I came to this MA with a particular desire to understand particapation, engagement and consultation as part of the Planning System. I came to the course with a critical hat on, worried that despite increased participation, people remain marginalised and so I started with many concerns.
So far, I've written a history essay about experiments in this field during the 1970s and I'm exploring what consultation means today as part of my design work in the Free Unit.
I'd like to explore this further. I'd like to do more historical analysis and comparison and find out what 'Advocate Planning' really was, in the 1980s. I'd like to find out who did it and what they achieved. I'd like to study more historically and theoretically, assessing the successes and failures of public participation and the strengths of legislation that supposedly champion it.
Historical and present-day case studies will be useful and will include: The People's Plan for the Royal Docks, Coin Street Community Builders and the Bermondsey Neighbourhood Forum.
With 'Localism' just around the corner, and with the possibility of privatised planning departments becoming an ever more increasing prospect, I'd like to explore what it may mean to be an Architect-Planner in 2011 and beyond, during the new dawn of "People-Power".
