Book Description

Planning, the market and private housebuilding" is a timely new book which analyzes key contemporary issues in the light of the latest research findings and trends in policy and practice. The relationship between land- use planning and the housebuilding industry in Britain has long been characterized by intense debate and conflicting priorities about land supply. The experience of the late 1980s and the early 1990s has made national policy-makers and economic analysts aware of the crucial importance of the housing market for the whole economy, and has once more put planning in the spotlight. At the same time, planning itself is undergoing significant changes, and has been given a new "mission" in terms of the environmental agenda, which may be in some tension with the needs of the housing economy. The artificial boundaries between housing and planning have also been broken down by recent developments linking planning and social housing and stressing the "enabling" role of housing authorities.; The authors are based in leading research and teaching centres for planning and housing, and they combine expertise in housing policy and finance, industrial economics and organization, and town & country planning. The book builds on several important local and national research studies undertaken for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, but draws on a wider range of other work, literature and practice to give a rounded view of the field.; The book grapples directly with some of the biggest issues: How sluggish is the housebuilding industry in responding to demand? How much does planning affect house prices? What would happen if we scrapped the Green Belt? Do planning policies get implemented? Do planning agreements for affordable housing make sense? What would happen if mortgage interest tax relief were abolished? The book is aimed at interested lay readers, those involved professionally in the housing, development, and planning fields, and at students of planning, construction, housing, geography, economics, social policy and related disciplines. While centred on the experience of the UK the authors bring to bear their knowledge of comparative experience and research in a range of other countries including North America and Europe.; Glen Bramley, a specialist on housing and public finance, is a Reader in the School for Advanced Urban Studies SAUS at the University of Bristol; he was Deputy Director of SAUS for 1990--92. Will Bartlett is a Research Fellow at SAUS , having lectured in economics the the universities of Southampton, Bristol and Bath. Christine Lambert is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Town and Country Planning at the University of the West of England, Bristol, and she spacializes on planning and local government issues.