ABSTRACT
The distinctive remit of planners is to guide the spatial evolu-tion of settlements so that they ‘work’ in the interests of all. It is futile to expect the vested interests of private and public investors – in the absence of an overarching strategy – to deliver this. Beauty, said Palladio, will proceed from the form, the relationship of all the parts to the whole.1 We need to understand how the whole works, how it changes, and fashion a place that is economically efficient, ecologically sustainable, socially just and healthy.
