Planning with citizenship: An idea whose time has come in Greater Manchester?

Abstract

The chapter argues for a different kind of planning with citizen participation and different socio-economic priorities. Drawing on the example of the Greater Manchester city region, the authors outline the limits of developer led regeneration, which has encouraged rapid expansion of buy to let and other properties mainly for younger people in the centre, with almost no provision for low income households. The chapter proposes a refocus on rethinking planning as civic future, emphasising collective provision of foundational infrastructures and a different configuration of actors including citizen participation. The chapter starts with a comparison of UK post-1945 town hall planning and more recent developer led regeneration, based on 12 socio-economic drivers. These two periods are then examined, drawing some lessons from Vienna and Bologna. On this basis, we sketch a possible civic future for Manchester recognising that it is politically difficulty to break with development led regeneration.