Greg Lloyd

The Irish – Scottish ForumUniversity of Aberdeen

June 2009

Re-presenting Scottish Cities

Introduction

Changing contexts, conditions and thinking

Policy iteration and tensions

Scalar relations and integrated working

Strategic imperatives and deficits

And on the Eighth Day

City presentation Characteristics & focus Thinking & ideas

Passive Individual city & micro-scale - internal - community

Regeneration agendas - social democratic

Active Competitiveness - micro-scale – bricks & mortar

Neo-liberal - managerialism

Active Strategic – city regions – spatial order – economic growth

Neo-liberal - managerialism – yet regeneration & new delivery vehicles

City re-presentation

Devolution – the search for managed space

Globalisation & competitiveness Modernisation & scalar tensions Functional agendas for action

Identity – the search for managed places

City branding & marketing Representational agendas for

action

Inside and out

In 2006, the Scottish Executive published a regeneration policy which asserted the primacy of growing the economy in a sustainable manner, the importance of cities as key economic drivers, and stated that regeneration is key to achieving sustainable economic growth”

Timeline of reform

1997 Land use planning under a Scottish Parliament

1999 Scottish Parliament – Labour Liberal Democratic Coalition

2001 Consultation Paper – Modernising the land use planning system – emphasis on strategic planning deficits

2004 National Planning Framework 1

2006 Planning (etc) Scotland Act

2007 Scottish Parliament – Scottish National Party

2009 National Planning Framework 2

Devolution & before

Inherited strategic planning traditions and thinking

Influence of European thinking & practice – ESDP

Ideological tensions & contradictions in the Third Way

Located in wider public sector reforms& the modernisation of land use planning

Community planning and integration ambitions

A strategic planning philosophy

There is a need to prepare an indicative plan for Scotland on a national scale which will show how it is intended to utilise the land for urban, industrial and recreational purposes.

To prepare such a policy plan it will be necessary to take into account the views of planning authorities, industrialists, trade unions and many other interested parties. The structure plans of the new regional planning authorities must conform to the national indicative plan.

Select Committee on Land Resource Use in Scotland 1970

Strategic planning traditions

Metropolitan planning – West Central Scotland

Regional planning – NESJPAC

Regional Reports

National Planning Guidelines

Strategic planning?

Hierarchy & contingency

Match context & method

Scale & ambition

Political & resourced

Leadership & risk

Context & method

West Edinburgh Planning Framework 2006

Consultation Paper – Strategic development planning authorities 2007

City- regions – functionalism & representationalism?

Scale & ambition

To address issues of national importance either identified in existing policy statements, eg: Infrastructure Investment Plan or policy developments such as waste management and renewable energy.

Politics & resources?

To be scrutinised by Scottish Parliamentary Committees

To be debated in Scottish Parliament

To assert an agenda for national infrastructure.

‘Government by contract’ ‘a wide range of contractual arrangements involving public bodies, including traditional public procurement, contracting out, public/private partnerships, franchising or state concessions, agreements between state agencies and individual citizens, and various types of agreement within government’.

Vincent-Jones (2006: p. 3)

Place Imaging and Indicative Determinants of Change

Factor Descriptor

Social composition Structural and relational behaviours and influence

Patterns of movement Impact on city and resultant dominance of projects linked to specific groups

Existing and potential images

Convergence and divergence of city and city-region

Built environment legacy Dereliction and potential for new redevelopment

Aesthetic interests Influence of groups over the built environment

Entrepreneurship Change and transformation of the local economy

Leisure strategies Enabling new investment for city change

Manufacturing Employment and service impacts

Hegemony Local projects and transformation of local economy in conformity with the transformed place image

Cultural shifts Impacts on life-style, spending, and consumption activities in the city

Conclusions City re-presentation characterised

by scalar, political and planning tensions

Internal and external faces of the cities need to be reconciled

Need for political space to deliberate a spatial planning agenda