Geoff Vigar - Böcker

Concern for more open, participative, devolved and integrated government has led many, including the UK Labour government, to re-examine the importance of place, space and territory. Applying an institutionalist approach, and deploying substantial original empirical evidence, this book makes a major contribution to understanding the emergence of more localised governance in England in the 1990s, with particular reference to the role of spatial planning systems.

Concern for more open, participative, devolved and integrated government has led many, including the UK Labour government, to re-examine the importance of place, space and territory. Applying an institutionalist approach, and deploying substantial original empirical evidence, this book makes a major contribution to understanding the emergence of more localised governance in England in the 1990s, with particular reference to the role of spatial planning systems.

Transport issues are critically embedded in everyday life. For this very reason, ways of addressing such issues are almost always hugely politically contentious, as a quick glance at local and national media will testify. Such contentiousness is growing as ever increasing mobility for many in western society has led to a critical examination of the fundamental basis by which transport issues are considered in government and beyond. Despite the strength of this examination, the implementation of new approaches to dealing with transport issues has proved deeply problematic. The Politics of Mobility pioneers a methodological and theoretical framework derived from the social and political sciences to shed light on the complexities of dealing with these issues. It mobilises three case studies that highlight the realpolitik of dealing with such concerns for students, practitioners, researchers and activists.

Transport issues are critically embedded in everyday life. For this very reason, ways of addressing such issues are almost always hugely politically contentious, as a quick glance at local and national media will testify. Such contentiousness is growing as ever increasing mobility for many in western society has led to a critical examination of the fundamental basis by which transport issues are considered in government and beyond. Despite the strength of this examination, the implementation of new approaches to dealing with transport issues has proved deeply problematic. The Politics of Mobility pioneers a methodological and theoretical framework derived from the social and political sciences to shed light on the complexities of dealing with these issues. It mobilises three case studies that highlight the realpolitik of dealing with such concerns for students, practitioners, researchers and activists.

Spatial planning, strongly advocated by government and the profession, is intended to be more holistic, more strategic, more inclusive, more integrative and more attuned to sustainable development than previous approaches. In what the authors refer to as the New Spatial Planning, there is a fairly rapidly evolving maturity and sophistication in how strategies are developed and produced. Crucially, the authors argue that the reworked boundaries of spatial planning means that to understand it we need to look as much outside the formal system of practices of ‘planning’ as within it. Using a rich empirical resource base, this book takes a critical look at recent practices to see whether the new spatial planning is having the kinds of impacts its advocates would wish. Contributing to theoretical debates in planning, state restructuring and governance, it also outlines and critiques the contemporary practice of spatial planning. This book will have a place on the shelves of researchers and students interested in urban/regional studies, politics and planning studies.

Spatial planning, strongly advocated by government and the profession, is intended to be more holistic, more strategic, more inclusive, more integrative and more attuned to sustainable development than previous approaches. In what the authors refer to as the New Spatial Planning, there is a fairly rapidly evolving maturity and sophistication in how strategies are developed and produced. Crucially, the authors argue that the reworked boundaries of spatial planning means that to understand it we need to look as much outside the formal system of practices of ‘planning’ as within it. Using a rich empirical resource base, this book takes a critical look at recent practices to see whether the new spatial planning is having the kinds of impacts its advocates would wish. Contributing to theoretical debates in planning, state restructuring and governance, it also outlines and critiques the contemporary practice of spatial planning. This book will have a place on the shelves of researchers and students interested in urban/regional studies, politics and planning studies.

Town and Country Planning in the UK provides one of the most authoritative and comprehensive accounts of British planning history, institutions, legislation, policies, processes and practices. This 16th edition has been substantially revised and re-organised to provide an up-to-date overview of the planning systems in the four nations of the UK, supported by analyses, interpretations, illustrations and examples from planning practice.The new edition features:details of the legislative and policy changes since 2015 and discussion of their implications, including the early stages of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act, 2023discussion of environmental policies and programmes and the impact of Brexit on environmental regulatory landscape in Britainchanges to climate change and resilience policies, notably the government’s ‘Net Zero’ agenda and their implications for planningupdates to the substantive issues in plan-making, especially the responses to the shortage of affordable housing and the development of major infrastructurechanges to the processes involved in plan-making and development managementan expanded and revised chapter on design to include the growing significance of public health in the built environmentmajor revisions to the chapter on rural planningrevisions of the text on planning theory especially in relation to management of conflicts over the use and development of landextended discussion of politics, professionalism and participation in planningThe 16th edition of Town and Country Planning in the UK is an ideal starting point for those who are studying or working in the planning field, and for other professionals who need to locate their work in the planning context.

Town and Country Planning in the UK provides one of the most authoritative and comprehensive accounts of British planning history, institutions, legislation, policies, processes and practices. This 16th edition has been substantially revised and re-organised to provide an up-to-date overview of the planning systems in the four nations of the UK, supported by analyses, interpretations, illustrations and examples from planning practice.The new edition features:details of the legislative and policy changes since 2015 and discussion of their implications, including the early stages of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act, 2023discussion of environmental policies and programmes and the impact of Brexit on environmental regulatory landscape in Britainchanges to climate change and resilience policies, notably the government’s ‘Net Zero’ agenda and their implications for planningupdates to the substantive issues in plan-making, especially the responses to the shortage of affordable housing and the development of major infrastructurechanges to the processes involved in plan-making and development managementan expanded and revised chapter on design to include the growing significance of public health in the built environmentmajor revisions to the chapter on rural planningrevisions of the text on planning theory especially in relation to management of conflicts over the use and development of landextended discussion of politics, professionalism and participation in planningThe 16th edition of Town and Country Planning in the UK is an ideal starting point for those who are studying or working in the planning field, and for other professionals who need to locate their work in the planning context.

Presenting the complexities of doing planning work, with all its attendant moral and practical dilemmas, this rich ethnographic study analyses how places are made through stories of four diverse public and private sector working environments.The book provides a unique insight for educators, students and researchers into the everyday lives of planners and those in associated built environment occupations. This exceptional account of the micro-politics of a knowledge-intensive profession also provides an excellent resource for sociologists of contemporary work. The authors use team ethnography to push the methodological frontiers of planning research and to advance organisational ethnography into new areas.

Presenting the complexities of doing planning work, with all its attendant moral and practical dilemmas, this rich ethnographic study analyses how places are made through stories of four diverse public and private sector working environments.The book provides a unique insight for educators, students and researchers into the everyday lives of planners and those in associated built environment occupations. This exceptional account of the micro-politics of a knowledge-intensive profession also provides an excellent resource for sociologists of contemporary work. The authors use team ethnography to push the methodological frontiers of planning research and to advance organisational ethnography into new areas.

Winner of the Royal Town Planning Institute Patsy Healey Award for Academic Excellence 2025.Spatial planning is at a crossroads, with government reform undermining the traditional vision of state-employed planners making decisions about urban development in a unified public interest. Nearly half of UK planners are now employed in the private sector, with complex inter-relations between the sectors including supplying outsourced services to local authorities struggling with centrally-imposed budget cuts. Drawing on new empirical data from a major research project, ‘Working in the Public Interest’, this book reveals what it’s like to be a UK planner in the early 21st century, and how the profession can fulfil its potential for the benefit of society and the environment.