The Sheffield Declaration aims to provide a hopeful pathway to healthy placemaking, which can restore public and professional confidence in the planning system
Democratic planning is a vital way of securing a peaceful and sustainable future in an era defined by crisis and conflict. But is the planning system currently fit for purpose?
With plummeting morale among young planners, a worrying lack of public trust in the system and widespread prioritisation of private profit over public interest, it’s time for an urgent rethink of business as usual.
A project from the Town & Country Planning Association (TCPA) and academics at the University of Sheffield is aiming to do just that. The recently launched Sheffield Declaration emerged from a workshop hosted by the university in late January as part of a year-long project that champions a return to values-led planning.
It comprises of a new ethical code for planners and sets a new purpose for planning. The Declaration was codesigned with over 50 students, researchers and practitioners.
A profession rooted in social justice
While it hopes to set planning’s future direction of travel, the project owes much of its inspiration to the past. The Sheffield Declaration builds on a rich tradition of planners standing up for the public interest.
For the TCPA, it is also built into our organisational DNA. Ebeneezer Howard established the TCPA (then called the Garden City Foundation) to advance his vision for a fairer society. Howard’s 1989 book, To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform, outlined a practical framework for making this vision a reality.
Between 2020 and 2023, the TCPA’s Tomorrow 125 project revisited Howard’s ideas to explore their relevance to contemporary challenges. We were left with a renewed sense of urgency and confidence in the role of vision-led planning in addressing modern challenges. This has been a continuing source of inspiration for our work in Sheffield.
A new purpose for planning
At January’s workshop, there was broad consensus on the foundational principle that planning should be about achieving sustainable development, in the long-term public interest. And there was wide agreement about the need for a new narrative that challenges the frequent claim that planning is a blocker to progress.
The Sheffield Declaration’s new purpose for planning recognises that planning is the way that society takes responsibility for our planet and the flourishing of all people, both now and in the future. It does this through:
- The empathetic stewardship of place and space to support socially just outcomes.
- Democratic co-production with communities.
- Removing health and economic inequalities by promoting social equity and social justice.
- Respecting environmental and ecological limits.
By following these values, planners can create inclusive and joyful places where people and nature thrive, now and in the future.
Ethical Code
In line with the planning profession’s origins in public health, the ethical code takes inspiration from the International Code of Medical Ethics that influences the conduct of medical professionals.
The ethical code for planners contains four guiding principles:
1. To work for sustainable development.
2. To do no harm.
3. To serve the public interest with integrity and openness.
4. To support democratic decision-making and foster public trust.
The Sheffield Declaration sets a progressive path forward for the profession at a time when national planning policy is failing to articulate how we navigate the climate crisis or build healthy, resilient and sustainable communities.
What next?
Next, the project team is hoping to run a summer school for creative young practitioners where they can explore how to apply the Declaration in practice. It will be accompanied by the Student Guide to Utopia, a resource on the history and future of moral imaginations in planning.
The workshop in Sheffield exposed serious concerns that planning has lost its way, but it also acted as a rallying cry to do things differently. We hope this is the beginning of a journey to restore the ideals of town planning to be a creative, democratic and visionary practice which can build the foundation of a peaceful, sustainable and inclusive future.
You can sign up to the Sheffield Declaration on the TCPA website: www.tcpa.org.uk/a-new-purpose-for-planning/
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