ABSTRACT
Researching the particular institutional arrangements in Cambridge, UK, and how these support the delivery of sustainable development through the planning system, this chapter focuses on the key concept of ‘ownership.’ We argue that landownership is a significant but under-researched factor determining sustainable development. Given the English context whereby local government powers in planning and building standards have shrunk in recent years, achieving sustainable development has increasingly become a bargaining process, involving local government and citizens appealing to developers’ and private landowners’ ‘better nature.’ In this institutional environment, we emphasize the importance of locally invested actors in achieving sustainable development.
