ABSTRACT
The Old Kent Road Opportunity Area (OA) in Southwark is home to several hundred now-threatened businesses under threat of displacement due to rising land values. There is a socioeconomic divide between the businesses which lose out and those which survive. There are ethical issues at stake here and it is through effective participation that all voices will be heard.
Business owners don’t have time to participate: they feel powerless because planning knowledge is lengthy, confusing, and difficult to access. Participation in council meetings is difficult in terms of both physical access and time availability. The solution, based on understanding typical structuring of urban depth in space and time, is to locate a place to participate in a shop on the high street.
The generosity of providing physical space, appropriately located in depth structure and in time (i.e., generous opening times) for fully informed participation in consultation is something that developers, local authorities, and central government could offer. It is a privilege to offer this generosity. I argue that to offer such generosity is an ethically sound move and that those with the privilege to achieve it have a responsibility to do so.
