Lecture Review - Patsy Healey on Progressive Planning

Reading a lecture script on planning theories and governance structures is not easy.  But the hard work can be worth it, as it is for Patsy Healey's recent RTPI Nathanial Lichfield Annual Lecture (full script available here).  Healey is Emeritus Professor at Newcastle University and through her work on strategic spatial planning has received the RTPI Gold Medal and become a fellow of the British Academy.  I have always found her work engaging with its ability to mix both abstract planning and public policy theories with the everyday reality of city life and the role of the planning profession.  

Her RTPI Lecture captures the current enthusiasm for localism but instead of critiquing the Conservative Government's Localim Bill she digs deeper to deconstruct what form local political action should take.  This is wise because the fundamental issues of governance and civic capacity must be understood before exploring the types of planning controls needed.  Healey's main concern is the way in which debates over governance often break down into shouting matches between polarised sides calling for either less or more Government.  She categorizes these sides as either market idealists or idealised communitarianism.  Instead, Healey proposes a form of 'network governance' that blurs the boundaries of state, economy and cicil society.  This allows for a more flexible state of governance that retains some Government safeguards but permits experimentation and capacity building at the local level.  It is only within this networked governance does Healey believe true local planning can emerge.