Implementing urban renaissance—problems, possibilities and plans in South East England

This paper explores the concept of urban renaissance and how it applies to the South East of England, the region where pressure for new housing development is at its most extreme and the responses of the planning process in the past have been at their most conservative. The paper initially explores the notion of urban renaissance and its probable alternative—urban malaise. This analysis is contextualised through a review of national policy on planning and sustainability, before the concept is pulled apart and a range of its key constituent dimensions reviewed. This wide-ranging policy and research review subsequently forms the basis for an analysis of South East planning policy in the second half of the paper. lly the problems and pressures in the South East are explored before a review of the developing regional planning guidance examines how these concerns are being addressed. The key empirical work next reviews development plans from across the region as a means to gauge the extent to which the planning process is already addressing the urban renaissance agenda, and to assess the evolving nature of policy. A final chapter presents the key findings and looks to the future, discussing the role of the development plan in delivering an urban renaissance in the region and offering an agenda to take practice forward. The argument is made that the planning process provides potentially the central focus around which contributions to implementing an urban renaissance may converge. In this role the development plan can have a central co-ordinating and visionary function, although as yet examples of this potential are few and far between.