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Moral Obligations, Planning, and the Public Interest: A Commentary on Current British Practice

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  • Heather Campbell
  • Robert Marshall

Abstract

Planning, as a form of state intervention administered at the local level, is inevitably subject to the pressures and vagaries of governmental and societal change. The recent past has been a particularly turbulent period for local governance and this has inevitably impacted on the role of planning practitioners and the expectations placed upon them. As a consequence, fundamental value questions have arisen concerning the role and purpose of planning and, in addition, the hegemonic status of a unifying ethic of professional responsibility has been called into question. Our aim in this paper is to explore the different obligations which at various times influence the individual planner's behaviour or actions, with the further purpose of exploring the changing nature of planning and the consequent implications for contemporary conceptions of the public interest. The main body of the paper consists of an analysis of the competing tensions of contemporary practice as viewed from the perspective of the obligations owed to individual values, professionalism, employing organisations, politicians, and the public. In the course of this exploration we examine the ways in which these tensions have been influenced and heightened by the reconfiguration of the relationships between the state, society, and the individual which occurred during the 1980s and 1990s as part of the neoliberal agenda of successive Conservative governments in Britain. We conclude by considering the extent to which the notion of the public interest still has value as a legitimising frame of reference for public planning.

Suggested Citation

  • Heather Campbell & Robert Marshall, 2000. "Moral Obligations, Planning, and the Public Interest: A Commentary on Current British Practice," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 27(2), pages 297-312, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:27:y:2000:i:2:p:297-312
    DOI: 10.1068/b2509
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    Cited by:

    1. Efrat Eizenberg & Mor Shilon, 2016. "Pedagogy for the new planner: Refining the qualitative toolbox," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 43(6), pages 1118-1135, November.
    2. Linda Fox-Rogers & Enda Murphy, 2016. "Self-perceptions of the role of the planner," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 43(1), pages 74-92, January.
    3. Christopher Snary, 2004. "Understanding Risk: The Planning Officers' Perspective," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 41(1), pages 33-55, January.
    4. Jessica S Pineda-Zumaran, 2018. "Exploring practitioners’ perception of ethical issues in planning: The Peruvian case," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(6), pages 1109-1132, September.
    5. Valtonen, Eero & Falkenbach, Heidi & Viitanen, Kauko, 2018. "Securing public objectives in large-scale urban development: Comparison of public and private land development," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 481-492.
    6. Gunter Ashley, 2014. "Mega events as a pretext for infrastructural development: the case of the All African Games Athletes Village, Alexandra, Johannesburg," Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, Sciendo, vol. 23(23), pages 39-52, March.
    7. Niamh Murtagh & Nezhapi-Dellé Odeleye & Christopher Maidment, 2019. "Identities as Enabling Conditions of Sustainability Practices in Urban Planning: A Critical Realist Exploration with Planners in England," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(4), pages 86-97.

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