Pluralism In Place: Navigating Value-Based Tools in the Built Environment

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Following the publication of Planning with Purpose: A Values-Based Approach to Planning Reform,  phase 2 of this project examines how we might better manage value pluralism in the built environment and how we might institutionalise a value(s)-based approach to planning governance.

Planning is inherently value laden. It is where decisions about people, place, and planet converge. Balancing trade-offs is at the heart of planning policy and practice — between housing provision and environmental protection, speed and democratic engagement, or short-term gains and long-term resilience.

It’s no secret that today’s planning system is struggling to deliver the quality and scale of outputs necessary to society’s needs. Value-based tools play a central role in shaping both processes and outcomes in the built environment supporting decision-making by enabling policymakers and practitioners:

• to define and assess what principles they wish to promote;
• and to measure what types of value (economic, social, environmental, cultural etc.) are being created across a project lifecycle.

Our research distinguishes between two types of value-based tools: value frameworks and value measurement tools.

• Value frameworks outline a set of principles used to understand what is important to an organisation and to guide decisions to achieve those outcomes.
• Value measurement tools provide metrics, indicators, or scoring systems to measure both the financial and non-financial value generated - or compromised - by a project.

However, given the number of disparate tools and mechanisms "on the market", there is no common language to discuss “what really matters” for people and planet. Our research takes stock of the value-based tools that exist within the built environment sector in England. We will examine how these tools are constructed, the main value concepts they promote and the extent to which they influence development, as well as how they speak to each other. 

Moreover, given the limitations of data-driven frameworks and the wicked problems we are currently facing, we will explore alternative mechanisms that may be needed to facilitate important conversations and exchanges surrounding “what really matters” for key stakeholders in the built environment.

This is a key step in moving towards a more cohesive planning culture that puts broader concepts of value at the heart of decision-making, and that is better equipped to work through the trade-offs necessary to deliver high-quality places.                                         

Click here to read the previous publication, Planning with Purpose: A Values-Based Approach to Planning Reform and see policy recommendations. 

Photo by Robert Bye on Unsplash.