous reforms on the surface, they directly and profoundly illustrate how planners are often trapped between their legal duty to promote public values as dictated by national planning policy and the government’s desire to deregulate. We argue that viewing these changes through a value-based approach to economy and regulation illuminates how multiple and complex local values and understandings of value shape planners’ strategies and actions and thus vary national policies in practice. In so doing, the paper demonstrates how planners have, at least, the opportunity to develop a critical voice and to advocate for policy interpretations that can help to create better outcomes for local communities.

* Note: The note on page 24 about the figures — said figures can be found on page 39.

This video documents related struggles we have observed in this research strand: