Planning, Place
Governance and the
Challenges of
‘Devolution’
PATSY HEALEY,
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING AND LANDSCAPE
NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY
English governance – the
critiques
Long-standing ..

Over-centralised

Poor capacity for long-term investment

Over-sectoralised

Weak co-ordinative capacity
In recent years ..

Fragmented responsibilities

Poorly-informed

Prone to fashions and ‘quick-fix’ responses
Impact on place
governance

Undermines place-focused development
strategies

Regional and local co-ordination difficult

Regional and local political capacity and
accountability difficult

YET

Place qualities matter ..

To people -

To economic activity

To environmental sustainability
“The challenge of place
governance provides one of the
key arenas within which the
qualities of democratic systems
are being tested at the present
time” (Healey 2015:105)
Place governance, the planning
‘project’ and planning systems

The Planning ‘project’ – a form of place
governance:  An orientation to the future and a belief that action now can
shape future potentialities
 An emphasis on liveability and sustainability for the many, not
the few
 An emphasis on interdependences and connectivities between
one phenomenon and another, across time and space
 An emphasis on expanding the knowledgeability of public
action, expanding the ‘intelligence’ of a polity
 A commitment to open, transparent government processes, to
open processes of reasoning in the public realm (Healey 2010:19)

Planning Systems – a set of tools, procedures and
institutional arrangements to assist in place
governance

May or may not be informed by the orientation of
the ‘planning project’.
RTPI Thinking Spatially
(RTPI 2014)
“Planning is a much broader creative activity,
starting and delivering visions for places ..
Spatial planning goes beyond traditional land use
planning to seek to integrate policies for the
development and use of land with other policies
and programmes which influence the nature of
places and how they function …” (p. 34)/
Place – an indeterminate
but powerful symbol

Administrative units rarely match the spatial reach of
‘functional units’ these days

There are many ‘functional units’ – with different
‘spatial reach’ and often fluid boundaries

Places are ‘called into being’ not objectively existing

The metaphor of ‘webs of relations’


Social, economic, environmental …

Multiple webs interweaving through a place which is
‘called into attention’ ..
Once recognised, place can become a strong
dimension of people’s identity – individually and
collectively
Decentralisation and planning:
the benefits

Better co-ordination
“A governance structure with place
as its point of focus presents a good
way of re-connecting policy areas
that have been increasingly
separated” (RTPI Making Better Decisions
2014:7)

More knowledgeable and locally relevant

Greater stability in market management

More trustable and democratically accountable
But – ‘localism’ is not
always good news ..
“’Localism’ by itself can
… end up exclusionary,
unresponsive and
incompetent”
(Healey 2012:34
Releasing the benefits –
what to think about ..
Instruments, powers
and practices

Regulatory

Developmental

Financial

Framing ‘visions’ and
strategies



‘levels’ and arenas

National administration
(English or UK?)

Intermediate (sub-regions,
city regions, etc)

Formal government

Partnerships/collaboratives
Information and
Guidance

Local administration

Civil society initiative
Legitimacy and
accountability

Semi-judicial bodies

Advisory bodies

The courts
The play of politics
Changing attitudes and
practices ..
Foster governance practices focused on people’s
daily life experiences and what people care about
 Takes time, resources, energy, imagination and
strategic leadership
 Local and regional buy-in essential – and not just by
‘policy networks’


Importance of broadly-based public debate about
what is important – mobilising attention ..
Important to encourage innovation and
experimentation – recognising uncertainty ..
 Its OK to fail – so long as it becomes a learning
experience


Circulate learning around – rich situated narrative
rather than crude ‘recipes’
The wider picture: where are
we going? The ‘neo-liberal’
Welfare state
and a ‘mixed’
economy
(Hierarchical/
Managerialist
form)
ideal:
A minimal state
with an
‘economic’
focus
A communitarian
ideal:
An array of
independent selforganising entities
Democratic
‘network’
governance:
Overlapping;
non-hierarchical