Raco, M;
Durrant, D;
Livingstone, N;
(2018)
Slow cities, urban politics and the temporalities of planning: Lessons from London.
Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy
, 36
(7)
pp. 1176-1194.
10.1177/2399654418775105.
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Abstract
In the wake of the global financial crash of 2007–2008, many governments have sought to streamline their post-war planning systems and encourage faster project delivery. Expedited decision-making is equated with efficiency and the meeting of broader growth objectives, whereas slower and more complex forms of engagement are presented as an impediment and a governmental problem to be solved through reform. For critical authors such as Weber, such approaches are fraught with danger. The core objective of planning systems should, conversely, be focused on the production of ‘slow cities’, in which decision-making times allow time for proper democratic and judicial-technical oversight of development processes. Slow planning, it is claimed, can limit the negative impacts of rapid development on urban built environments and communities. In this paper, we draw on research in London to examine the relationships between the temporalities of planning, project outcomes and the politics of time. We argue that within urban studies there needs to be a stronger emphasis on the temporal dimensions of governance and the politics of time. We highlight the conditions in and through which temporal resources are deployed strategically in urban planning and assess the ways in which powerful, reflexive and time-resourced developers and investors use planning timeframes to boost returns over the longer term. We conclude by setting out agendas for future research and for more variegated and contextualised explorations of fast and slow planning processes.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Slow cities, urban politics and the temporalities of planning: Lessons from London |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1177/2399654418775105 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1177/2399654418775105 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Governance, planning reform, urban regeneration, developers, temporalities |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > The Bartlett School of Planning |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10047030 |
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