Gilbert, A (2015) Sustainable development and greenspace in housebuilding: rules, roles and responsibilities. PhD thesis, University of Manchester, UK.
Abstract
This thesis considers the impact of Sustainable Development (SD) policy on greenspace in English housing developments over the last decade. SD has on one hand been named the ultimate justification for state intervention, with strong planning transforming consumption on the basis of equity and limits. In this scenario greenspace should play a central role, creating more ecologically conscious citizens and localizing consumption of ecosystem goods use. On the other hand it has been suggested that markets can effectively self-regulate to meet social justice goals through high technology while maintaining growth. In these more market-led approaches, the functional expectations of greenspace in cities remain anthropocentric. In line with this, this thesis considers greenspace design to be a functional expression of alternative cultural political economies of sustainable development and identifies the role of development institutions in working towards stronger sustainable development. An institutional account of the development process is developed in this project, to identify institutional considerations affecting the adoption of responsibility by state and market actors for SD. This views SD institutions as 'fields' affecting decision making, constituted by a range of cultural political and economic variables. This framework was used to frame empirical work and present an analysis which could advise on better practice. First, Corporate Social Responsibility statements from 2007-2014 of fifteen volume housing developers were examined. Subsequently, three case studies were conducted, representing Ecotowns, Sustainable Communities, and Garden Cities policy moments. Each case was characterised by different combinations of policy instrument, and varying arrangements of state authority, from centrally-orchestrated regionalism (2004-2010) to localism via austerity urbanism (2010-2014). The findings of this study suggest that SD has not transformed ideas of nature in development practice. However, rule and resource aspects of development institutions still significantly affect greenspace outcomes. CSR can support innovation in greenspace design but cannot be relied upon to transform greenspace practice in line with strong SD goals. For non-regulatory policy instruments to secure government intentions for greenspace, strong rhetorical support from central government, and expertise resources in local government are needed.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Haughton, G |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | corporate social responsibility; decision making; developer; government; housing development; innovation; local government; markets; policy; regionalism; sustainable development |
| Index terms: | housing developer, austerity, sustainable community, sustainable development, localism, markets, social justice, decision-making, corporate social responsibility, case study, housebuilding, political economy, urbanism, consumption, housing development, policy instrument, regionalism, local government |
| Subjects: | communities and social development, political science, cities and urban places, consumer economics, policy studies, construction type, decision analysis, economic analysis, sociology, data collection methods, construction integration, health safety and environment, administrative law, economic and policy analysis |
| Topics: | Health and Safety, Research Practice, Legal Issues, Ethics, Construction Technology, Risk Management, Stakeholder Management, Urban Studies, Governance, Business Strategy |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here