Knowledge and power in the politics of property development

Abstract

AbstractThere is a new politics of knowledge and skills, which is being used effectively by campaigning groups over planning, housing, and land, challenging the very basis of conventional property development. The new politics, articulated by Hilary Wainwright in a recent book, is grass roots local action which challenges top–down conventional knowledge and expertise. Using examples from campaigns for social and affordable housing in London, in which the author has been involved, this practitioner paper highlights how grass roots knowledge and organisation can challenge conventional power in land and property markets, and the language and expertise on which they rest. In these campaigns, the knowledge of local residents about their communities is combined with the skills of committed professionals in planning and land economics. Conventional property market expertise is extraordinarily powerful in UK social, economic, and environmental policy, yet it can and must be challenged at a fundamental level if alternative community‐led models of urban development are to be taken seriously. Examples of “People's Plans” and successful community challenges to the abuse of financial viability analysis by developers demonstrate that new knowledge and skills combined with grass roots organisation can create a new politics of opposition to conventional urban development.