Contradictions of Neoliberal Planning: Cities, Policies, and Politics (GeoJournal Library Book 102)

This book argues that the concepts of ‘neoliberalism’ and ‘neoliberalisation,’ while in common use across the whole range of social sciences, have thus far been generally overlooked in planning theory and the analysis of planning practice. Offering insights from papers presented during a conference session at a meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Boston in 2008 and a number of commissioned chapters, this book fills this significant hiatus in the study of planning. What the case studies from Africa, Asia, North-America and Europe included in this volume have in common is that they all reveal the uneasy cohabitation of ‘planning’ – some kind of state intervention for the betterment of our built and natural environment – and ‘neoliberalism’ – a belief in the superiority of market mechanisms to organize land use and the inferiority of its opposite, state intervention. Planning, if anything, may be seen as being in direct contrast to neoliberalism, as something that should be rolled back or even annihilated through neoliberal practice. To combine ‘neoliberal’ and ‘planning’ in one phrase then seems awkward at best, and an outright oxymoron at worst. To admit to the very existence or epistemological possibility of ‘neoliberal planning’ may appear to be a total surrender of state planning to market superiority, or in other words, the simple acceptance that the management of buildings, transport infrastructure, parks, conservation areas etc. __beyond__ the profit principle has reached its limits in the 21^st^ century. Planning in this case would be reduced to a mere facilitator of ‘market forces’ in the city, be it gentle or authoritarian. Yet in spite of these contradictions and outright impossibilities, planners operate within, contribute to, resist or temper an increasingly neoliberal mode of producing spaces and places, or the revival of profit-driven changes in land use. It is this contradiction between the serving of private profit-seeking interests while actually seeking the public betterment of cities that this volume has sought to describe, explore, analyze and make sense of through a set of case studies covering a wide range of planning issues in various countries. This book lays bare just how spatial planning functions in an age of market triumphalism, how planners respond to the overruling profit principle in land allocation and what is left of non-profit driven developments. Cover 1 The GeoJournal Library 102 3 Contradictions of Neoliberal Planning 4 ISBN 9789048189236 5 Preface 8 Contents 10 Contributors 12 List of Figures 14 List of Tables 16 About the Authors 18 1 Introduction: Contradictions of Neoliberal Urban Planning 22 1.1 Introduction 22 1.1.1 Varieties of Capitalism, Path-Dependency, and Diverse Reactions of Planning Institutions 28 1.1.2 Ambivalent Position of Planning Institutions 30 1.1.3 Increasing Opportunity-Led Approach of Planning Institutions 31 1.2 Contradictions of Neoliberalisation for Urban Planning 32 1.3 About This Book 36 References 39 2 Normalising Neoliberal Planning: The Case of Malmö, Sweden 42 2.1 Introduction 42 2.2 Neoliberal Planning: New Urbanity, Urban Continuity 45 2.2.1 The Plan 47 2.2.2 The People: Reworking Malm''s Demographic Fabric Against the Odds 49 2.3 The Production of the Örespectacle: New Scales and Landscapes of Prosperity and Poverty 53 2.4 The Same and the New: Continuity and Change in an Age of Neoliberal Planning 57 2.4.1 The Same 57 2.4.2 The New 58 2.5 Conclusion 61 References 62 3 Neoliberal Urban Policy, Aspirational Citizenship and the Uses of Cultural Distinction 64 3.1 Introduction 64 3.1.1 Neoliberal Discourses, Urban Policy, and the Naturalising of Class Distinctions 65 3.2 British Urban Policy and the Creation of Aspirational Citizens 68 3.2.1 The Changing Form and Character of Urban Policy Interventions 68 3.2.2 The Field of Culture-Led Urban Policy and the Evolution of Neoliberal Rationalities 70 3.3 Conclusions 76 References 78 4 Contradictions in the Neoliberal Policy Instruments: What Is the Stance of the State? 82 4.1 Introduction 82 4.2 The Changing Role and Policies of the State in the Neoliberal Era 85 4.2.1 Re-territorialisation: Complex and Inconsistent Strategies 85 4.2.2 Re-distribution of Power and Responsibilities: For What and to Whom? 87 4.3 State Interests and Concerns About Urban Areas: A New Dilemma 88 4.3.1 Amendments to Previous Planning Legislation: The Reluctance of the Central Government to Transfer Planning Rights to Local Governments 89 4.3.2 The Outcomes of the New Approach: Increasing Government Intervention 93 4.4 The State as a New Actor in the Distribution of Benefits of Urban Development 94 4.4.1 Urban Plans and Urban Policy Instruments as a Means of Redistribution: Changing from Indirect to Direct Transfer 95 4.5 Conclusions 96 References 97 5 Transnational Neoliberalisation and the Role of Supranational Trade Agreements in Local Urban Policy Implementation: The Case of the European Union 100 5.1 Introduction 100 5.2 Globalisation and the Role of International Agreements in Local Urban Policy: The Case of the European Union 103 5.3 Dutch Neoliberalisation? Changing Urban Policy Context Towards an Ambiguous 'Way' 106 5.4 Constraints for PPP Structures Due to the EU Competitiveness Policy: State Aid and Public Procurement Practices in the Netherlands 108 5.4.1 Amersfoort Case (Vathorst): Public Procurement and Consequences for New Town Development 109 5.4.2 Haaksbergen Case: State Aid and Consequences for Urban Renewal 111 5.4.3 Heerenveen Case: State Aid and Consequences for Local Regional Development 112 5.5 Conclusions 113 References 115 6 Neoliberal Urban Movements?: A Geography of Conflict and Mobilisation over Urban Renaissance in Antwerp, Belgium 120 6.1 Introduction: Neoliberalism and Urban Development 120 6.2 From Urban Social Movements to Neoliberal Urban Movements 121 6.3 Neoliberal Antwerp 125 6.4 Contesting Neoliberalism 129 6.5 Conclusion and Debate 134 References 136 7 Social Entrepreneurship in Urban Planning and Development in Montreal 138 7.1 Introduction 138 7.2 Emerging Spatial Strategies Under Neoliberalisation 140 7.3 Responsibilising Communities 141 7.4 Social Entrepreneurship in Brownfield Transformation Projects: La Société de Développement d’Angus in Montreal 143 7.4.1 Imagining a Future 144 7.4.2 Mobilising Resources 146 7.4.3 Beyond the Angus Site 148 7.5 Conclusion 150 References 151 8 Washing Their Hands of It? Auckland Cities' Risk Management of Formerly Horticultural Land as Neoliberal Responsibilisation 154 8.1 Introduction 154 8.2 Risk, Responsibility and the Neoliberal Project 155 8.3 Situating Neoliberal Risk Management 158 8.3.1 Neoliberal Planning in New Zealand 158 8.3.2 A Contaminated Land Crisis Within the Cities of Auckland 160 8.4 Caveat Emptor as Non-management of Environmental Risks 163 8.4.1 Restricted Efficacy 164 8.4.2 Justice Considerations 165 8.5 Conclusion 168 References 169 9 Accumulation by Dispossession and Neoliberal Urban Planning: 'Landing' the Mega-Projects in Taipei 172 9.1 Introduction 172 9.2 Accumulation by Dispossession and the Neoliberalisation of East Asian Cities 173 9.2.1 Operationalisation and Conceptual Framework 175 9.3 Neoliberal Turn of the State in Taiwan 176 9.3.1 Policies of Deregulation and Privatisation 176 9.3.2 Privatising and Democratising the Urban Development 177 9.4 Re-ordering Taipei's Economic and Spatial Structures 178 9.5 ‘Landing’ Four Mega-Projects in Taipei 182 9.5.1 The Initiatives: Land Acquisition and Changes in Land Ownership 182 9.5.2 The Land Development Models 184 9.6 Power Struggles Among Central State, City State, and Private Capital 186 9.7 Conclusions 188 References 190 10 Neoliberalism, Shallow Dreaming and the Unyielding Apartheid City 194 10.1 Introduction 194 10.2 Post-apartheid Urban Reconstruction and Transformation Ideals and Outcomes 196 10.3 The Studies 201 10.3.1 Drivers 202 10.3.2 Spatial Planning Instruments 203 10.3.3 Competence 203 10.3.4 The Power of the Law 204 10.4 Explanations 205 10.4.1 Introduction 205 10.4.2 Towards a Framework 206 10.4.3 Back to the Property Development Sector 216 10.5 Rejoinder: Implications for Progressive Action and Conclusion 218 References 220 11 Neoliberal Planning: Does It Really Exist? 226 References 231 Index 234 9048189233,9789048189236 Springer 2011 This book argues that the concepts of ‘neoliberalism’ and ‘neoliberalisation,’ while in common use across the whole range of social sciences, have thus far been generally overlooked in planning theory and the analysis of planning practice. Offering insights from papers presented during a conference session at a meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Boston in 2008 and a number of commissioned chapters, this book fills this significant hiatus in the study of planning. What the case studies from Africa, Asia, North-America and Europe included in this volume have in common is that they all reveal the uneasy cohabitation of ‘planning’ – some kind of state intervention for the betterment of our built and natural environment – and ‘neoliberalism’ – a belief in the superiority of market mechanisms to organize land use and the inferiority of its opposite, state intervention. Planning, if anything, may be seen as being in direct contrast to neoliberalism, as something that should be rolled back or even annihilated through neoliberal practice. To combine ‘neoliberal’ and ‘planning’ in one phrase then seems awkward at best, and an outright oxymoron at worst. To admit to the very existence or epistemological possibility of ‘neoliberal planning’ may appear to be a total surrender of state planning to market superiority, or in other words, the simple acceptance that the management of buildings, transport infrastructure, parks, conservation areas etc. beyond the profit principle has reached its limits in the 21 st century. Planning in this case would be reduced to a mere facilitator of ‘market forces’ in the city, be it gentle or authoritarian. Yet in spite of these contradictions and outright impossibilities, planners operate within, contribute to, resist or temper an increasingly neoliberal mode of producing spaces and places, or the revival of profit-driven changes in land use. It is this contradiction between the serving of private profit-seeking interests while actually seeking the public betterment of cities that this volume has sought to describe, explore, analyze and make sense of through a set of case studies covering a wide range of planning issues in various countries. This book lays bare just how spatial planning functions in an age of market triumphalism, how planners respond to the overruling profit principle in land allocation and what is left of non-profit driven developments. This book argues that the concepts of 'neoliberalism and 'neoliberalisation, while in common use across the whole range of social sciences, have thus far been generally overlooked in planning theory and the analysis of planning practice. Offering insights from papers presented during a conference session at a meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Boston in 2008 and a number of commissioned chapters, this book fills this significant hiatus in the study of planning. What the case studies from Africa, Asia, North-America and Europe included in this volume have in common is that they all reveal the uneasy cohabitation of 'planning – some kind of state intervention for the betterment of our built and natural environment – and 'neoliberalism – a belief in the superiority of market mechanisms to organize land use and the inferiority of its opposite, state intervention. Planning, if anything, may be seen as being in direct contrast to neoliberalism, as something that should be rolled back or even annihilated through neoliberal practice. To combine 'neoliberal and 'planning in one phrase then seems awkward at best, and an outright oxymoron at worst. To admit to the very existence or epistemological possibility of 'neoliberal planning may appear to be a total surrender of state planning to market superiority, or in other words, the simple acceptance that the management of buildings, transport infrastructure, parks, conservation areas etc. beyond the profit principle has reached its limits in the 21st century. Planning in this case would be reduced to a mere facilitator of 'market forces in the city, be it gentle or authoritarian. Yet in spite of these contradictions and outright impossibilities, planners operate within, contribute to, resist or temper an increasingly neoliberal mode of producing spaces and places, or the revival of profit-driven changes in land use. It is this contradiction between the serving of p rivate profit-seeking interests while actually seeking the public betterment of cities that this volume has sought to describe, explore, analyze and make sense of through a set of case studies covering a wide range of planning issues in various countries. This book lays bare just how spatial planning functions in an age of market triumphalism, how planners respond to the overruling profit principle in land allocation and what is left of non-profit driven developments Front Matter....Pages i-xix Introduction: Contradictions of Neoliberal Urban Plannin....Pages 1-19 Normalising Neoliberal Planning: The Case of Malmö, Sweden....Pages 21-42 Neoliberal Urban Policy, Aspirational Citizenship and the Uses of Cultural Distinction....Pages 43-59 Contradictions in the Neoliberal Policy Instruments: What Is the Stance of the State?....Pages 61-77 Transnational Neoliberalisation and the Role of Supranational Trade Agreements in Local Urban Policy Implementation: The Case of the European Union....Pages 79-97 Neoliberal Urban Movements?: A Geography of Conflict and Mobilisation over Urban Renaissance in Antwerp, Belgium....Pages 99-116 Social Entrepreneurship in Urban Planning and Development in Montreal....Pages 117-132 Washing Their Hands of It? Auckland Cities’ Risk Management of Formerly Horticultural Land as Neoliberal Responsibilisation....Pages 133-150 Accumulation by Dispossession and Neoliberal Urban Planning: ‘Landing’ the Mega-Projects in Taipei....Pages 151-171 Neoliberalism, Shallow Dreaming and the Unyielding Apartheid City....Pages 173-204 Neoliberal Planning: Does It Really Exist?....Pages 205-211 Back Matter....Pages 213-217 The premise of this volume is that the concepts of 'neoliberalism' and 'neoliberalisation' have largely been overlooked in planning theory as well as in the analysis of planning practice, despite the common deployment of these terms in the social sciences. Combining a number of specially commissioned chapters with insights from papers presented to a recent conference session of the Association of American Geographers in Boston, the book is dedicated to filling this significant lacuna in the study of planning. What the case studies explored in these chapters--from Africa, Asia, North America an