Background

SPG brings together a wide range of intellectual and policy concerns within spatial planning and cognate fields, both nationally and internationally. Much of its work falls under the heading of sustainable development, with a particular focus on three major areas of study: Planning Thought and Governance; Economic Development, Innovation and Regeneration; and Accessibility, Transportation and Migration. These are detailed further below.

SPG reflects a commitment to recognise and build on cross-cutting and multidisciplinary interests within the broad remit of spatial planning, as well as advancing more established research strengths in specific fields. SPG members have a strong track record in research funding, including: ESRC, EPSRC, DCLG (ODPM), NESTA, JRF, British Academy, EIB, RTPI, and SEEDA.

Research expertise

Planning Thought and Governance

The planning system is facing up to some of the most important challenges of our time – climate change, economic restructuring, demographic shifts and housing affordability, as well as deep questions about the nature of our democracy. Understanding the nature of these challenges and putting in place the most effective forms of governance and policy in response are at the very heart of the planning discipline. The Department of Planning at Brookes has a long and highly respected reputation as an active contributor in this field. Research interests include:

• Governance and Democracy; Participation and Engagement
• Conceptualising Spatial Planning and the Spatial Planning System
• Planning Ideas, Learning and Policy Transfer
• Planning History
• Spatial Planning Policy
• Regional Planning and City-Regions
• Professionalism in Planning
• Critical Futures – Complexity, Knowledge, Evidence, Risk

Economic Development, Innovation and Regeneration

SPG has long-established strengths and profile in the fields of Economic Development, Innovation and Regeneration. It is particularly well-placed to respond to developing research and policy agendas in the wake of the credit crunch and the consequent global economic recession. Not surprisingly these have sharpened the focus on patterns of economic restructuring and attempts to respond to such patterns at regional, urban and other scales:

• Local and Regional Economic Dynamics
• Innovation and Development in the Low Carbon Economy
• Evolutionary economic geography theory
• Competitive economic performance of urban and regional economies
• Conceptualising Local, Regional and Neighbourhood Development
• Governing Development and Regeneration Policy: Restructuring State-Market Relations
• People-Equality-Diversity

Accessibility, Transportation and Migration

ATM is a response to critical contemporary concerns with mobilities and the more dynamic, heterogeneous and internationalised societies that are underpinned by such fluidity. Mobilities research incorporates such features as the local consequences of global and transnational movements and flows, transportation policy and travel behaviour, global network studies, and sustainable mobility studies. ATM represents an innovative combination of disciplinary interests in this field:

• International Migration and Sustainable Development
• Transportation and Mobility Studies
• Infrastructure Planning and Delivery

Selected recent/current research activity

• Jones, T. & Chisholm, A. Understanding Walking and Cycling EPSRC, in collaboration with Universities of Lancaster and Leeds, 2008-11
• Marshall, T. Infrastructure and spatial planning ESRC Fellowship 2008-10
• Simmie, J. & Carpenter, J. Path dependence, Territorial Innovation Systems and the Absorptive Capacity of British City Regions National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, 2007-08
• Simmie, J. & Carpenter, J. et al The Economic Performance of English Cities contribution to 'The State of the Cities' ODPM, 2005-6

Some recent research publications

• Ward, S. V. (with Freestone, R. and Silver, C.) (2011) The 'new' planning history: reflections, issues and directions, Town Planning Review, 82 (3), pp. 231-262.
• Ward, S. V. (2011) Port Cities and the Global Exchange of Planning Ideas, in C. Hein (ed) Port Cities London: Routledge, pp. 74-85.
• Simmie, J. & Martin, R. (2010) 'The Economic Resilience of Regions: Towards an Evolutionary Approach' Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 3(1) 27-44
• Valler, D. & Wood, A. (2010) 'Conceptualizing Local and Regional Economic Development in the United States', Regional Studies, 44(2) 139-151
• Nunes, R. (with Adams, N. & Cotella, G. eds) (2010) Territorial Development, Cohesion and Spatial Planning. Building on EU Enlargement, London: Routledge
• Ward, S. V. (2010) 'Transnational Planners in a post-colonial world', chapter in P. Healey & R. Upton (eds) Crossing Borders: International Exchange and Planning Practices. Routledge. pp. 47-72
• Ward, S. V. (2010) 'What did the Germans ever do for us? A Century of British Learning About and Imagining Modern Planning', Planning Perspectives, 25(2) 117-140
• Headicar, P. (2009) Transport Policy and Planning in Great Britain, London: Routledge
• Brownill, S. & Carpenter, J. (2009) 'Governance and Integrated Planning in the Thames Gateway, England', Urban Studies, 46(2) 251-274
• Mbiba, B. (2010) 'Burial at Home: Dealing with Death in the Diaspora and in Harare', Chapter in McGregor, J. & Primorac, R. (eds.) Displacement and Survival: Zimbabwe's New Diasporic Identities and Connections Berhghahn Publishers
• Carpenter, J. & Brownill, S. (2008) 'Approaches to democratic involvement: Widening community engagement in the English planning system' Planning Theory and Practice, 9(2) 227-248
• Simmie, J. & Carpenter, J. (2008) 'Towards an evolutionary and endogenous growth theory explanation of why regional and urban economies in the UK are diverging', Planning, Practice & Research, 23(1) 101-124
• Ward, S. (2008) 'Thomas Sharp as a figure in the British Planning movement' Planning Perspectives, 23(4) 523-533
• Marshall, T. & Glasson, J. (2007) Regional Planning: Concepts, Theory and Practice, London: Routledge
• Brownill, S. (2009) 'The Dynamics Of Participation: Modes Of Governance And Increasing Participation', Urban Policy and Research, 27(4) 357-76