ABSTRACT
Any foray into the future of regional spatial planning needs to be placed in its historical context. A critique of past attempts at regional planning is also important as a starting point from which to build a new system. This chapter outlines and appraises England’s two most recent eras of regional planning. The mid 1960s to the mid to late 1970s are generally considered to be a golden age of strategic and regional planning. Regional strategies were increasingly backed up by rigorous research, and a systems approach involving analysis, and monitoring. Academics and practitioners had mutual goals and worked closely together, integrating research and practice in all spheres of land use planning. Along with political and economic changes a number of weaknesses in regional planning were responsible for its decline from the mid 1970s. By the end of the 1980s the weaknesses of a laissez faire approach to strategic planning were becoming increasingly apparent.
