 The Delusion of Strategic Spatial Planning: What's Left After the Labour Government's English Regional Experiment?Mark Baker and Cecilia Wong Planning Practice & Research, 2013, vol. 28, issue 1, 83-103 Abstract: In the UK, the Labour government (1997-2010) introduced various experiments to uplift English regional and sub-regional spatial strategy to a more prominent position in sub-national governance but much of this has been subsequently guillotined by the incoming Coalition government in May 2010. This paper assesses the prospect for the survival of strategic spatial thinking under the Coalition government's ethos of 'localism'. It first considers some of the broad conceptual issues relating to strategic spatial planning, identifying three key conundrums around flexibility of scaling, institutional structures and capacity, and core values and forms of knowledge. It then provides one of the first comprehensive accounts of what was achieved during the outgoing Labour administration, and what ultimately went wrong with the English regional planning project. Finally, an initial assessment is made of the future prospects for strategic planning in England to survive in new spatial contexts, despite the hostile conditions associated with the Coalition government. Date: 2013 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:cpprxx:v:28:y:2013:i:1:p:83-103 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/02697459.2012.694314 Access Statistics for this article Planning Practice & Research is currently edited by Vincent Nadin More articles in Planning Practice & Research from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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