How far does planning control what we build? And what can we build without planning? SUB-PLAN investigates the moment when architecture appears to slip into insignificance – when it doesn’t even need a planning application. Are the implications of minor development more significant than planners imagine?
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By amy linford
Mar 31, 2012
We were lucky enough to have the author, David Knight, come to our University and give a talk called "make planning popular". It was one of the most refreshing lectures and was exceptionally funny. The book explores the ambiguity of the planning framework, and takes what "is not permitted" and questions what is? It cleverly, and in a hilarious tongue in cheek fashion, makes examples of regulations and rules invented to restrict or guide building development. Qualities that are assumed to have a determined value are creatively put to a use which sits in a grey area that arises from rule making. For example the function of a chimney is not defined by a planning policy, and there are no restrictions on how many a dewlling can have. This is taken as a solution to a hoarders house, as the chimneys become vertical storage units. The book zooms in and out at an architectural and a city wide scale, showing what implications these policies could have if they were pushed to... More > their limit, or taken advantage of as an alternative interpretation. It becomes wonderfully absurd, which reflects the absurdity of what does become a grey area in planning, what could potentially be the most effective or most damaging reactions to planning policies. As an architecture student I thoroughly enjoyed the lecture and bought the book. I have the "Make plannning popular" manifesto pinned to my wall as a reminder that rules are made to be questioned.< Less
