Economic Restructuring and the Realignment of the Urban Planning System: The Case of Dublin

Abstract

This paper examines the evolving role of urban planning under conditions of economic restructuring. The increasing mobility and scale of capital have resulted in the necessity for local governments to attempt to lure capital into specific locations and the growing subservience of the state to capital. This has given rise to declining local autonomy and a reorientation of the role and policy directions of urban planning. Using in-depth interviews with urban planners and property developers in Dublin, this paper examines the impact of these conditions on planning's operation and the outcomes of increased central state intervention in the former territory of planning. It is concluded that planning is being reoriented to become more directly facilitative of the demands of capital.