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Sustainable Spatial Policy
Mike RacoDepartment of Geography
King’s College London
Introduction The role of spatial policy in
underpinning economic competitiveness and social cohesion
Identifying priorities Spatial policy and the ‘meta-
narrative’ of sustainability A new mode/type of spatial policy?
Table 1: EU Gini index scores
Country Gini index score Country Gini Index score
Austria 31 Latvia 32.0
Belgium 28.7 Lithuania 34.0
Czech Republic 25.4 Netherlands 32.6
Denmark 24.7 Poland 31.6
Estonia 37 Portugal 35.6
Finland 25.6 Slovakia 26.3
France 32.7 Slovenia 28.4
Germany 30.0 Spain 32.5
Greece 35.4 Sweden 25.0
Hungary 24.4 UNITED KINGDOM 36.8
Ireland 35.9 Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta No data
Italy 27.3
Distribution of Wealth, UK 2002
Top 1%
2nd to 5th percentile
6th to 10th percentile
11th to 25th percentile
26th to 50th percentile
Everyone else
Median weekly wages by region, UK 2002
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
Region
Media
n w
ages (
£)
The Context Globalisation and London’s global city status Backing ‘winners’ versus supporting
‘laggards’ Housing ‘shortages’ Economic competitiveness versus social
cohesion A ‘new’ spatial policy is a coming together of
different geographical imaginations about how spaces and places interact
The role that spatial planning can play in delivering on policy objectives
The Context of Expansion The Barker Review (2004) 3m new homes (at least) in next 20 years 240,000 homes/year 147,082 homes constructed in 2006 Growth Areas Regeneration of the Thames Gateway Foundation of ‘eco-towns’ and ‘healthy
towns’
Key Questions How do you build new ‘places’? Can you make a place? What capacities are there to ensure that
development is delivered? Do places evolve (organically) or can
they be made by policy? How do you change the behaviour of
individuals? Whose responsibility should it be to make
growth ‘smart’?
Historical Lessons Very difficult to ‘plan’ or ‘engineer’ ideal
towns/cities How do you control the movement of people,
jobs, homes etc in a co-ordinated way? History of New Towns one of social inequality Who decides what constitutes balance? Always a very politically-loaded term What should be the relationships between
ideals and practice?
Definitions 3 pillars of sustainability:
Economic justice and efficiency Environmental protection More democratic forms of
development politics
Thinking About Sustainability A conservative notion (i.e. to
sustain or conserve what we already have)?
A radical notion (i.e. a transformative idea)?
Sustainability as a ‘meta-narrative’ (Meadowcroft, 2000)
Definitions depend on context and power relations
Sustainability agendas European frameworks (e.g. A Sustainable
Europe for a Better World: a European Union Strategy for Sustainable Development)
Sustainable Communities Plan (2003) Planning Policy Statement 1: Delivering
Sustainable Development (2005) Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing
(2005)
Government’s definition of a Sustainable Community
‘sustainable communities are places where people want to live and work now and in the future. They meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, are sensitive to their environment, and contribute to a high quality of life’
Sustainable Urban Development
Focus increasingly on the re-use of brownfield land
Also a focus on compact cities Emphasis on building mixed and
balanced communities and places
Creating the sustainable city
Sustainable Urban Development
Focus on place-making:
Housing Transport Energy efficiency Resource use Community infrastructure
A New Mode of Spatial Policy? Difficult to identify a ‘spatial policy’ Spatial policy as an active social policy A new emphasis on sustaining growth by
providing the means of social consumption Focus on creating the conditions for growth
and creating competitive places A new politics of spatial development and
an inversion of old priorities
The aim of the SC Plan is to:
‘accommodate the economic success of London and the wider South East and ensure that the international competitiveness of the region is sustained, for the benefit of the region and the whole country’.
Conclusions Living in ‘interesting times’ A new role for spatial policy and
spatial planning Connecting up of diverse discourses
– sustainability, community, globalisation, competitiveness, cohesion etc.
New thinking about the geographies of economic development