We are pleased to host a half day event of thinking about inclusivity and community within policy and practice, with a focus on heritage and planning, as part of our Follow-on-Funding dedicated to Opening New Pathways to Impact across Heritage Research, Policy and Practice.

The event is of course timely as it coincides with the UK Government’s launch of the Planning White Paper consultation, Planning for the future, which aims to ‘fix’ the ‘broken’ planning system through a series of 24 proposals outlined in the document. The White Paper follows other relevant reports that came out earlier this year, such as the ‘Living with beauty‘ report of the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, and two reports – Rethinking the Planning System for the 21st Century and Planning Anew‘ – published by Policy Exchange, also relevant for many of the proposals outlined.

This half-day Conference will contribute to the impressive range of discussion and debate seen over the past months which have focused on key concepts underpinned in the planning reform, which include: planning for development, planning for beautiful and sustainable places, and planning for infrastructure and connected places, through three categories identified to simplify planning (Growth, Renewal and Protected Areas). Communities are at the core of this, and heritage studies is well placed to think about the current shift towards politics of rootedness and belongingness, as well as enabling placemaking and inclusivity.

The areas we are focusing on specifically are:

• How does the understanding, design and governance of placemaking affect wellbeing and social sustainability?
• What does it mean to put resources into the hands of communities, and how can understanding nature, culture or heritage studies provide people with opportunities for choice and control?
•  What can heritage research and practice offer this new politics of identity, rootedness and belongingness.