What are key rationalities that underpin planning policy discourses and how do they 'frame' seemingly irreconcilable conflicts around development and environmental protection? Providing an assessment of these important questions, this book analyzes whether planning for sustainable development can provide a basis upon which to re-establish planning.

Contents: Planning and the governance of growth: theories and issues; The changing rationalities of planning policy; The policy hierarchy in planning; Planning by numbers; Competing rationalities in structure planning; Down to the district: local expressions of development and environment; Towards a new rationality of planning?; Bibliography; Index.

'This is an excellent book...to be warmly welcomed and should be essential reading for all planners and intending planners...it is refreshingly well written.' Town & Country Planning 'The case studies alone would ensure that this book finds its way onto many reading lists and bookshelves.' Urban Studies '...of interest not only to geographers but also to environmentalists, housing advocates, and planners.' Environment and planning C: Government and Policy 'Jonathan Murdoch and Simone Abram have provided a useful overview of current trends in planning in England.' Journal of Housing and the Built Environment 'The book is well structured and easy to follow, and coloured with rich empirical evidence...this piece of work has its merits in putting focus on an often-forgotten corner of environmental conflict - that of urban sprawl on valuable rural land...A well-grounded field study further underlines the complexity of implementing sustainable development policies.' Geografiska Annaler, Series B, Human Geography