2. structure of the presentation
• my perspective on what it must be like to be a
planner in the present context
• What skills do we need planners to have in a
corporate context and an external context?
• Three characteristics make planners valuable
contributors to their own organisations and to the
wider world; the “boundary spanner” ( or
“reticulism’), the entrepreneur and as an
“interpreter”
• Look at some case studies relating to these
characteristics
• Draw some conclusions 2
2
9. so planners must
this is our context.....
be...
globalisation localism reticulists
interconnectedness fragmentation co-ordinators
transparency complexity communicators
personalisation austerity entrepreneurs
certainty ambiguity interpreters
10. reticulists...
• A reticulist is someone who possesses skills in creating,
servicing and manipulating communication networks, and is
astute at identifying where in an organisation a decision in
which she/he is interested would be made.
• The role of the reticulist applies to the development of
inter-sectoral collaboration.
• They are ‘skilled conveners’ who appreciate the potential
for mutual exchange and envision a mission which can be
fulfilled through joint participation.
• Reticulist skills are associated too with boundary crossing
and strategic thinking. Reticulists identify the key resource
holders and fellow reticulists in their own and other
agencies. Adrian Davis: Independent health and transport consultant
11. reticulist entrepreneur interpreter
Interpersonal
Networking Brokering
relationships
Managing Listening and
Entrepreneurial
accountabilities empathy
Appreciates
Innovative and Framing and sense-
different modes of
creative making
governance
§
Political skills and
Tolerates risk Building trust
diplomacy
“The competent boundary spanner”: Paul Williams:Public Administration (2002) Vol 80
12. Integrated spatial
Manifestation
planning
The reticulist at work
Duty to
Horizontal integration
co-operate
NNPF
Vertical integration neighbourhood
plans
community plan
Organisational corporate plan
integration Housing policy
NH Bonus
Local economic local growth plan
growth LEZs +LEPs
Adapted from: “Effective Practice in
21st century CIL Spatial Planning.” Janice Morphet
infrastructure Asset maximisation (2011) Routledge
13. Case study
Nottingham City Council, Broxtowe
Borough Council, Gedling District
Council, Erewash Borough Council
and Rushcliffe Borough Council have
worked together in a combined joint
advisory committee to deliver over
£11m of schemes across the
conurbation which promote growth
and green infrastructure under the
‘growth point “ programme. We have
also worked together to produce an
“aligned core strategy”
http://tinyurl.com/dykyrk7
14. reticulist entrepreneur interpreter
Interpersonal
Networking Brokering
relationships
Managing Listening and
Entrepreneurial
accountabilities empathy
Appreciates
Innovative and Framing and sense-
different modes of
creative making
governance
§
Political skills and
Tolerates risk Building trust
diplomacy
“The competent boundary spanner”: Paul Williams:Public Administration (2002) Vol 80
18. reticulist entrepreneur interpreter
Interpersonal
Networking Brokering
relationships
Managing Listening and
Entrepreneurial
accountabilities empathy
Appreciates
Innovative and Framing and sense-
different modes of
creative making
governance
§
Political skills and
Tolerates risk Building trust
diplomacy
“The competent boundary spanner”: Paul Williams:Public Administration (2002) Vol 80
19. “Planners must accept the value
of a mobilisation effort The interpreter at work
generated within civil society,
however uncomfortable this
might seem to be. It means
appreciating that others in
many arenas and networks in an
urban area may have a better
capacity than technical experts
to “summon up” an idea of an
‘urban region” that has
widespread resonance and
mobilisation force within a
particular governance context”
“Urban Complexity and
spatial Strategies : (2007)
P. Healy P.281
20. Community Professional
Political Perspectives
Perspectives Managerial Perspectives
Perspectives
Text Managerial
Perspectives
Local
Political
Perspectives
Perspectives
21. Case Study
Loughton Neighbourhood
development plan
• Create allotments OR turn
into area for “green burials”,
tree planting.
• Create parking/drop off area
opposite the school
• Create a wildflower meadow
• Any new development to have
adequate parking provision
22. Case Study contd.
• “This area is not suitable for residential development”
• “No additional dwellings permitted for development within the
Conservation Area”
• “No buildings or structures shall be constructed on the
paddocks”
• “No building structures will be built on this open land”
• “The open space shall remain green open space and not subject
to further residential development”
• “No residential development permitted in the existing area of
the park and no other commercial or other buildings”
• “The area will be kept free of any residential development.”
• “The area shall remain free from any residential development”
• “The two churches and the Memorial Hall shall remain as
Community facility and not converted to residential
development.”
23. “Flexibility must be built into
the masterplan as unforeseen
circumstances are always
likely to arise. An essential
function of a masterplan is to
provide a framework for
development that will be
delivered over time,
incrementally, while retaining
the quality of design principles
and without lowering
standards”
TCPA (2011)“Benefits and lessons in bringing forward
comprehensively planned new communities”
24. Conclusions
• Planners must not see themselves as confined to their
own departments, involved in the narrow business of
approving/refusing planning applications and creating
local plans. They bring strategic thinking, knowledge and
visionary capacity to the whole organisation from both
inside and outside its boundaries
• Planners must act as inspirational forces for longer
term thinking within their organisations - to help their
authorities think of future possibilities .
• Planners need increasingly honed communication skills
to act as co-creators, challengers, and listeners;to
interpret the past , reinvent the present and imagine
the future.
Editor's Notes
Sitting in my cabinet the other day when a prominent member who shall be nameless on receiving a report from one of my planning officers on a consultation from the county council on a minerals extraction application which said that in her professional opinion the application should not be objected to on planning grounds said “ but I don’t understand - we expressed our views on this application in council. Why hasn’t the officer followed our direction and come forward with a report which expresses that? The professional views of planners can sometimes seem obnoxious to politicians, communities and lets face it occasionally even to chief executives!
Sometimes it seems planners have been hung out to dry! I am often conscious of making myself a human shield to protect planners from the wrath of politicians.
Sometimes it might seem like the chief qualification of a planner is to develop the hide of a rhinoserous!
The LDF process was meant to be a “streamlined” and “simpler’ process. I can hear the hollow laughs resounding round the room!Even the business of abolishing the regional spatial strategies is proving to be more complex than the government bargained for!Shortly after the NNPF was published I received a tweet telling me the recession was officially over for planning lawyers and planning consultants.Planning is a complicated business. Running a leisure centre seems fairly straightforward by comparison ( don’t tell my director of housing leisure and culture I said that! )
There we were. Bowed down by the heavy weight of being told how many houses to build in our areas.
Now... we have freedom! Do we feel better! Probably not on balance!
1. At a time when companies are global in their reach; when architecture and ideas are shared instantly across the world, when economic problems in one part of the world have a much wider reach, planners are asked to pay attention to the local concerns of small individual areas, and recognise the uniqueness of each individual place.Planners are to be the boundary spanners, or reticulists, of our organisations. 2. In a world which is increasingly inter connected, through technology, social networking,transportation and media prevalence, at the same time it becomes increasingly complex, multi-dimensional , diverse and potentially fragmented. The planner’s job is to act as co-ordinators and linkers, always looking outwards, not inwards, and recognising where it is important to join things up. 3. People today demand information, accountability, openness. They have rights to shape and influence, to challenge, insist and protest. In that world planners need to be superb communicators. 4. People want to influence what happens in their area - exercise choice over the services they receive. At the same time we are living in an era of unprecedented austerity, so the demands on planners is to join with other officers in the need to be entrepreneurial, look at the world differently. Imagine how it might be, not as it has always been. 5. Nobody likes uncertainty. Everyone wants to know what will happen when and what will it look like. However in view of the fact that our community is so diverse and people have rights to choose what seems best to them, plans have to have a degree of ambiguity and flexibility to enable them to encompass a range of viewpoints. This not only requires planners to be master wordsmiths but to be interpreters to local communities of both the future the present and the past
Commission on the future of local government July 2012. Chaired by Cllr Keith Wakefield Leader of Leeds city Council “ In the 19th century local government started to provide the infrastructure and utilities of water, electricity, sewers and public health. The new economic, social, environmental and technological challenges of the 21st century and beyond demand new infrastructure and different utilities to help create smarter towns and cities. Councils have a central role in commissioning this new infrastructure. For example enabling affordable and good quality ultra fast broadband, low carbon energy and cheaper fuel bills, housing for first time buyers and older people and transport systems. There is also a case to think differently about the social infrastructure that the 21st century demands; how to create multi-use assets that have social value and act as community hubs, including public spaces and parks, schools and cultural amenities. Towns and cities need to find new approaches to bring together dynamic local intelligence and understanding to inform better modelling, decision making and action to run local assets.