ABSTRACT
Development plans have a long history as tools of spatial planning. In the United Kingdom (and in many other places) they often represented directives within a model of planning that assumed that public authorities, informed by scientific knowledge and guided by consensual goals, controlled the course of urban growth. That model has been generally rejected in recent years. Planning authorities have had neither the power nor the inclination to ensure that cities develop “according to plan.” Both scientific knowledge and a consensual “public interest” are now seen as highly contestable.
