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