Examining the discourse of ‘delay’ in urban governance: Project speed and the politicisation of time in the English Planning System

Abstract

While a growing body of work has been produced on the temporalities of urban governance and planning, limited attention has been paid to questioning how time is deployed through the application of chrono-technologies (Nowotny, 1994). Drawing on governmental and industry grey literature and empirical data, this paper examines the discourse of delay and ‘project speed’ surrounding planning policy and practice in England. Prompted by sustained accusations of planning ‘delay’, we chart how the use of political time (Howlett & Goetz, 2014) and ‘time talk’ (Lazar, 2019) features heavily in shaping urban discourse, and becomes subject to storytelling (Sandercock, 2003a, 2003b) and prevailing chronotopes (Mulíček et al., 2015). It is demonstrated how long-run temporal narratives focussing on speed and delay in planning are signifiers for securing a governmentality that asserts certainty and growth as overriding priorities. This politicisation of time and practice holds significant implications for democratic governance more widely. • There is growing interest in the temporalities of urban governance and planning in the academic literature. • Delay is pervasive in political and economic discourse yet there is little attempt to understand why time is taken. • In England this can be seen through claims to ‘project speed’ and as a form of political time and chrono-technology. • Claims about delay make use of storytelling about planning acting as a barrier to economic growth. • Narratives of delay are signifiers for securing a governmentality asserting certainty and growth as overriding priorities.

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