RTPI blog round-up: How the Davies Commission on airport expansion asked the wrong question

How well-planned regeneration boosts economic opportunity

A new working paper from the RTPI suggests that we may need to fundamentally review whether we think about regeneration and planning as a necessary ‘public cost’, or as an essential form of economic investment in people in places.

By David Pendlebury economics research officer

How the Davies Commission on airport expansion asked the wrong question

The Davies Commission final report has produced, as expected, no more consensus than there was before. Could it be that it asked the wrong question? The question asked was ‘Is there a need for more airports capacity and, if so, what should we do about it?’ The commission concluded that there was a need, a matter I am not qualified to examine, at least not here.

By Richard Blyth, head of policy and research

What critics of planning should understand about solving the housing crisis

In order to help solve the housing crisis, planners and economists need to develop a shared understanding of the relationship between supply and value in the housing market.

By David Pendlebury, economics research officer

Land-use, urban form and infrastructure - the $1 trillion question

According to Mitchell Silver, the New York City Parks and Recreation Commissioner and former president of the American Planning Association, sprawling suburbs across the US will face a crisis by 2030, with 25 million homes that nobody wants to buy surrounded by crumbling, under-funded infrastructure. In a related vein, a recent report by the Victoria Transport Planning Institute and LSE Cities estimated that sprawl costs America more than $1 trillion a year.

By Victoria Pinoncely, research officer