Unequal Places: The 2009 UK-Ireland Planning Research Conference

摘要

As I headed to Newcastle for the annual Planning Research conference, travelling from Manchester on the Trans-Pennine Express railway with colleagues from the universities of Liverpool and Manchester, viewing the stark contrasts between the built form of Greater Manchester, the Pennine hill towns, the tower cranes of Leeds, the rurality of the Vale of York and farther north into County Durham and Tyneside, the conference theme of 'Unequal Places' was clearly visible through the train carriage window. Of course we all know that the inequality of places does not necessarily manifest itself in the built form alone, but the striking difference between the Newcastle of 2009 and that of over a decade ago when the last Planning Research conference took place in 1998 in the city was nowhere more evident than on both sides of the quayside, which were so clearly visible as we crossed the King Edward VII Bridge over the river Tyne.