Planning for Sustainability: Lessons from Studying Neighbourhood Shopping Areas

ABSTRACT

Neighbourhood shops are ubiquitous. They are also considered to contribute to sustainability. Yet they do not feature high on the planning agenda. This paper takes an empirical look at how planning engages with this feature of urban life, using London as a case study. It considers local policy frameworks for neighbourhood shopping areas and demonstrates the scope of the ambitions revealed. It considers the limitations of planning regulation for achieving these ambitions and assesses the potential offered by neighbourhood planning to protect and enhance such areas, recognising their mixed-use character.

KEYWORDS:

• Neighbourhood planning
• retail hierarchy
• regulation
• sustainability
• knowledge

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank the LB Haringey planning department for providing the planning application data and Sarah Hall for collating the database of London local plan policies.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.