From concrete to abstract regional planning strategies in North West England: building and legitimizing discourses and mobilizing actors for spatial transformation?

ABSTRACT

This study questions if abstract regional planning strategies are fit to respond to changing societal and political conditions. We compare regional planning strategy making in North West England. Findings suggest that abstract strategies are more effective in building than managing transformative discourses. Results show that: (I) transformative discourses need to be built around manageable regional socio-spatial and spatial-economic disparities; (II) policy entrepreneurs should be targeted with equal consideration for power and counterpower; and (III) the regional planning authority should have access to specific funding schemes. It is our ultimate aim to re-energize strategic regional planning debates in England and beyond.

KEYWORDS:

• Spatial strategies
• projects
• discourses
• policy entrepreneurs

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Editor-in-Chief, Professor Mark Boyle, for his effective communication.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Abbas Ziafati Bafarasat

Abbas Ziafati Bafarasat is an Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning at Izmir Institute of Technology, Turkey. He studied Law, Geography and Planning before completing his PhD in Planning & Landscape at the University of Manchester, UK. He undertook PostDoc studies at the Faculty of Spatial Planning, TU Dortmund, Germany.

Eduardo Oliveira

Eduardo Oliveira is a lecturer and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Kiel, Germany. Through the lens of evolutionary economic geography, his current research focuses on analysing the effectiveness of strategic spatial planning in supporting the socio-economic transformation of lagging-regions. He held positions at the University Louvain, Belgium and Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL.

Mark Baker

Mark Baker is a Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Manchester, UK. He has well-developed research interests in regional and strategic planning and plan-making process in the UK and internationally and is a chartered town planner with previous professional experience in local and central government in the UK.