Gavin Parker

Gavin is Chair of Planning Studies at Reading. A chartered planner Professor Parker maintains a strong interest in citizenship, participation and governance in land, planning and development. He is interested in the relationship between land and people and considerations of property rights and conflict over land use. This interest spans the urban and rural divide and a number of policy fields as well as internationally. He has maintained a thread of research that is concerned with interactions and tensions between actors involved in planning and development throughout his research career.

Gavin has been actively researching community and neighbourhood planning with reports and publications that have been shaping policy agendas in this regard, for example: http://www.jplc.org/2012/ Keen to ensure that his research, theory and academic life is keyed into practice, he accepted a secondment to the Royal Town Planning Institute between 2012-2014 as one of the three directors. His responsibility included education, professional standards and Planning Aid England. His work there continued and extended his interest and expertise in neighbourhood planning and community engagement, see: http://www.rtpi.org.uk/planning-aid/

Gavin has also developed a particular interest in land use, community and policy in Japan and he is a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo and has produced several publications on this. Gavin was also Chair of the Community Council for Berkshire from 2006 to 2011, he sits on the council of partners for the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and he is also a director of the True Food Cooperative, Reading.

Amongst numerous publications he authored the book Citizenships, Contingency and the Countryside (Routledge, 2002) and he co-authored the well received text Key Concepts in Planning (Sage, 2012). The latter being designed to explain many of the ideas and issues circulating in planning, primarily for the benefit of students, see: http://www.uk.sagepub.com/books/Book232314

Gavin is keen to work with potential doctoral researchers wishing to pursue any of the themes expressed above and in particular participation in planning and neighbourhood planning.

Countryside planning; Community engagement and planning; Land and property rights

View a full list of Professor Gavin Parker's publications

Parker, G. and Salter, K. (2016) ‘Five years of Neighbourhood Planning. A review of take-up and distribution’, Town & Country Planning. May 2016, Vol. 85(5): 175-182.

Parker, G., Lynn, T. and Wargent, M. (2015) 'Sticking to the Script? The Co-production of Neighbourhood Planning in England', Town Planning Review, Vol. 86(5): 519-536.

Nanda, A. and Parker, G. (2015) 'Shared Ownership and Affordable Housing: a political solution in search of a planning justification?' Planning Practice and Research, Vol. 30(1): 101-113.

Parker, G. and Street, E. (2015) 'Planning at the neighbourhood scale: localism, dialogic politics and the modulation of community action'. Environment and Planning 'C': Government and Policy, Vol. 33(4): 794-810.

Parker, G. Lynn, T., Wargent, M. and Locality (2014) User experience of Neighbourhood Planning. October 2014. Locality, London. 

Parker, G. and Woodend, L. (2014) 'East Side Story': Japanese Machizukuri, Neighbourhood Planning and the Localism agenda in England, Town & Country Planning. April 2014, Vol. 83(4): 189-194.

Parker, G. (2014) Engaging neighbourhoods: experiences of transactive planning with communities in England, pp177-200 in Gallent, N. and Ciaffi, D. (Eds.) Community Action and Planning. Policy Press, Bristol.

Parker, G. and Murray, C. (2012) Beyond tokenism? Community-led planning and rational choices: findings from participants in local agenda-setting at the neighbourhood scale in England, Town Planning Review, Vol. 83(1): 1-28.

Parker, G. and Amati, M. (2009) Institutional Setting, Politics and Planning: Private Property, Public Interest and Land Reform in Japan, International Planning Studies, Vol. 14(2): 141 – 160.

Parker, G. (2008) Parish and community-led planning, local empowerment and local evidence bases. An examination of 'good practice', Town Planning Review, Vol. 79(1): 61-85.