Policy-making for an ’unruly’ public?

1

ABSTRACT

The initial response to COVID-19 in the UK took on a self-defeating culture of decision-making, based on the notion of an inherently ‘unruly’ public. This glossed over the diversity of socio-economic contexts, the complexity of the science, and the value of engaging with stakeholders. The UK experience suggests that the framing of public agency within national policy can limit the effectiveness of urban governance. In future, studies might seek to identify those approaches that better support collective responses to strategic problems of community wellbeing.

Video Abstract

Read the transcript

Watch the video on Vimeo

© 2021 Dr Lucy Natarajan. Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

KEYWORDS:

• Urban governance
• culture
• collective action

Notes

1. Focusing on the immediate impacts during early April 2020 Government briefings were already reporting showing a downwards trend in the indices for the UK of ‘7 day rolling average’ for daily COVID-19 deaths and critical care beds with COVID-19 patients https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/882562/2020-04-30_COVID-19_Press_Conference_Slides.pdf and the correlation of uptake of Government support schemes with businesses continuing to trade https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/businessservices/bulletins/coronavirusandtheeconomicimpactsontheuk/7may2020#government-schemes

2. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-sage-evidence-chris-whitty-public-members-a9482941.html

3. Independent Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours report of 26 February 2020, Potential effect of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) on a Covid-19 epidemic in the UK.

4. Tomaney, J., Pike A. and Natarajan, L. (2019) ‘Land Use Planning and the Problem of Left-behind Places’, UK2070 Commission. http://uk2070.org.uk/publications/

5. As compared for instance with the more nuanced messaging on social distancing in New Zealand https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31097-7/fulltext.

6. Mainly across Western Europe and North America; Lunn, P (2014). Regulatory policy and behavioural economics, OECD Publishing.

7. See, for instance, Natarajan, L. (2017), ‘Socio-spatial learning: A case study of community knowledge in participatory spatial planning’, Progress in planning, 111, pp. 1–23, and Brownill, S. and Inch, A. (2019), ‘Framing people and planning: 50 years of debate’, Built environment, 45 (1), pp. 7–25.

8. The figure is equivalent to around 1 in 49,040 of the population, which compares favourably with the UK where on the day of lockdown the equivalent measure was 1 in 10,045, using mid-year population estimates and the figure of 6,650 for UK cases. See COVID-19 infection data at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/slidesto-accompany-coronavirus-press-conference-30-march-2020 and https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-current-situation/covid-19-current-cases/covid-19-current-cases-details.

9. As explained for instance by deputy PM Lovin https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-52431813/coronavirus-myth-that-sweden-has-not-taken-serious-steps

10. Notably in South Korea https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-south-koreas-success-in-controlling-disease-is-due-to-its-acceptance-of-surveillance-134068#comment_2175300

11. Here, it is also worth noting the contrasting tone set by the devolved nations of Wales and Scotland in their messaging and the explicit principles of openness set out the framework provided by the Scottish Government.

12. Olson’s theories have been widely applied to studies of environmental and urban governance, see Ostrom, E. (2009), ‘Collective Action Theory’, The Oxford handbook of comparative politics, pp. 1–25. For a discussion of current urban regulatory concerns see Heijden, J. van der. (2017), ‘Urban sustainability and resilience’, in Drahos, P. (Ed.), Regulatory theory: foundations and applications, ANU Press, Acton ACT, pp. 725–740.

13. https://www.nursingtimes.net/news/social-care/new-covid-19-death-data-reveals-hidden-crisis-in-care-homes-14-04-2020/

14. Including in contexts with low statutory capacities (see Frediani, A.A. and Cociña, C. (2019), ‘Participation as planning: Strategies from the south to challenge the limits of planning’, Built environment, 45(2), pp. 143–161.)

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lucy Natarajan

Dr Lucy Natarajan is based at the Bartlett School of Planning, UCL, and is co-editor of the journal Built Environment. She has a background in health and public policy research, and her key research interests are community engagement in urban planning, sustainability and socio-spatial equality.