Rationalities of Planning ― Development Versus Environment in Planning for Housing

Suggesting that the sustainable development model may have neglected valid concerns that the old development model had incorporated, Murdoch (city and regional planning, Cardiff U., UK) and Abram (town and regional planning, U. of Sheffield, UK) look at the contesting development discourses vying for dominance in political discussions of British housing planning. Specifically focusing on the expansion of housing into the rural environment over the past couple of decades, they suggest that oppositional groups characterize the growth of housing as either a public good or as pollution. The way that Parliament and the Prime Minister have reacted to these discourses is examined and the incorporation of the discourses into planning policy is discussed. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Jonathan Murdoch, Cardiff University, UK. Simone Abram is Reader in Tourism and Cultural Change at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK.