Almudena Cano Pineiro

Under the widespread perception of a democratic deficit in practices of local governance across European cities, the neighbourhood has become the principal site for experimentation with participatory models of urban regeneration. In the UK, the recent assimilation of ‘Localism’ thinking into mainstream urban policy and planning has opened up an institutionalised channel for citizen engagement in the production of the built environment at the local scale. In particular, Neighbourhood Planning procedures as outlined in the Localism Act 2011, have been presented as a new instrument for local communities to produce the statutory planning documents for their area.

The conceptual and practical implications of Neighbourhood Planning have been widely debated in the fields of urban studies and social science, reanimating academic discussion on appropriate forms of local democracy and community empowerment. Comparatively little consideration has been given to the limitations this participatory framework presents for design activity itself, its methods and the quality and relevance of its spatial outcomes.

With the first wave of Neighbourhood Plans and Forums operating across London, the city provides a wide collection of case studies to demonstrate that current approaches to Neighbourhood Planning require a re-valorisation of designers’ expertise, which is often overshadowed by the practicalities of participation. In the purely instrumental use of experts’ knowledge in the co-design process, urban design could miss out on an opportunity to generate new spatial solutions at local level. In light of this trend, my research seeks to (re)construct a more propositional role of design in Neighbourhood Planning that might better use design professionals beyond their current scope of involvement. This will be tested in a particular neighbourhood in London through an inventory of design tools, types and prototypes that could regenerate the local landscape as both a material artefact and a negotiated social product.