'Design Governance' at 'Street Level’: Delivering Well-Designed Places in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland

Richardson, R. (2022) 'Design Governance' at 'Street Level’: Delivering Well-Designed Places in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. UK-Ireland Planning Research Conference 2022, Manchester, UK, 5-7 Sep2022.

Abstract

While urban design occupies an increasingly prominent position within Scottish national planning policy, new development too often still falls short on design quality. This paper explores the gap between national design ambition and local delivery through a case study of West Dunbartonshire Council, a small local authority in a post-industrial area bordering Glasgow. West Dunbartonshire Council has made a strategic investment in its ‘design governance’ capacity, including establishing a design review panel, to support the delivery of a policy agenda which harnesses the contribution urban design can make to wider regeneration, health, and environmental aims. This paper utilises primary research from a collaborative ESRC doctoral studentship, conducted through semi-structured interviews with local planning stakeholders, and archival work using documents including planning records and policy. The paper employs Lipsky’s conceptualisation of ‘street level bureaucrats’ to analyse how the discretion of planners is variously expanded and constrained at different moments during the implementation of urban design policy. It argues that micro-level adaptations including West Dunbartonshire Council’s design-oriented policy approach and proactive planning culture have successfully empowered planners to push developers for improvements to design proposals. However, the evolving role of the state within ‘design governance’ under forces of neoliberalisation places structural constraints upon planners’ discretion. High workloads and the imperative of efficiency undermine the prioritisation of long-term urban design outcomes, while the requirement to outsource design work to consultants who simultaneously work for developers contributes to an increasingly powerful private sector within ‘design governance’. This shifting balance of power is particularly salient in areas where local authorities are reliant on private development capital to deliver regeneration policy aims. The paper therefore concludes that consistently delivering well-designed places requires a deeper understanding of the interactions between public and private actors at ‘street-level’ within the increasingly blurred boundaries of the local state.

• Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item
• Additional Information: Funding: ESRC and West Dunbartonshire Council (WESTDUMC), "Creating well-designed places in Scotland: What does it take?"
• Status: Published
• Refereed: No
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Richardson, Dr Robert
• Authors: Richardson, R.
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
• College/School: College of Social Sciences