Town Planning Review Research Articles

Creative Hubs in Hanoi, Vietnam

Creative Hubs in Hanoi, Vietnam

The Sixteenth Abercrombie Lecture 2019: an introductory note

The Sixteenth Abercrombie Lecture took place at the University of Liverpool on 2 September 2019. Here, Peter Batey, Emeritus Professor of Planning at Liverpool and a former editor of Town Planning Review, briefly introduces the Abercrombie Lecture series and the speaker, Professor Bruce Stiftel.

The Precarious Absence of Disability Perspectives in Planning Research

One in five people in the world are said to have some type of disability. Disability is not merely individuals’ compromised capability in navigating the built environment, but rather the ‘misfit’ of capabilities with how a given living environment is organized. Planning, therefore, has a crucial role to play in responding to the needs of this significant population through changes to the built and social environment. However, discussion on planning theories and practices with a focus on persons with disability (PWD) has been limited to more specific realms of ‘design,’ and precariously absent in broader planning research. This systematic literature review aims to inform potential directions for planning scholarship by exploring the current and historic planning research investigating the needs of PWD. We compiled relevant papers from five prominent English language planning journals, some of which are long-standing (<em>Town Planning Review</em>, 1910–, <em>Journal of the American Planning Association</em>, 1935–). A very limited number of papers (n = 36) on topics related to PWD of any type have been published in the five journals throughout their existence, with even fewer focusing on the population. The subareas of planning these papers addressed include housing, transportation, land use, policy, and urban design. Many papers called for participation by PWD in the planning and decision-making processes, and some recent papers advocated for the production of evidence related to costs of creating accessible infrastructure. A critical look on some disciplinary divides and enhanced roles of planning research would be beneficial.

К проблеме абсолютизации прав человека и их ограничений в контексте Конвенции о защите прав человека и основных свобод 1950 г. и российского законодательства

The research discusses the legal significance of the state environmental review when providing a favor-able environment in cities. Based on the under-standing of the legal nature of the environmental review and the analysis of the legislative amend-ments, the author compares it with the town-planning review, identifies the shortcomings of the latter in the field of the environmental protection and proves that the state environmental review is indispensable in conserving the environment in cit-ies. Taking into account the environmental features in megacities, the author proposes the priority measures to improve the institution of state envi-ronmental review. The research findings can serve as a basis for further studies. Besides, they will de-fine the key improvements in the environmental law in cities and the environmental review being imple-mented.

The end of an era for Town Planning Review : Peter Batey retires as an editor

The end of an era for <i>Town Planning Review</i> : Peter Batey retires as an editor

Negotiating Authenticity in China’s Urban Historic Preservations – the Case of the Kuan and Zhai Alleys in Chengdu

ABSTRACTThis paper discusses how authenticity is understood and negotiated in the context of the preservation of urban historic heritage in China today. In the age of rapid economic development and social change, how to safeguard the historic identity and memories embedded in urban districts while encouraging economic growth has been a perennial problem concerning late-developing countries like China. The contested notion of authenticity lies at the heart of the debate between urban historic preservation and economic growth, as this fluid term merits a myriad of interpretations and contemporary re-workings. This study combines theoretical examinations, field research and interviews to reveal the inner logic behind Chinese cities' current practice of transforming urban historic districts into iconic tourist destinations. It probes how authenticity is understood differently by local residents and urban planners by using the example of the famous transformation project of the Kuan and Zhai Alleys (Kuanzhai xiangzi) in Chengdu. This study reveals the intrinsic tensions between urban cultural preservation and economic growth in China and how the "growth coalition" (Zhang, Jingxiang, and Fulong Wu. 2008. “Mega-event Marketing and Urban Growth Coalitions—A Case Study of Nanjing Olympic New Town.” The Town Planning Review 79 (2–3): 209–226.) formed by local governments and developers impose elite ideals of "authenticity" on urban historic districts. In response, the author proposes a historically aware and community-focused approach in preserving urban historic heritage and safeguarding cultural memories in late-developing countries like China.

Introduction Planning for infrastructure: transitional pathways for lagging regions

The publication of the UK Government's 'National Infrastructure Plan' by the Treasury in 2010 (HM Treasury and UK Infrastructure) acknowledged the need for major infrastructure investment, both new and replacement, to achieve sustainable and balanced economic and environmental development. More importantly, it marked a commitment from the government and other key stakeholders to develop a more strategic approach towards infrastructure planning. These policies and the wider shifts in infrastructure - both physical and electronic - will have massive impacts across the UK, not least on the functional economies of different regions.In the northern regions of England (the North West, North East and Yorkshire and Humber), which have traditionally been seen as economically lagging, historical and current policies have impacted upon their ability to attract infrastructure investment. Yet within these northern regions, infrastructure funding, development and accessi- bility are spatially diverse. Two distributional drivers are of particular concern. First, is the ability of the north to compete with other more economically buoyant regions for infrastructure investment; second, is the equitable spatial distribution of that investment throughout the north's towns and cities. It is this need to balance competi- tive market demand for investment with wider strategic and equitable distributional policy concerns that makes the lagging northern regions interesting research subjects throughout which to examine a range of contemporary issues concerning infrastruc- ture delivery and the way it can create new transitional pathways of development. The north of England is therefore used in this special edition of Town Planning Review as a case study to explore the ways in which infrastructure might influence different transitional pathways. In doing so, it discusses in some depth a range of issues related to understanding the scale of the infrastructure challenge and how this impacts on space and people; how best to determine the cost and benefits of infrastructure devel- opment and how that influences decisions; the most appropriate methods by which infrastructure should be planned to develop those pathways; and the future potential that appropriately planned infrastructure can have for lagging regions.A scoping conference on 'Enabling a strategic approach to transformational infrastructure' sponsored by the N8 Universities Partnership was held at Manchester Business School in February 2012, with twenty-five leading researchers, infrastructure providers, industries, management consultants and policymakers. The future research agenda identified by the stakeholders is discussed in more detail by Cecilia Wong and Brian Webb in this issue, but broadly points to the need to map out the transfor- mational pathways of spatial development by better understanding how infrastruc- ture can be delivered in different ways to positively and progressively transform the economic, environmental and social outlook under different spatial contexts. This special issue of Town Planning Review thus seeks to build on the earlier N8 conference discussions and explore key ideas and concepts related to the dynamic interaction between planning policy and practice and infrastructure development and imple- mentation. In doing so, it places particular emphasis on planning for infrastructure in the three northern regions of England, where economic growth is viewed as stagnant in comparison to other regions. The challenges that lagging regions, such as those in the north of England, present when planning for infrastructure, as well as the poten- tial impact infrastructure could have on improving economic and social planning outcomes in these places, are addressed in the five papers that follow this introduction.The north-south divide is a well-established concept in the UK literature, yet there is a lack of debate about how infrastructure provision may be used to either perpet- uate this socio-economic divide or help to bridge it. …

Introduction: the ‘Second World's’ architecture and planning in the ‘Third World’

This themed issue of The Journal of Architecture focuses on what appears to be a major blind-spot of current architectural historiography of the post-war period: the transfer of architecture and pl...

‘Under my care’: Gordon Stephenson and the re-founding of the Town Planning Review , 1948-54

On taking up the Lever Chair at the University of Liverpool, Gordon Stephenson effectively re-launched the Town Planning Review from Volume XX (1949-50), persuading a range of internationally renowned authors to publish in the Journal. His ambitious project, including the resumption of regular quarterly publication, a pioneering international editorial network (with substantial US links), a ‘contents’ policy open to the social sciences, and related book publishing ventures, proved difficult to sustain academically and financially. Nonetheless, it provided a viable base from which his successors were able to maintain publication in the longer term, albeit on a reduced scale.

Conclusion Reflecting on the career of a ‘technical man’

This issue of the Town Planning Review has examined key aspects of the work of Gordon Stephenson, alumnus and former Lever Professor of Civic Design at the University of Liverpool and past editor of this journal. While our research has indicated that parts of his life and career are deserving of further investigation, it is now time to begin a preliminary reflection on the significance of this body of work. A number of themes emerge from this collection of research papers: Stephenson's interest in big ideas and grand plans; the direct influence on his work of major planning figures such as Abercrombie and Le Corbusier; the stimulation of his consulting practice; his collaborative approach; his changing attitudes towards modernism and history and his long-term concern with social issues. Big ideas and grand plans First, Stephenson recognised the impact and importance of big ideas and had the ability to take a global view. As we pointed out in the introduction to these papers, his time as an intern with a New York architectural firm in 1929 introduced him to big ideas and 'can do' attitudes. Thirty years later in 1956, he returned to the notion of big ideas, writing to Clarence Stein: There are great opportunities to do the right thing in the New World and to do it fast, if only people would allow themselves a little time to think and develop a few fundamental ideas. The lack of big ideas and the acceptance of the tidal flow created by ad men and short sighted speculators is to be deplored. There are big ideas to build from, but there are few of my generation or the next who are not caught up in the stream that lands them into a whole series of backwaters.1 Stephenson also enjoyed designing grand plans. As a planner, he worked on regional plans for London and Perth and a regional perspective even slipped into his smallest city plan for Kingston. While other architects designed individual buildings, Stephenson designed university campuses, entire central business districts and new towns. Connections with important planners A second theme is the influence of the major planning luminaries of the era on his work. They were all planners with big ideas. These were certainly in evidence when Stephenson worked in the Paris studio of Le Corbusier in 1931-32. There his partly formed commitment to modernism and to socialist ideals was confirmed, but from the master he learnt too that: 'Authority must step in, patriarchal authority, the authority of a father concerned for his children' (Le Corbusier, 1967, 152). At Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1936-38 where he completed his Master's in City Planning, he was exposed to the big ideas of numerous planning figures. He maintained contact with Adams and Stein, the latter in particular becoming a friend and mentor. Back in Britain during the Second World War he worked with Patrick Abercrombie, the doyen of the interwar planning movement, and later came to know Lewis Mumford. Such contacts were important to Stephenson and a feature of his career that becomes clear in these papers is that he made a point of maintaining contact with major international planning figures both by correspondence and personal meetings during his travels. From such figures Stephenson had absorbed the fundamentals of town planning. He became noted as an expert in metropolitan planning, the redevelopment of central areas and urban renewal and campus planning. In each instance, Stein's influence can clearly be seen; at the metropolitan level, Stein's idea of a city or town centre surrounded by neighbourhood units (first proposed by Perry) and separated by open areas; and at the local level, complete separation of pedestrians and vehicles (a key aspect of Stein's Radburn layout), whether it be in a central shopping precinct, a suburb or a university campus. Such developments all responded to the automobile, which also led to the use of ring roads and freeways in planning to direct the flow of traffic. …

Introduction Gordon Stephenson, planner and civic designer

Gordon Stephenson (1908-97) was a planner and urban designer whose career spanned three continents and intersected with some of the major themes, actors and projects from mid-twentieth-century urbanism. He was an influential professor, practitioner and advisor to governments in Britain, Australia and Canada (Stephenson, 1992). Despite the extent of his work, it has received little scholarly attention and there has been little critical assessment of his role in the global development of planning. This special issue of Town Planning Review is part of a larger international study of Stephenson and his role as a global planner. Stephenson was born into a working-class family in Liverpool, one of three sons of a policeman. It was a rough town, a hub for immigrants, many of whose lives were marked by grinding poverty. Stephenson's family lived in Walton, a respectable and fairly new suburb three miles from the centre of Liverpool. Stephenson's later political views may have been seeded by an unsuccessful police strike when he was about eleven or twelve. His father lost his job and, after a period of considerable hardship for the family, went to sea as a master-of-arms (Stephenson, 1991-92, 1-29). At the Liverpool Institute where he was educated, Stephenson showed an early aptitude for drawing and won a scholarship to Liverpool University's School of Architecture in 1925. Charles Herbert Reilly, the Professor of Architecture, left a lasting impression on Stephenson. According to Gordon Cherry and Leith Penny, Reilly was 'the father of modern architectural education in Britain' and it was 'unlikely that any especially able student would be able to survive five years of architectural education there without being marked in some way by this man's influence' (Cherry and Penny, 1986, 10-11). Reilly had a life-long commitment to socialism, wrote for the daily newspapers and had a vast network of contacts. Stephenson received a classical architectural education at Liverpool University, with additional lectures on civic design and planning from Patrick Abercrombie, the Lever Professor of Civic Design and editor of Town Planning Review. Reilly was liberal enough to encourage students to use their imagination and to explore new ideas, so that students were also exposed to the Modern architecture and ideas emerging from Europe (Stephenson, 1991-92, 9-12; Gregory, 2010). In these years the Liverpool school attracted students from all parts of the British Empire. These included William Holford from South Africa, who formed a close friendship with Stephenson. They were to be travelling companions, academic rivals, colleagues and professional partners over the next twenty years (Cherry and Penny, 1986, 17). Stephenson won scholarships in 1927 and 1928, enabling him to travel with Holford for first a month in Paris and then a month in Italy. He felt himself to be 'an innocent abroad' whereas the cultured, sociable and charming Holford was 'the master of every situation'. The gruff-spoken Liverpudlian Stephenson had a more direct and forceful personality and was broad-minded 'with views increasingly tending towards the left' (Cherry and Penny, 1986, 18). Other scholarships provided the pair with their first American experiences in 1929. Stephenson and Holford both won positions in New York. Stephenson had a six-month apprenticeship in Wallace Harrison's New York studio, working on an early design for the Rockefeller Center. In that brief period he learnt the power of big ideas, writing to his brother: 'America has been a real stimulant ... it fills you with big ideas ... narrow minds, small thinking never fired anyone's imagination. You've got to grab hold of a big idea with both hands to see it through' (Stephenson, 1992, 24). In their final year, Holford won Britain's 1930 Rome Prize but Reilly devised a new scholarship from the Chadwick Trust to send Stephenson to Paris for post-graduate training. There, he spent his evenings at the Institut d'Urbanisme and his days as an assistant in Le Corbusier's office ('Saint Corbusier' as Stephenson called him in a letter home to his mother (Stephenson, 1992, 29)). …

Introduction Planning as a profession in uncertain times

The early part of the new millennium has been marked by attempts to reform planning systems and practices in many parts of the world (e.g. Campbell, 2003). One significant dimension of such efforts has been the suggestion that to transform planning it is necessary to transform the planner (Inch, 2010). In this context the planner emerges both as a key to successful reform, embodying the promise of a new planning, but also as a problem, herself needing to be reformed to enable new ideas and ways of working to emerge. This Special Issue of Town Planning Review brings together recent research on planners’ experiences and identities from within this context of reform, thereby addressing questions about the changing nature of professionalism in planning, and its constitutive practices and relationships. The issue also places writing on planners within a wider context of attempts to transform the state.

Comment Adapting planners' professionalism for inclusive processes in neo-liberal environments

The papers in this Special Issue of Town Planning Review largely analyse the situation of the British planner. Even so, colleagues in many other countries will recognise the seemingly contradictory aims and the concomitant tensions that are discussed. Some of the tensions are hinted at in the title of this 'Comment': professional expertise is challenged both by the participatory democracy imperative of inclusiveness and by the efficient management imperative of neo-liberalism. The professionalism of spatial planners has to be constructed from elements repeatedly reshaped and reinterpreted in the contested field between two conflicting ideological currents, the neo-liberal current leading society towards individualism, privatisation and markets, and the democratising current emphasising collective effort through participation, trust, collaboration and integration. The long-term need for sustainability and shortterm macroeconomic necessities complicate the picture. Planners' professionalism is in flux, as the battlefront in the ideological war rages backwards and forwards. This flux, and the struggle of a vulnerable profession to keep its head above water when squeezed between strong ideological currents, is the leitmotif of the present collection of papers. This 'Comment' is structured in relation to the theme of neo-liberalism. It will be strongly indicated that neo-liberalism is not the only complex of ideas to affect British planning, and, that it is surely not an hegemonic influence on planning professionalism. I start with some remarks to the articles dealing with themes that have obvious references to the discourse on neo-liberalism: public/private (Moore) and citizen/customer (Clifford). This is followed by a response to the article discussing the problem of combining performance management and entrepreneurship (Gunn and Vigar), indicating that planning devoted to the first of these aspects of neo-liberalism may have problems realising the second. Finally, I comment on the two articles clearly showing that neo-liberals have not won the struggle for shaping the professionalism of British planners. The quest for trust (Tait) and a New Vision (Inch) points to other forces of influence. Public/private Changes along this dimension are directly related to the war of ideas mentioned above, and they affect land use, forms of public-private cooperation and institutional innovations. Neo-liberalism leaves its mark on the city through the many ways public space is transferred to private use. Collaboration in public-private partnerships gives the private sector a more prominent role than before, and there are more private planning initiatives. Planning is itself being privatised to some degree when private consultants do planning work, when private developers take over the plan-making, and when planning-related tasks, such as building control, are outsourced (Hawkesworth and Imrie, 2009). Even if the public sector is still huge, many agencies have been separated from the big public organisations they used to be parts of. They are now at arm's length from the politicians and are managed like private businesses in nearly every respect. Planners bring along their public sector ethos to a working environment that demands adaptation to the logic and values of private business. This is likely to create tensions (Sager, 2009). As hypothesised in this issue, hybridisation of professional planner identities will emerge. Citizens/customer Serving customers is relatively easy in that it is mostly about producing goods and services of a standard that is satisfactory considering the price. Serving citizens is comparatively much more difficult. One must satisfy their preferences as political beings who care about the environmental effects of production, for equity aspects of distribution, and for social consequences of consumption. If planners were to be a profession that provides a service to customers, this would downplay their role in mediation of space and making of place. …

Town Planning Review

Town Planning Review

Editorial note: The Town Planning Review 1910–2010: continuity and change

Editorial note: <i>The</i> Town Planning Review <i>1910–2010: continuity and change</i>

Editorial note: A centenary in prospect and a development programme

The purpose of this Note is to provide readers with an introduction to some new and some continuing developments in the Town Planning Review as it reaches the centenary of its first publication in 1910. Such occasional moves have happened periodically during the past one hundred years as new circumstances have intervened and as opportunities and priorities have changed. Drawing on readership surveys and consultations with the Editorial Board, the editors and publishers have worked together to establish a centenary development programme for the Review over the next few years so as to enhance and update the author and readership services provided by the journal. Three main features of the programme addressed in this Note are: (a) new appointments to extend the TPR's reach in North America; (b) provisions to provide extended electronic access for authors and readers; and (c) calls for wider engagement in the authorship of continuing and some newer content features. New editorial appointments Since the earliest days of its publication, Town Planning Review has published papers and reviews on topics authored far from its traditional editorial base in Liverpool. From Volume 20 and its re-founding in the late 1940s, under the editorship of Gordon Stephenson, the Review took a step further in drawing in not only other colleagues in Britain as co-editors, but also Frederick J. Adams of MIT and later Clarence Stein from North America. That direct international collaboration and involvement in the editorial team is being renewed from Volume 80 and it is our pleasure as publisher and editors to introduce two new editors from North America - Armando Carbonell and Mickey Lauria. Armando Carbonell is chairman of the Department of Planning and Urban Form at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He also teaches in the Department of Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Armando Carbonell writes: Planning policies in such traditional areas as land use, housing, transport and environment are currently all subject to change as we respond to chaotic financial, housing and real estate markets, geopolitical tensions, large-scale urbanisation and climate change. These are interesting times indeed and suggest the scope for a new feature to be developed in the Review focusing on planning policy and practice. As an editor I look forward to bringing the experience of practitioner, academic and 'policy wonk' to the task of securing international contributions to the journal that bridge policy research and planning strategy, and that evaluate the performance of past policies and programmes in terms of their results 'on the ground'. Mickey Lauria, the Immediate Past President of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning and a past editor of the Journal of Planning Education and Research, is a Professor of City and Regional Planning and Director of the Center for Community Growth and Change in the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities at the Clemson University, South Carolina. Mickey Lauria writes: As an editor of Town Planning Review I look forward to building on my previous editorial experience and publications on, for instance, community-based development organisations, urban redevelopment and politics and planning, as well as on my current research interests in patterns and impacts of housing foreclosures and abandonment, planning practices and smart growth, the historical analysis of preservation conflicts, and neighbourhood conditions and planning issues involving race and class. Aside from regular editorial duties, I am keen to develop a steady stream of manuscripts from North American planning educators by promoting the journal at conferences and encouraging presenters to submit their best work to TPR. New Editorial Board members The re-founded Town Planning Review of 1949 also included a diverse international group of 'editorial advisers', fulfilling a task now undertaken by the members of the Editorial Board. …

V. Gordon Childe and the Urban Revolution: a historical perspective on a revolution in urban studies

‘The Urban Revolution’ by V. Gordon Childe (Town Planning Review, 1950) is one of the most heavily cited papers ever published by an archaeologist. The intellectual context and influence of Childe's paper are examined here. Childe was the first to synthesise archaeological data with respect to the concept of urbanism, and the first to recognise the radical social transformation that came with the earliest cities and states. This paper traces the influence of his ideas and shows their relevance to studies of ancient urbanism today. Although Childe's treatment of urban planning was brief, his ideas presaged current research into ancient urban planning. The paper ends with a call for renewed interaction between scholars of ancient and modern urbanism.

Planning the Chinese city: Governance and development in the midst of transition

This special issue of Town Planning Review focuses on the planning of the Chinese city, exploring the central issue of changing governance and development. The papers have been presented to a conference on China's Urban Transition and City Planning, held in Cardiff in June 2007, and have been reviewed and revised for publication. The authors examine some of the new practices and trends in city planning in China, in particular covering themes of pro-growth and entrepreneurial governance, cultureled urban redevelopment and the complex and contradictory roles of city plans. The guest editors are grateful to Klaus Kunzmann for allowing us to include an Englishlanguage version of the paper he presented at the Fourth Rencontres Internationales de Recherche en Urbanisme, held in Grenoble in February 2008. This explores some of the implications of China's urban development for European metropolitan cities, although many other cities elsewhere could also take note of his thoughts. We also welcome the opportunity to include a photographic essay by Wang Fang on the MinGong in Beijing. The MinGong are migrant farm-workers who leave their homes to seek work in cities, and they are a widespread phenomenon in urban China today. These 'new' trends are not isolated from mainstream planning issues nowadays. In fact, because they are so closely related to the current debates in city planning in mature Western economies, this special issue hopes to broaden the discussion to include the wider context of greater market orientation, controversially encapsulated by so-called 'neo-liberalisation' (Harvey, 2005). What can be seen in the Chinese context is the transition towards a more marketoriented development mechanism under economic reform. This has led to entrepreneurial urban governance, fierce inter-city competition and a greater need for regional coordination. The function of city planning is changing from resource allocation to place promotion (Wu, 2007a). At the same time, the Chinese economy is experiencing the restructuring of state-owned enterprises and the development of export-oriented industries. China is known as the 'factory of the world'. Rapid economic growth has generated wealth and a steady increase in income. As a result of the increase in the cost of production and rising local consumerism, consumption-led growth is becoming a new economic driver. As such, Chinese planning resembles some features of governance in the post-industrial West. Entrepreneurial governance: planning as re-articulating governance That the Chinese city has seen prevailing urban entrepreneurialism is now well documented (e.g. Wu et al., 2007). There is a wide spread of localism. To capture mobile resources, localities have deployed various competitive strategies. In densely populated regions, such as the Pearl River delta, where globalisation integrated the peripheral towns and rural areas into the city region, this has led to a fragmented spatial structure and uncoordinated governance. To counter governance fragmentation and the absence of coordination, regional strategic plans are being developed by the central government to facilitate the governing of city regions. The article by Xu documents a nascent trend in city-region governance that has not yet been fully researched. The issue of regional governance has largely fallen into the gap between regional studies and urban studies. The former is largely concerned with regional inequalities at national, inter- and intra-provincial levels, while the latter is concerned with different levels of government within the municipality and the emergence of neighbourhood governance. Only recently has regional governance began to catch the attention of researchers, in particular in terms of the adjustment of administrative boundaries and hierarchies (Ma, 2005). To some extent, we have seen the re-emergence of regional policy at the cityregion scale. Regional policy under state socialism very much resembled those of Fordist-Keynesian regimes; it focused on achieving regional resource allocation and the reduction of regional imbalance. …

Planning Research Network Prize Papers 2004: Introduction

Town Planning Review is very pleased to support the initiative of the Planning Research Network's Prize Paper awards by publishing the papers submitted by the 2004 award-winner and the runner-up. The Planning Research Network (PRN) is one of four major research networks established in 2003 by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to respond to the need for better evidence-based policy making through providing links to the research community beyond government. The networks cover the fields of planning, urban and neighbourhood studies, housing, and local and regional governance. Each network has an external co-ordinator who, with the ODPM, is responsible for bringing together key researchers in higher education and other research organisations and research sponsors. The networks achieve their objectives through organising particular links and a programme of meetings so as to enable policymakers and researchers to share ideas and learn from each other. They thus help to provide the means by which new research findings can inform policy making and increase the understanding of the context in which policies operate in practice. The Planning Research Network is co-ordinated by Professor Simin Davoudi, Director of the Centre for Urban Development and Environmental Management at Leeds Metropolitan University. Included among the PRN's main tasks of advising on planning policies and research priorities, encouraging investment in the development of knowledge and the sharing of information is that of raising research capacity. This latter task includes promoting the development of future planning research capacity by recognising the contributions and achievements of young researchers in the UK. The PRN Prize Paper is a welcome contribution to achieving this aim, which is perhaps better recognised in other disciplines than planning. It is hoped that the initiative will be widely supported and sustained in the planning policy making, research and practitioner communities. Submitted papers should be of direct relevance to spatial planning, be research-based and written by UK researchers who are at an early stage of their career (i.e. having less than two years of experience in conducting research in a UK research or consultancy institution). Submissions should be up-to-date and recently written and possibly based on an unpublished thesis, dissertation, working paper or research report. All UK universities with a planning and/or geography curriculum as well as major planning consultancies were invited to nominate a paper written by a young researcher or research student. …

Urban lessons for the modern planner: Patrick Abercrombie and the study of urban development

As the first editor of the Town Planning Review, Patrick Abercrombie produced a significant number of contributions to early town planning literature. Through the discussion of a great variety of subjects, Abercrombie gradually defined a specific approach towards town planning. Echoing Patrick Geddes' survey-based planning philosophy, he sought to ground the discipline of planning in the analytical study of the city. Abercrombie's early writings reflect a vision of town planning oriented towards the identification of a structural framework within the development of the city which is instrumental in organising its future growth. This vision underscored the conceptual transition from a Civic Art tradition towards the technocratic planning practice manifest in his later career.