Abstract

This chapter explores the practice of village planning and the need for that practice to embrace two key considerations: firstly, planning process needs to give more attention to the participatory involvement of local people in a way that transcends consultation and bounded state co-option; and secondly, plan content needs to extend beyond the location, scale and design of physical development and embrace the social, economic and cultural dimensions of village vitality. The chapter is structured as follows: an initial contextualisation is provided by drawing attention to the role of the professional planner in local government and to village resident diversity; this is followed by discussion of planner-led and community-led village plans that engage with the regulation of land use; finally, and by way of contrast, the potential and limitations of participatory and strategic village planning are explored. The geographical focus is mainly on the United Kingdom, but additional insight is derived from village and small-town planning in other parts of Europe and in the United States.