Just upzone it and they will come? The Role of Economics in Planning: A Case Study of NSW

Abstract

This thesis explores the extent to which economic matters are, and should be, considered within the NSW planning system. It finds that in NSW, economics has an enduring and widely recognised role to inform effective strategic planning and decision making. Any consideration of economic matters must however be balanced with a consideration of the relevant social and environmental matters. Three case studies are provided to consider in the NSW planning context whether the role of economics has / is changing, who might be influencing these changes and how such changes have / or have not translated into policy, legislation and city outcomes. The first case study focuses on planning reform. It reviews legislation, submissions and debates in the NSW Parliament to understand how neoliberal rhetoric concerning the economics of planning has evolved and the extent to which it has translated into NSW policy. These experiences are compared with those in the United Kingdom, Queensland and Victorian planning systems. The second case study focuses on the views and values of ten key participants operating within, and influencing the NSW planning system. The third considers how successfully economic factors, including the feasibility of development, were considered by the NSW Government when preparing a strategic plan for a city centre within Sydney, NSW together with the resulting implications compared to the intended outcomes. I conclude that whilst economics is not a new consideration in the NSW planning system, it is an increasingly valued one as a means to reduce public and private sector risk and overcome economic hurdles to ‘make things happen’. Despite neoliberal attempts to alter the NSW planning system and ‘attacks’ on planning by economists, planners are increasingly accountable for not only supporting economic outcomes via development but also for creating and safeguarding the long-term economic interests of an area. It is for these reasons that NSW planners can no longer simply rely on a case of ‘upzone it and they will come’. When considering economic matters, including the feasibility of development, the NSW planner must also be cognisant of the strong and enduring sentiment in NSW that there must be a careful and equal balance of assessment with social and environmental considerations. Any perceived or actual tip in this balance generates concerns by NSW planning participants as to the intentions of government. As shown by this research, such concerns were sufficient in NSW to both stall and significantly alter the nature of planning reform representing an example of NSW planning’s enduring resilience against more pro-development interventions.