Changing Times, Changing Places: Urban Development and the Politics of Space–Time

Abstract

IntroductionMuch of the literature on urban regeneration has focused on the form and character of new urban spaces and the broader socioeconomic impacts of projects on communities living in and around development areas. The emphasis has been on the mechanisms in and through which development imaginations have been structured and mobilised and the ways in which the powers of different interests have been converted into development practices. However, in this paper we argue that relatively little attention has been given to the issue of time in the regeneration process and the socioeconomic impacts of development phasing and timing. Regeneration, after all, is concerned not only with what is constructed but also when particular objectives should be prioritised and at what point(s) in the development process different groups and interests could and should have their needs and priorities addressed.This politics of space^time takes on multiple forms. Policy makers and planners, for example, often initiate urban projects by trying to encourage developers to invest capital in peripheral and/or derelict urban sites. In the short term the need to prepare sites for new investment often becomes the principal development priority. Developers and investors, in turn, often look to maximise the returns on their investments by shortening investment time frames as tying up capital for long periods increases costs. For others, however, such as residential and small-business communities located Abstract. Much of the writing on urban regeneration in the UK has been focused on the types of urban spaces that have been created in city centres. Less has been written about the issue of when the benefits of regeneration could and should be delivered to a range of different interests, and the different time frames that exist in any development area. Different perceptions of time have been reflected in dominant development philosophies in the UK and elsewhere. The trickle-down agendas of the 1980s, for example, were criticised for their focus on the short-term time frames and needs of developers, often at the expense of those of local communities. The recent emergence of sustainability discourses, however, ostensibly changes the time focus of development and promotes a broader concern with new imagined futures. This paper draws on the example of development in Salford Quays, in the North West of England, to argue that more attention needs to be given to the politics of space^time in urban development processes. It begins by discussing the importance and relevance of this approach before turning to the case study and the ways in which the local politics of spacet ime has influenced development agendas and outcomes. The paper argues that such an approach harbours the potential for more progressive, far-reaching, and sustainable development agendas to be developed and implemented.

Flagship Regeneration in a Global City: The Re-making of Paddington Basin

“…As a result, regeneration projects such as Paddington Basin have been 'ratcheted up' over time and become more ambitious in scope and scale, with a greater emphasis on the needs of commercial users and higher income groups. As with developments elsewhere it has reflected a particular politics of time in which the benefits of development for local communities are expected to appear in an imagined distant future (see Raco et al, 2008). The priority for policy-makers is to change the image of the area and, in the short term, turn it into an investment space.…”

Making a case for evidence-informed decision making for participatory urban design

“…Literature offers a range of criticisms of a productbased design approach to urban regeneration with its 'focus on the short-term time frames and needs of developers, often at the expense of those of local communities' (Raco et al, 2008(Raco et al, , p. 2652, where design is 'promoted as an important element of competitiveness' (Bell and Jayne, 2003, p. 121). The rhetoric of literature has criticised design-led regeneration for not living up to its expectations.…”

Climate Terror

“…It is here that sustainable development is visibly bound up with a contested 'politics of time' (Raco et al 2008(Raco et al : 2655, or more precisely, a 'post-politics of the future'. We argue that a divergence has opened up between the environmental values of the global North and those of nations in the global South.…”

“…As Meadowcroft (2000) has observed, at a time when grand narratives and modernist projects to refashion man and society have gone out of fashion, a new ' meta-narrative' -one possibly even more ambitious than preceding projects -to guide future societal trajectories has arisen: sustainable development. In this sense, the 'future' becomes an object for action, requiring the resurfacing of planning as a key mechanism for guiding public policy, private business and individual conduct (Raco et al 2008(Raco et al : 2566.…”