Monthly Archives: September 2011

Planning for Growth: Innovation

By , Wednesday, 28 September 2011, Be the first to comment

There is a clear message that comes from the modern literature about competitiveness. In a knowledge economy, competitiveness is closely tied to innovation. However, innovation is not a linear process from men in white coats in laboratories through to a commercially successful product. Indeed many innovations that are brought to the market come from companies that do not have an R and D function. Rather innovation comes from multiple feedbacks, absorbing messages from customers, sharing tacit knowledge, a willingness to experiment. Thus regions can be important catalysts for innovation. How do we build these insights into plans for growth? Read more »

Austerity, Territorial Cohesion and Planning for Growth

By , Monday, 26 September 2011, Be the first to comment

As the Eurozone teeters on the brink, what future patterns of regional change look likely? How does today’s crisis relate to the idea of territorial cohesion? A major conference in London on Friday will look at Planning for Growth from a European perspective. What are likely to be the key themes and what can the evidence from the ESPON programme add to debates in England about the future of planning? Read more »

Rio +20 – Time to create a storyline

By , Thursday, 22 September 2011, 1 Comment

New Orleans after the 2006 flooding: a reminder of the economic costs of not working with the environment.

Next year will see the twentieth anniversary of the landmark UN “Earth Summit” that was held in Rio de Janeiro. Will the 2012 “Rio +20” summit in Brazil next June become a new landmark or an epitaph for environmentalist dreams? What strategy should planners and the other built environment professions adopt if they are to have their voice heard? Rio 1992 – The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 achieved some consensus around the idea of sustainable development. It endorsed the ideas of the Brundtland Report that had been published five years earlier. Of course, there were plenty of critics who felt that the agreements reached at Rio did not go far enough, and that the phrase “sustainable development” was an empty one that would permit continuing exploitation of the earth’s finite resources under a light green veneer.

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