1. Intelligence //
Opinion
We need a vision
for the ruralurban fringe
Alister Scott Birmingham City University
M
conflicting governance arrangements. A good example is
the new Local Nature Partnerships and Local Enterprise
Partnerships, which each produce separate strategies at
different scales, mushrooming the various strategies
that already exist. Crucially, no one is directing this
increasingly disconnected and out-of-tune orchestra,
which lacks any coherent vision other than the singleminded pursuit of economic growth.
While the National Planning Policy Framework heralded
a brave attempt to simplify planning guidance, the
emerging Local Plans lack any regional or national plans
to inform them. As a planner championing concepts of
equity, connectivity and long-termism, I despair at this
lack of joined-up strategy, scrutiny and delivery. And as
an academic, I equally despair at the increasing trend of
using policy-based evidence to support economic growth.
Ironically, our disintegrated and short-term thinking
around planning threatens to overlook the assets of
environment and community that are needed most.
Alister Scott is professor of environmental and spatial
planning at Birmingham City University.
Sustainability Property sector cuts energy consumption
The global real-estate sector
is reducing its environmental
impact, according to the 2013
report from the Global Real
Estate Sustainability Benchmark.
Based on sustainability data
gathered from some 49,000
properties, owned by 543
property companies and funds
worldwide, the report found
08
rics.org
branching out
Plans for the UK’s first
Airport City, an £800m
property development
on Manchester’s ruralurban fringe
energy consumption in the
sector decreased by 4.8% over
the 2011-2012 period, while
water consumption reduced
by 1.2% and greenhouse gas
emissions were down by 2.5%.
Furthermore, strong regional
differences in energy reductions
were found – for example, the
property sector in Europe saw
only a small decrease in energy
consumption (-0.7%) compared
to North America, which had the
largest reductions globally, with
a decrease of -6.6% for energy
consumption and -4.8% for
greenhouse gas emissions.
‘It’s encouraging to see progress
made by global market leaders,
but this doesn’t cover the whole
sector,’ says Ursula Hartenberger,
RICS Head of Sustainability.
‘More efforts are needed by all
stakeholders to improve data
collection and management in
order to optimise overall building
performance across all market
segments, not just the top tier
portfolios.’ Read the report at
bit.ly/GRESB_2013.
Images Corbis; Simon Price/Alamy
uch of the contemporary debate about the
delivery of economic growth and protection of
the countryside is being played out in what
many people see as the ‘battleground’ of the rural-urban
fringe. Here, at the intersection of town and countryside,
where interests and values clash over development
proposals, there is an unhelpful dualism between perceived
‘greedy’developers and‘NIMBY’protestors. At the heart of
this lies a fixation with issues of housing supply, which
artificially turns the planning debate into an argument
between those who support new housing development
and those who don’t. We need to move beyond this by
re-examining the kind of places we want to live in, and
by building bold interventions around a bigger vision,
where place-making connects with the 21st century.
The roots of planning lie with the visionaries who saw the
need for policy intervention to address overcrowding and
unsanitary conditions in many Victorian cities, linking
high-quality living environments with cohesive
communities and thriving local economies. We urgently
need to update this vision, but contemporary planning is
hindered by a crisis of confidence and identity. Continual
government interference leads to reactive and disintegrated
governance of the built and natural environment, reflecting
different histories, agencies, approaches and strategies.
For example, the current emphasis on localism sits
uncomfortably with landscape-scale approaches for the
management of natural resources, and these tensions
are exacerbated by administrative silos that hinder
collaboration and cooperation, and inadvertently lead to