The book addresses critically the question: "What is the societal impact of urban and regional planning?". It begins with a theoretical discussion and then analyses, through a series of case studies, the intentions, contents, struggles and consequences of urban and regional planning. It shows that plans and policies often defy the commonly perceived role of advancing equality, justice, development and amenity, by causing social problems, marginalisation and inequalities. The book looks at planning from a critical distance, without a priori belief in its necessity or usefulness. The 12 chapters, written by renowned international scholars, demonstrate the multiplicity of social and political struggles over the contested terrain of spatial policies. The book focuses on four key areas where the impact of planning is explored: the community power, gender relations, ethnic tensions, and social polarisation, while comparing three societies: Australia, Israel and England. Audience: This volume is mainly intended for faculty and students of academia, but also for urban professionals and policy-makers. The book is relevant to fields such as urban and regional planning, geography, political science, urban studies, urban sociology, urban anthropology, ethnic and gender relations.

Publics and the City investigates struggles over the making of urban publics, considering how the production, management and regulation of 'public spaces' has emerged as a problem for both urban politics and urban theory. Advances a new framework for considering the diverse spatialities of publicness in relation to the city Argues that a city's contribution to the making of publics goes beyond the provision of places for public gathering Examines a series of detailed case studies Looks at the relationship between urbanism, public spheres, and democracy

Many issues such as access for the disabled, childcare facilities, environmental matters, and ethnic minority issues are excluded from town planning considerations by planning authorities. This book introduces the concept of `social town planning' to integrate planning policy and practices with the cultural and social issues of the people they are planning for. Part 1 provides background on the development of a social dimension to the predominantly physical, land use based, British town planning system. Part 2 investigates a representative selection of minority planning topics, in respect of gender, race, age and disability, cross-linked to the implications for mainstream policy areas such as housing, rural planning and transport. Part 3 discusses the likely influence of a range of global and European policy initiatives and organisations in changing the agenda of British town planning. Planning for healthy cities, sustainability, social cohesion, and equity are discussed. Part 4 looks at `the problem' from a cultural perspective, arguing that a great weakness in the British system, resulting in ugly and impractical urban design, has been the lack of concern among planners with social activities and cultural diversity. Alternative, more culturally inclusive approaches to planning are presented which might transcend the social/spatial dichotomy, such as urban time planning. Concluding that the process of planning must change, the authors ague that the culture and composition of the planning profession must particularly change to be more representative and reflective of the people they are `planning for', in terms of gender, race and minority composition.

Australia has long been a highly (sub)urbanized nation, but the major distinctive feature of its contemporary settlement pattern is that the great majority of Australians live in a small number of large metropolitan areas focused on the state capital cities. The development and application of effective urban policy at a regional scale is a significant global challenge given the complexities of urban space and governance. Building on the editors’ previous collection The Australian Metropolis: A Planning History (2000), this new book examines the recent history of metropolitan planning in Australia since the beginning of the twenty-first century. After a historical prelude, the book is structured around a series of six case studies of metropolitan Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, the fast-growing metropolitan region of South-East Queensland centred on Brisbane, and the national capital of Canberra. These essays are contributed by some of Australia’s leading urbanists. Set against a dynamic background of economic change, restructured land uses, a more diverse population, and growing spatial and social inequality, the book identifies a broad planning consensus around the notion of making Australian cities more contained, compact and resilient. But it also observes a continuing gulf between the simplified aims of metropolitan strategies and our growing understanding of the complex functioning of the varied communities in which most people live. This book reflects on the raft of planning challenges presented at the metropolitan scale, looks at what the future of Australian cities might be, and speculates about the prospects of more effective metropolitan planning arrangements.

In 1962 a lone astronaut orbiting the Earth sighted a small cluster of lights on the dark silhouette of Australia's western coastline - a token of friendship from the people of Perth that prompted the world's media to dub this isolated provincial outpost the "City of Light". This book expands the metaphor by shedding new light on the social history of Perth since the 1950s. Its focus is the city center and the events that unfolded there. After a lively sketch of prewar Perth, Jenny Gregory ventures into the historically uncharted territory of the postwar era. The result is a frank, incisive and richly detailed investigation of the city's growth and transformation over a fifty-year period, from the modernist era of postwar reconstruction to the mid-nineties.