Sustainable Scottish Urban Property Development - Coursework Example

Contents Contents 1 Sustainable Urban Property Development 2 Sustainable Urban Property Development 3 Sustainable Urban Property Development Abstract The Scottish Government's strategy for sustainable urban development has been critically reviewed. Three themes have been examined. These include sustainable communities arising from “new settlement” model of land use, design and layout; significance of city-wide urban regeneration strategies that emerged to sustain the planning and re-development of deprived communities towards the end of the 20th century and upto 2005; and the model of sustainable urban regeneration that has emerged since the development of community planning in Scotland. Sustainable Urban Property Development Introduction The Scottish Government has proposed a sustainable urban development strategy for the development of thriving and healthy communities. Such communities should be well planned, well connected and well maintained for making it attractive for inhabitants. The strategy supports an active effort in shaping local services and the local physical and cultural environment. The needs of everyone in the community should be considered and taken into account. The underlying policy behind the land reform is the community right to buy land in rural Scotland. Communities wishing to exercise the right to buy must have sustainable development as the heart of the community, and plans for the land. According to Pillai (2010) the most econocentric approach has been the focus on sustainable economic growth. Also, the community right to buy has its own sustainable development agenda. A diverse range of community ownership plans have been considered. These include the creation of sports facilities to preservation of castles, lighthouses and villages. Several economic, social and environmental objectives have been approved. It is widely held that communities failing to adopt the right approach will not succeed in using the legislation. Three themes have been critically examined in light of the strategy. Sustainable Communities Arising from “New Settlement” Model Of Land Use, Design and Layout Extensive land use rights are an integral attribute of property entitlements and ownership in the UK. Several legal and policy instruments have resulted in incremental reform. According to Rodgers (2009) some of these have been influenced by UK’s accession to the European Community and associated laws such as the European Union environmental law and Common Agricultural Policy. Some changes include the modification in allocation land-based utility in property rights. As land use policy is increasingly has an increasing focus on promotion of environmental stewardship, especially the countryside. A general duty of environmental stewardship has become an attribute of land ownership. This includes a consideration of recognition of larger community interests and sustainable management of land. Munton (2009) described the broad pattern of rural land ownership that has undergone significant changes over the last three decades. There have been substantial changes in property rights. Changes include growing urbanization of the countryside. This requires owners to pay more attention to consumption interests, which could be at the expense of traditional agricultural and forestry interests. This consequence of this change has been mixed. The expectation is that rural land should supply multiple goods and services, and valued accordingly. Ownership allows holders respond to urban pressures and farming difficulties associated with practices such as short-term leasing, contracting, supplying life-style residential properties and accommodation of environmental regulation. However, linking land use to land ownership is difficult as there are several drivers of land-use change. Important findings include change in the ageing occupational structure of farming, and increasing importance of local and individual circumstances. Land reform affects the prevailing pattern of land ownership, control, and its use. Land is freely traded in the open market. However, in the event of some form of market failure government intervention is possible provided that the measures are cost-effective. Macmillan (2000) described market failure in the ownership and management of land in Scotland. Social unrest over land has triggered the land reform demands in Scotland. For example, local land monopolies have created barriers that have led poorer members of the society to seek access to land resources. Scottish Highlands have been the epicentre of land reform in recent years. There has been strong emphasis on culture and community. Based on the Scottish land reform, communities are granted right to purchase lands, whereas previously they enjoyed only conditional access. Bryden and Geisler (2007) examined the relationship between land reform and community. Land reforms have not paid adequate attention to community strengthening resulting in weaker end effects. Community-based natural resource management and local development provides insight suggesting that the community-centric land reform has a promising future. However, issues must be addressed for Scotland’s land reform legislation to succeed. Issues arise from social boundaries in the enactment of collective land rights. The implications for land reform policies are based on the notion of community entitlement. According to Brown (2007) tensions are caused by mismatch between legal collective rights and perceived moral claims to land. For example, the enactment of existing collective rights demonstrates how individuals are qualified and disqualified from an imaginary “crofting community” based on moral assumptions of crafting identities, discourses and land use practices. Rural governance has been an area of growing interest in recent years based on the institutional transformations taking place. Of particular interest is the relationship between governance agencies and rural communities. “Governing through community” has been a part of a broader neo-liberal strategy. The majority of studies have focussed on community involvement and empowerment. However, there has been a shift towards community action and local involvement, which have been mediated by local and regional agencies in the Scottish Highlands. MacKinnon (2002) examined the relationship between local enterprise companies and local communities. There has been a tension in the concern between local participation and reliance on set of managerial technologies. This includes targeting and financial controls reflecting the need to ensure accountability of local agencies to central government. While it is important that state and local agencies analysed on the basis of a larger authority, local agencies and groups should retain some capacity to influence the process of rural governance. Morgan-Davies and Waterhouse (2010) assessed stakeholders’ preferences for policy priorities for the management of hilly areas in Scotland. Trade-offs made by stakeholders between policy priorities was evaluated. There was complexity in the definition of a hill system using a specific list of attributes. Livestock was the most important attribute of a hill system. A high level of preference was observed for the local economy based on activities linked to the land. Policy profiles based on biodiversity and tourism matched preferences of stakeholders to a greater extent than policy profiles for forestry and wild land. Russell and Thomson (2009) analysed the impact of sustainable development indicators on the integration of sustainable development in Scotland. A major concern was the availability of accounting technology to represent the complex multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary concept. Also, the relationship between sustainable development strategy and associated indicator of the government framework was analysed. There was misalignment between visions, field of visibilities, forms of knowledge and techniques of government directed strategy, and sustainable development indicators. There were omissions of critical aspects of the strategy. The indicators are unable to effectively measure the progress towards sustainability as they distort the sustainable development process by selective capture of information. Significance of City-Wide Urban Regeneration Strategies that Emerged to Sustain the Planning and Re-Development of Deprived Communities Towards the End of The 20th Century and upto 2005 The efforts towards short-term urban regeneration have been over thirty years. However, many areas are characterized by deprivation. Michael Carley leads a research programme on city-wide regeneration with case studies in Birminghan, Manchester, Glasglow and Edinburgh. The aim of the research has been to indentify elements to make regeneration strategies more sustainable. On review of the implementation of City Challenge in 1994, it was found that City Challenge was a significant change in urban regeneration policy. The emphasis was on property development, with the recognition that such programmes should be linked to deprived communities. The objectives were to provide a long-term vision; comprehensive approach; identify priority schemes; build institutional arrangements with respective stakeholders; allow partner authorities become lead partners; involve the private sector; engage the community; co-ordinate action; strategic approach; operate under accountable management structures; and allow programmes become sustainable after the initial development period. A critical component of the urban regeneration process is private sector involvement through partnership such as PFI or other mechanism. According to Adair et al. (2000) urban regeneration can be classified into four main themes including the rationale for private sector investment in urban regeneration; policy mechanism to lever private sector investment; financing of urban regeneration; and alleviation of risk. A singe regeneration budget allowed the promoting authority to bid, and be awarded a regeneration budget. According to Carley the incremental approach may not suffice indicating the need for a new strategic approach. The Edinburgh partnership has been based on Carley’s findings with the responsibility of overseeing the City’s urban regeneration programme and obtaining social justice by narrowing the gap between the more affluent, well-off and deprived communities. Urban regeneration and sustainable development have emerged as parallel strands of urban policy in the UK. However, there has been little co-ordination between them. There has been a greater emphasis on achieving urban regeneration especially in terms of economic activity. All urban regeneration contributes to sustainable development through the recycling of derelict land and buildings, reducing demand for peripheral development, and facilitating development of cities that are more compact. However, the British urban policy has to fully address the requirement for sustainable development. Couch and Dennemann (2000) examined the policy in Liverpool by studying Rope Walks Partnership. The researchers argued that it is important to place local action within the context of national policies. Economic regeneration, including property development, is the primary driving force regenerating the area. However, there is a lot to be achieved before an environmentally sustainable regeneration process can be achieved. Granton is on the largest urban regeneration schemes in the UK, and the project has transformed derelicy, contaminated land around the region into a world-class living and working environment. Craigmillar is a regeneration project in the south east of Edinburgh. The objectives were to bring prosperity to the area; develop schools, town centre, and other facilities alongside new housing; making the most in terms of people, cultural, historical, and natural features; and linking it to the rest of the city in terms of physical connections and design. A joint venture agreement with the Council and EDI group resulted in the Craigmillar Joint Venture Company. The population has been projected to double creating a viable community with homes, supporting a range of services and mixed uses. Provision of new education infrastructure is an important element of the plan. The Large Urban Distressed Areas (LUDA) project has been carried out with the aim of understanding large urban distressed areas and community-based approach by cities to meet the challenges. According to Deakin and Allwinkle (2010) the problems in LUDAs are inter-related. For example, low level of economic activity is related to an unemployed workforce, low level of educational achievement, poor skill levels and dependency on social services. Consequently, a negative external image is projected to neighbourhoods and surrounding districts. Some characteristics include below average levels of educational attainment; higher than average long-term unemployment and higher than average rates of economic inactivity among people of working age; poor health status; decline in economic attractiveness of the area for private sector investment and provision of private sector services; decline in attractiveness of areas as a place to live and work; higher than average crime rates; concentration of low income households with dependency on benefits; low paid and temporary work and low aspirations; economic restructuring reducing the demand for workers in areas producing skills and mismatches; community breakdown and lack of participation in civic life; poor quality mainstream public health service provision; and attractiveness of the area as a place to work and deliver services. McCarthy and Pollock (1997) found that Glasgow and Dundee had different experiences in terms of urban regeneration. Regeneration initiatives were influenced by political, social and economic contexts. Disparities were influenced by different approaches to urban regeneration in each city. Glasgow had a closely-targeted approach, but was successful to a lesser extent. On the other hand, Dundee attempted to enable a wider are of the city to share the benefits of regeneration. A majority of research on urban regeneration includes case studies on areas with socio-economic distress. However, Raco (2003) found that the best examples of discourses, practices and impacts of urban regeneration projects include projects characterized by strong economic growth. Areas of high demand projects have included brownfield sites as locations for new investment. A model of urban regeneration project has been Reading’s experiences. Market driven objectives dominate urban regeneration agendas. This includes areas where there is strong demand and development agencies have a high degree of influence. The Model of Sustainable Urban Regeneration That Has Emerged Since the Development of Community Planning in Scotland According to the Scottish Executive, genuine and effective engagement of communities is the heart of community planning. The process is called so because it is about the allocation of strategic resources. Urban regeneration is an important policy that has emerged in the last fifteen years. The origins include human geography and social science. Butler (2009) has described important influences such as the 1980s structuring of Britain’s space economy and development of London Docklands Development Corporation that followed urban riots. Earlier breakdowns in urban social cohesion in North America and UK manifested from “race riots” in 1950s leading to policy initiatives such as American War on Poverty and Community development projects in the UK. The tension between social cohesion and economic competitiveness has been evident. Recently, urban regeneration has adopted an urban sustainability discourse. The application of private-public partnership approach has incorporated some of the tensions between private sector and public sector approaches. According to Cowell (2004) government efforts for promotion of societal integration have displaced pre-existing government arrangements and created further complexity. For example, there has been a proliferation of partnerships. These include organizational forms that seek to combine capacities of public, private and community bodies for the delivery of governmental activities. Questions of accountability and public participation have been raised for the “congested state” of collaborative institutions. “Community plans” or “community strategies” have been considered a decongestant for the congested state. These plans are comprehensive strategies for promotion of the well being of an area with the aim of co-ordinating the actions of the council, public, private and organizations operating locally. They enable effectively meet the needs and aspirations of the community. Planning as a community allows rationalizing and streamlining partnership activity locally as such plans require significant public involvement. Cowell (2004) argued that the last decade has witnessed strategic planning in the British local government resulting in community planning. The Scotland Act of 2003 is a policy framework with detailed supportive advice. The statutory duty for participation includes the police, fire bodies, health boards, enterprise companies and public transport authorities. Community planning processes combine partnership between public sector players and local authority area. Cross-cutting issues such as health or community safety are dealt on by thematic partnership. It is believed that community planning allows achieving democratic renewal of the congested state. Community planning has been considered common accountability platform building allowing for building durable mechanisms for interagency governance and policy implementation. Local adaptability allows local councils to engage with local communities in a participative way. Cowell (2004) described the main aims of Community Planning as: ensuring engagement of people and communities in decision making in public services; and a commitment from organizations to work together for provision of better public services. Further key principles include Community Planning as a key over-arching partnership framework helping co-ordinate other initiatives and partnerships for rationalization and simplification of a cluttered landscape; and ability to improve connection between national priorities at neighbourhood, local and regional levels. Cowell (2004) has suggested that community planning is a key planning process allowing greater visibility and partnership, and the statutory basis provides a more durable basis for developing democratic relations. As a key principle of community planning, improving public engagement has been institutionalised. One of the difficulties is lack of demarcation between public involvement and other principles. A latent model of the position public participation in community planning is based around the “hourglass” shaped understanding of the process. At the top of the hourglass effective engagement is necessary for ensuring that the aspirations and needs of the communities are fed into a co-ordinated decision making and implementation machinery. At the middle of the hourglass public inputs are sifted and joint-working is fostered for making services more responsive. Preparation of the community plan, rules for collaboration, and supporting institutions are important subjects for involvement of the public. The translation of plan objectives into actions for an array of agencies and topic or area-specific partnerships form the third component. A central feature of the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) has been capacity building. The belief is that increased community capacity can empower local communities with the ability to tackle impacts of socio-economic change. Barker (2005) found that there is limited interest in advancement of community development initiatives. Coastal communities in Scotland suffer from a range of significant socio-economic problems. Scottish approaches to ICMZ have failed to improve local development. This requires integrating communities towards endogenous development. This includes capacity building concepts, and role of community based development in Scotland. Conclusion The land reform policy makes provisions for the community to buy land in rural Scotland. Market failure in the ownership and management of land has triggered land reform demands in Scotland. Legal and policy instruments have caused incremental reform. An important attribute of land ownership has been environmental stewardship. The focus on sustainable economic growth has been influenced by a practical econocentric approach. A critical review of the Scottish Government's strategy for sustainable urban development indicates that the effectiveness of land reform is not clear because of the lack of indicators to effectively measure progress at this stage. However, community-based natural resource management and local development is believed to become mainstream practice in the future. Political, social and economic contexts have influenced urban regeneration initiatives. Different approaches to urban regeneration in different cities have resulted in disparities. Community planning is based on the genuine and effective engagement of communities. The principal objectives of community planning include engagement of people and communities in decision making in public services; and a commitment from organizations to work together for provision of better public services. This allows greater visibility and partnership, and the statutory basis for more durable basis for developing relationships. References Adair, A, Berry, J., McGreal, S., Deddis, B. & Hirst, S. (2000). The financing of urban regeneration. Land Use Policy, 17(2):147-156. Barker, A. (2005). Capacity building for sustainability: towards community development in coastal Scotland. Journal of Environmental Management. 75(1):11-19. Brown, K. (2007). Reconciling moral and legal collective entitlement: Implications for community-based land reform. Land Use Policy. 24(4):633-643. Bryden, J. & Geisler, C. (2007). Community-based land reform: Lessons from Scotland. Land Use Policy. 24(1): 24-34. Butler, T. (2009). Regeneration to Renaissance. International Encyclopedia of Human Geography. 130-135. Cowell, R. (2004). Community Planning: Fostering Participation in the Congested State? Local Government Studies. 30(4):497 – 518. Deakin, M. & Allwinkle, S. (2010). Sustainable urban regeneration: a community-based approach. Center for Learning Communities. Napier University. Edinburgh. MacKinnon, D. (2002). Rural governance and local involvement: assessing state—community relations in the Scottish Highlands. Journal of Rural Studies. 18(3):307-324. McCarthy, J. & Pollock, A. (1997). Urban regeneration in Glasgow and Dundee: a comparative evaluation. Land Use Policy. 14(2):137-149. Morgan-Davies, C. & Waterhouse. T. (2010). Future of the hills of Scotland: Stakeholders’ preferences for policy priorities. Land Use Policy. 27(2):387-398. Munton, R. (2009). Rural land ownership in the United Kingdom: Changing patterns and future possibilities for land use. Land Use Policy. 26(1):S54-S61. Pillai, A. (2010). Sustainable rural communities? A legal perspective on the community right to buy. Land Use Policy, 27(3):898-905. Raco, M. (2003). Assessing the discourses and practices of urban regeneration in a growing region. Geoforum. 34(1):37-55. Rodgers, C. (2009). Property rights, land use and the rural environment: A case for reform. Land Use Policy. 26(1):UK. S134-S141. Russell, S. and Thomson, I. (2009). Analysing the role of sustainable development indicators in accounting for and constructing a Sustainable Scotland. Accounting Forum. 33(3):225-244. Read More