Planning is about making places and shaping the future. It has a profound impact on our lives in every way possible. Planning is not simply about approving housing units, it is about determining whether communities thrive or not. Planning is about our collective future: whether we are resilient or vulnerable, healthy or unwell, productive or idle. Of all the public services, planning is the one defined by its concern not just for this generation, but for the long-term welfare of future generations. In 1947 the Town and Country Planning Act took its place alongside the NHS Act, the Education Act and the National Insurance Act as the foundation for a new, more prosperous and more socially just society.

But planning for the future is under assault as never before. The recent report of the House of Lords Select Committee on the Built Environment concluded: ‘as a nation, our aspirations for the quality of the built environment have been routinely too low. Only the Government can set a more ambitious path and we urge this government to do so.’

This book records with stark clarity the decline of planning in England and the gulf between the aspirations of the founders of the planning movement and its current principles and practice. The authors also offer us the passionate hope that we can rebuild the institutions, knowledge and commitment of the planning service. They make clear that, with the talent and the vision we already have among our planners, architects and engineers, we can make much better places in the future. We can do this by recognising that the best places to live are those which understand how arts, heritage and culture enrich our lives and create a sense of belonging. The best places understand the need for rich habitats, and green space too, as well as a paramount emphasis on quality and design, inclusion and resilience. In short, this book offers a prescription for the sorts of communities we would all choose to live in.