slow infiltration at disciplinary boundaries?” - hydrology ...“slow infiltration at disciplinary...

Karen Potter, Joint BHS Meeting, Exeter, July 2009“Slow Infiltration at Disciplinary Boundaries” /

"Slow Infiltration at Disciplinary Boundaries?”- Hydrology and Spatial Planning

in the Urban Environment”

Karen Potter PhD Researcher

MmmMmm


Overview

“Spatial Planning”

Partnership and Interdisciplinary Working

Spatial Planning and Floodplain Restoration

Upstreaming Social Science/Planning Research

Conclusions

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Karen Potter, Joint BHS Meeting, Exeter, July 2009“Slow Infiltration at Disciplinary Boundaries” /2 16

Over many years the planning system has been perceived as marginalised and essentially a regulatory activity, often portrayed as the problem rather than the solution (Durning & Glasson, 2004)

As part of the Government’s planning reform agenda under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act (2004), spatial planning is being offered a central role in coordinating and enabling the delivery of sustainable communities

“Spatial planning goes beyond traditional land use planning to bring together and integrate policies for the development and use of land with other policies and programmes which influence the nature of places and how they can function…. “ (DCLG, 2006:12-13).

“Spatial Planning”


This change is “reflected” in flood risk management:

“Spatial Planning” (2)

Planning Policy Statement 25: Development and Flood Risk

Spatially:

Site levelLocal levelRegional levelNational levelEuropean……

- Water Framework Directive- Floods Directive- Future Water- Water Efficiency in New Buildings- Making Space for Water- Surface Water Management Plans- Catchment Flood Management Plans- Shoreline Management Plans- River Basin Management Plans


“…..in an increasingly complex and interconnected world, spatial plans should not be developed in isolated, functional or spatial silos………….

The UK planning system has been accused of evading wider responsibilities regarding flood risk management

The relationship between planning and flood risk management being likened to a ‘fish out of water’(Howe & White, 2004).

..…It may be easy to have such ideas, but much more difficult to operationalisethem” (Shaw, 2006)



Draft Planning Policy Statement: Eco-towns - ConsultationPlanning Policy Statement 1: Delivering Sustainable DevelopmentPlanning Policy Statement: Planning and Climate Change - Supplement to Planning Policy Statement 1Planning Policy Guidance 2: Green BeltsPlanning Policy Statement 3: HousingPlanning Policy Guidance 4: Industrial, Commercial Development and Small FirmsPlanning Policy Guidance 5: Simplified Planning ZonesPlanning Policy Statement 6: Planning for Town CentresPlanning Policy Statement 7: Sustainable Development in Rural AreasPlanning Policy Guidance 8: TelecommunicationsPlanning Policy Statement 9: Biodiversity and Geological ConservationPlanning Policy Statement 10: Planning for Sustainable Waste ManagementPlanning Policy Statement 11: Regional Spatial StrategiesPlanning Policy Statement 12: Local Spatial PlanningPlanning Policy Guidance 13: TransportPlanning Policy Guidance 14: Development on Unstable LandPlanning Policy Guidance 15: Planning and the Historic EnvironmentPlanning Policy Guidance 16: Archaeology and PlanningPlanning Policy Guidance 17: Planning for Open Space, Sport and RecreationPlanning Policy Guidance 18: Enforcing Planning ControlPlanning Policy Guidance 19: Outdoor Advertisement ControlPlanning Policy Guidance 20: Coastal PlanningPlanning Policy Guidance 21: Tourism (Cancelled)Planning Policy Statement 22: Renewable EnergyPlanning Policy Statement 23: Planning and Pollution ControlPlanning Policy Guidance 24: Planning and Noise



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- Water Framework Directive- Floods Directive- Future Water- Water Efficiency in New Buildings- Making Space for Water- Surface Water Management Plans- Catchment Flood Management Plans- Shoreline Management Plans- River Basin Management Plans


“The expertise necessary to understand the complexities of the issues cannot always reside in a single head” (Matt Thomson, 2009, RTPI, Head of Policy and Practice)

• The transition from a narrow land use regulatory framework towards a more integrated concept of spatial planning will require effective collaboration with other policy makers and stakeholders

“Most institutions have scientists in discrete departments….there are many where if you are in biology, you are not allowed to speak to those nasty folk in engineering, much less to sociologists, who are someplace else and you wouldn’t know what to say to them even if you met them” (adapted from Tabak, 2004)

Partnership and Interdisciplinary Working


“Modelling”?

“Actor”?

Partnership and Interdisciplinary Working (2)

Hydrologist Planner

Action Theory - this approach has its foundations in Max Weber's (1864-1920) ‘interpretive sociology’ which claims that it is necessary to know the subjective purpose and intent of the actor before an observer can understand the

meaning of social action.

Any person who undertakes

social action.


• Although the concept of “integration” has been fundamental in sustainability debates over many years and it is recognised that integration is an essential feature of spatial planning; a thorough understanding of the complexity of actually achieving integration, both in theory and practice, is not yet complete (Kidd, 2007)

• PhD Research – the Integration of “Spatial Planning and Floodplain Restoration”

• A case study of:- how to achieve integration- bridging the gaps in policy and practice- the importance of ‘upstreaming’ social science (planning) research

Spatial Planning and Floodplain Restoration

'The Big Hole' which appeared overnight in the on the outskirts of Northwich, 12th October, 1912

Source: Marston Parish Council


Source: Friendsoftheriver.org

•The negative impact of the large scale uncoupling of rivers from their functional floodplain has become apparent

•There is an evident need to work with natural processes, including the reconnection of rivers to their floodplains to restore their natural hydrological functions

“Squeezing rivers into pipes and underground tunnels is not a solution, and will often lead to worse flooding in the future. We need to make space for rivers to work naturally with floodplains that hold and convey the excess water during floods” (Environment Agency, 2006)

Spatial Planning and Floodplain Restoration (2)

Sutcliffe Park, Greenwich - the ‘Anti-Flood Park’

Source: K.Potter

Boscastle, Cornwall

Source: K.Potter


Restoration schemes can achieve multiple objectives:

Distributing and replenish soil nutrientsImprove water quality Provide habitatsProvision of crops and timberAttractive landscapesOpportunities for leisure and recreational pursuits

Strong opportunities exist for the integration of floodplain restoration into overlapping planning agendas, for example:

Green infrastructure initiativesMineral site restorationUrban regenerationRedevelopment Source: K. Potter

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…….but

Floodplain restoration schemes in this country are few and of a small scale (Ledoux et al, 2005; Moss & Monstadt, 2007; Potter, 2006)

The practice of floodplain restoration remains in its infancy and is not keeping apace with the policy rhetoric (Adams et al, 2004)

Converting the rhetoric on into practice at the large scales required is said to represent a serious challenge (Werrity, 2006)

Floodplain restoration policy prescriptions for restoring rivers’ natural floodplains face a complex series of institutional barriers to implementing the necessary land use change

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‘Upstreaming’ Social Science/Planning Research

“Rational” Policy Cycle:Process driven by rationally tackling social problems

Effective and efficient strategies sought on the basis of scientific evidence

Options compared, one or more selected

Policy implemented –political decisions ‘concretised’

Policy makers, in general, tend to attribute policy failure to situations abroad or to ‘external circumstances’, while they tend to claim responsibility for policy successes themselves (Crabbe & Leroy, 2007)

A social problem has become a policy problem



“Simple and unproblematic models of evidence based policy and practice – in which evidence is created by experts and drawn on as necessary by policy makers and practitioners – fail as either accurate descriptions or effective prescriptions….. while it is tempting to think of evidence entering the policy process as part of a rational decision making process, reality is often far more messy and overtly political than this” (Nutley et al, 2002, p9)

‘Upstreaming’ Social Science/Planning Research (2)


Policy making is not rational:It is created in an environment of political and social interaction

Climate change –data incongruity and overload meet – we have met the limits of human knowledge

Policy goals are vague and ill formulated

Individuals with their own goals or ambitions, can oppose policy

Processes are complex and interwoven –water management and spatial planning

Institutionalisation –human behaviour becomes fixed in its responses and actions

Researchers’ “so-called policy options” often contain idealised reasoning that make implementing policy “far from trivial” (Omamo, 2004)

When major natural disasters happen, there is always a public outcry for a response. Politicians respond accordingly - out of fear of being seen as lacking in compassion—with grandiose engineering works or technical solutions (Fox, 2006)

There are people who have an unbelievable capacity to take any policy framework and adapt it so that they can carry on doing the same things that they have always done before (Taylor,2005)

Research/policy/practice gaps can be particularly difficult to bridge when a large scale shift in thinking is required

‘Upstreaming’ Social Science/Planning Research (3)



Conclusions

On a practical level:

spatial planning is being offered a central role in coordinating and enabling the delivery of sustainable communities

The reformed spatial planning system has the potential, in theory, to play a much more important role than it does currently with the cross sectoralintegration of policies and programmes

Requires an increase in specialist roles and more strategic networking for planning professionals, but…….

….”The change does not only demand spatial planners adapting to new methods of working; all other stakeholders who engage with the spatial planning system also need to re-evaluate their ways of thinking and working with spatial planners” (Shaw, 2006)


Conclusions (2)

On an academic/theoretical level:

Currently social science research questions are commonly raised with the downstream analysis of policy implementation (Moss & Monstadt, 2007), if at all

The importance of social science research is clear as institutional contexts and prevailing mind sets can create strong barriers for policy implementation (Moss & Monstadt, 2007)

Aim: To ‘upstream’ social science research questions in a contribution to bridgingthe gaps in research/policy and practice in the restoration of fluvial floodplains with a specific focus on evaluating the potential of the spatial planning system in facilitating the necessary land use change.

Obj 1

Obj 2

Obj 3

Obj 4

Obj 5

To establish the contextual backdrop to floodplain restoration, pertaining to planning research, policy and practice

To conceptualise the social science terrain upon which spatial planning and floodplain restoration exist and evaluate key social science research questions through explanatory case

study research

To analyse and translate best practice through a trans-national study

To draw conclusions and recommendations for researchers, policy makers and practitioners to realise the potential of the spatial planning system in facilitating the necessary land use change for floodplain restoration

To develop an understanding and communicate across the conceptual divide of the natural sciences/ engineering and social sciences

[email protected]

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