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Alternatives
It
has become almost a cliché to invoke the roots
of planning as a progressive social movement. In fact
the radicalism of the early reformers is often appropriated
in decidedly reactionary ways. Perhaps the greatest
strength of that early movement, however, was its capacity
to imagine that the world could be made better by planned
intervention. In neoliberal times the mantra of TINA
(there is no alternative) has become dominant. Now at
the end of history we are told there is no choice but
to let the market shape the future. For nearly thirty
years this ideology of the right has ruled with disastrous
implications for society and the environment. Images
of alternative worlds have become scarce; belief that
alternatives are possible has become a rare commodity.
There
is, however, a growing challenge to this. Concerns over
social mobility, housing and climate change all suggest
a coming crisis of neoliberalism. There is a need to
explore the optimism of our will, to examine the possibility
of better futures and to imagine how planning can contribute
to shaping them. Powerfully articulated alternatives
can help to challenge the dominance of TINA and exploit
the contradictions created by climate change, or acute
housing shortages.
The
early planning movement made links between housing and
land campaigners and was successful in generating a
vision of better places and better lives. Today planning
has been abandoned by many progressive groups but it
retains the capacity to act as a nexus between progressive
movements, for example on environmental and social issues.
PNUK should try to bring these together and generate
alternatives that can tell persuasive stories about
a society and a planning system that put people's wellbeing
and the environment ahead of the false promises of economic
growth.
Work
towards this will include:
Think pieces like Michael
Edwards' on the Thames Gateway that try to imagine
how things could be. These could tackle any range of
subjects from alternative economics to eco-building.
Small contributions on people's particular areas of
interest or expertise would be a great start.
Alternatives
events focussed on, for example, particular projects
(ie the Thames Gateway) or parts of the planning system
(ie. Reimagining the White paper) bringing together
expertise from a range of different places to discuss
how things might be done differently.
Setting
research agendas for example, what skills would
alternative planning require? Certainly wouldn't be
the MBA courses some people are proposing now…
Collecting
Resources to help imagine alternatives:
o annotated bibliographies with links to downloadable
articles etc.
o A disorientation guide for students, similar
to the one produced by PN
in North America
o Resources for campaign groups/ support for
them
An
attempt to develop analyses that we can disseminate
through various media
This
is only intended as an indicative list. Anything anyone
wants to contribute helps. People taking forward research
or other work in areas of particular interest are encouraged
to share it through pnuk.
All of this is of course work in progress, and we're
working from a standing start. If you are interested
and feel that pnuk is a worthwhile project then your
time and energy will be very much appreciated in helping
us take this forward.
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