Abstract
This paper examines the meaning and significance of place diversity and explores how its achievement may well depend on specific institutional relations between different actors in the real estate development process. It calls for master developers to engage in the ‘smart parcelization’ of large development sites through design-sensitive subdivision, reflected in conditions attached to plot sales or leases. By looking at practical examples, it explores how this concept could refashion speculative housebuilding in the UK. The paper highlights the potential and limitations of ‘smart parcelization’, while emphasizing the need to link development and design considerations in future policy and research agendas.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank George Weeks for his work in the collection of data for the original project from which this paper derives along with all those who agreed to be interviewed for that research. They are also grateful for the thoughtful comments of Mhairi Mackenzie, Dennis Rodgers and the journal referees on earlier drafts of the paper.
Notes
1. These four prototypes were originally developed by Steve Tiesdell as reported in Love and Crawford (Citation2011)