Markets, Large Projects and Sustainable Development: Traditional and New Planning in the Thames Gateway

Abstract

The transition from traditional hierarchical government to new forms of governance and planning can be overstated. The regionalisation of planning and new ambitions for spatial planning in the UK are commonly understood to have created an overcomplex system concerned with co-ordination and integration across jurisdictional spheres. However, this new governance of planning sits alongside traditional planning processes such as the public inquiry and ministerial decision. This case study of a large port development near London suggests that the emphasis upon the move to new, collaborative practices understimates the influence of traditional governmental structures. This provides cause for questioning the capacity of the current planning system to address the challenge of sustainable development, a central concern for the new planning.

Adapting adaptation: the English eco-town initiative as governance process

“…The additional cross-sectoral emphasis on SD within urban (regeneration) policy renders related governing processes yet more complex. This was illustrated, for example, in a recent analysis of the Thames Gateway, the UK's (and Europe's) largest urban regeneration project (Greenwood and Newman 2010): the aim of new governance, namely to join up strategic planning and development through increased horizontal, collaborative governing, was here found to be undermined by the still considerable influence wielded by traditional government structures. The relationship between traditional planning and new forms of governance was not yet fixed; in particular, the relationship between central government and local tiers of decision making were found to be undergoing continual change (Greenwood and Newman 2010).…”

“…The urban context is a particularly interesting avenue for the study of sustainability governance structures and governing processes, bringing together hierarchies, networks, and market mechanisms embedded in particular local settings (e.g., Greenwood and Newman 2010, Rydin 2010, Joss 2011b, Caprotti 2014. The dynamics and associated potential tensions arising vertically from central-local relationships, on one hand, and horizontally from various public-private and collaborative relationships are especially manifest in new organizational forms, such as for example local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) and other publicprivate partnerships (PPP) as recently deployed in the UK at the urban level.…”

A review of recent studies on sustainable urban renewal

“…In the UK for example, the transition of the governance structure from a traditional hierarchical government to new forms of governance in was discussed and the Thames Gateway regeneration project was examined in terms of its institutional context and the relationship between traditional and new forms of planning. The analysis suggested that traditional forms of planning still influence urban regeneration and gave causes for focusing on planning that can better achieve sustainable development (Greenwood & Newman, 2010).…”

Stakeholders’ Expectations in Urban Renewal Projects in China: A Key Step towards Sustainability

“…In China, government sectors are the most dominant stakeholders in urban renewal who establish the rule institution of urban renewal and directly influence the way other stakeholders participate [74]. Consulting parties play an important role in urban renewal.…”