The planning system in England faces three distinct challenges: 1) the current rate of affordable housing supply is inadequate, 2) rates of ecological decline continue to worsen, and 3) recent attempts at reform risk undermining democratic rights. In response to this context, I propose a novel framework for understanding the transformative potential of planning consultation processes. This framework unites the conceptual approaches of liminality and actor-network theory to determine how different actors, and forms of agency, structure and prompt hesitation within these processes. It also allows for an examination of how power is composed and exerted, the extent to which this incorporates nonhuman actors, and the ways in which this impacts pro-nature concerns. Ultimately, the framework seeks to uncover how consultation processes may be harnessed to better protect the rights of nature.
I will apply this framework via a multi-sited ethnographic study of several housing development case studies in Sunderland, northeast England. Research methods will include ethnographic observation, semi-structured interviews, and document analysis across all stages of consultation (from pre-application to the grant of planning consent).
My research is timely and has the potential to shape future reform efforts given the expressed desire of the new government to review consultation processes. Moreover, it represents a theoretically and methodologically innovative contribution to planning scholarship.
