Abstract
ABSTRACTThe article focuses on the redevelopment of previously developed land by public-private sector partnerships in three cities/towns in South-West England, two of which can be described as medium-sized places with little previous experience of such developments. In each case we situated the redevelopment process in its wider multi-level and horizontal relationships using Social Network Analysis to produce network and centrality maps to reveal the complex network of relationships the process was embedded within and shaped by. These developments took place in what is termed the ‘roll-out’ phase of neoliberalism and we illustrate how the overarching planning and regulatory regimes (including contracts), along with wider economic conditions, shaped the development process, with the proviso that in each case these factors were mediated and themselves shaped by the assortment and interaction of local organizational, political, economic and civic forces. These included local planning committees and their interpretation of planning regulations and the developers involved, but also opposition to the developments from local sources. Much, however, depended on the ‘capacity to act’ of the relevant partnerships, in the sense of mobilizing and deploying available resources to realize the proposed developments.
Highlights
This article draws on research carried out as part of the PARCOUR project1 to investigate the forms of governance that were established in three UK case studies (Bristol, Gloucester and Taunton), and the various planning and regulatory instruments deployed as part of the public-private urban development partnerships created to carry out regeneration projects of previously developed land (PDL), often known as brownfield sites
We aim to disentangle the complex web of relationships in which these partnerships are embedded, the various forms of regulation and their relationship
In what follows we explore the different ways in which ‘variegated neoliberalism’ and financialization of land emerges in our cases as local authorities engage in forms of entrepreneurial governance to create public-private partnerships to reactivate surplus land they are unable to redevelop themselves
Summary
This article draws on research carried out as part of the PARCOUR project to investigate the forms of governance that were established in three UK case studies (Bristol, Gloucester and Taunton), and the various planning and regulatory instruments deployed as part of the public-private urban development partnerships created to carry out regeneration projects of previously developed land (PDL), often known as brownfield sites. As part of this research we considered how the governance forms created when contractual arrangements were made between the public and private sector parties, structured and influenced the aims and delivery of urban regeneration. This relates to what van der Veen and Korthals Altes (2011) have termed ‘government by contract’ and Raco (2012, 2013) has described as ‘planning by contract’ and ‘governance through detail’. We aim to disentangle the complex web of relationships in which these partnerships are embedded, the various forms of regulation (including that exercised by contracts and the planning system) and their relationship This is a key focus of what follows if we are to understand how governing and planning by contract operate
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