The role and significance of planning consultants as intermediary-actors

Between and amongst government, civic society and the market

Bibliographic Data

ID21691968
AuthorsFrancesca Bragaglia (0000-0002-8054-6403, DIST - Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy, corresponding author), Gavin Parker (0000-0003-3079-4377, University of Reading)
Year2024
Volume29
Issue1
Pages54-67
Publication date2024-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Planning Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1356-3475 • E-ISSN: 1469-9265
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13563475.2023.2290471
OpenAlexW4389453434
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited68

The paper discusses the role of private planning consultants as intermediary-actors and their implications in relation to planning theory and practice. To do so, the paper focuses on niche consultants involved in servicing neighbourhood scale plan-making in England, clarifying that they hold crucial agency in local planning processes and adding to the understanding of consultancy roles and co-production dynamics in planning. The paper draws together the literature on private sector consultancy and on intermediaries, along with theoretical work highlighting the diversification of planning, the rise of the collaborative turn and the effect of regulation on creating niche markets in planning expertise. The conclusions drawn help clarify the ‘action on others’ that planning consultants, as intermediary-actors, have in collaborative governance and planning in and beyond neighbourhood planning

Business · Corporate governance · Intermediary · Political science · Public relations · Social science · Sociology · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Urban Planning and Governance · Marketing

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