What Town Planners Do: Exploring Planning Practices and the Public Interest through Workplace Ethnographies

by Abigail Schoneboom, Jason Slade, Malcolm Tait, Geoff Vigar

Overview

Presenting the complexities of doing planning work, with all its attendant moral and practical dilemmas, this rich ethnographic study analyses how places are made through stories of four diverse public and private sector working environments. The book provides a unique insight for educators, students and researchers into the everyday lives of planners and those in associated built environment occupations. This exceptional account of the micro-politics of a knowledge-intensive profession also provides an excellent resource for sociologists of contemporary work. The authors use team ethnography to push the methodological frontiers of planning research and to advance organisational ethnography into new areas.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781447365983
Publisher:	Bristol University Press
Publication date:	05/21/2024
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	228
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Abigail Schoneboom is Lecturer in Urban Planning at Newcastle University. Jason Slade is Lecturer in Planning at the University of Sheffield. Malcolm Tait is Professor of Planning at the University of Sheffield. Geoff Vigar is Professor of Urban Planning at Newcastle University.

Table of Contents

1. Introducing Contemporary Planning Practice 2. Southwell: the Privatised Local Authority 3. Simpsons: the Values-Driven Global Consultancy 4. Bakerdale: a ‘Traditional’ Local Authority Commercialising Under Austerity Politics 5. OIP: the ‘regular’ planning consultancy 6. So, Just What Are Planners Doing?

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“This book offers critical insight into professional practice, exploring how planners navigate complex political, professional and personal situations. An important text for anyone seeking to understand the changing nature of the planning profession.” Orly Linovski, University of Manitoba

“This is a very important book. It provides fascinating insights into the lived experiences of practicing planners, something that is all too rare in planning research.” John Sturzaker, University of Hertfordshire

“Taking an ethnographic approach to understanding the everyday work of planners, this book does something unique: it allows planning students to have ‘sneak preview’ of the real planning practice. A must-read if you are studying or teaching planning!” Tuna Tasan-Kok, University of Amsterdam

Editorial Reviews

I would recommend this book as a useful and accessible resource to understand what is happening in planning at the moment, and why both the system and individual planners need to be enabled to fulfil their roles towards the collective public interest.” International Journal of Housing Policy

From the Publisher