WHIG’s Blog

In a new publication in the journal Planning Practice and Research, WHIG researcher Sara Özogul investigates how planners in Amsterdam learn from interacting with property industry actors, and how their learning experiences travel beyond the project scale to instigate...

In a recent new publication Whig researchers Jess Ferm and Mike Raco explore the geographies of viability-driven planning reform in England.Drawing on interviews and fieldwork in London and the North East region, the paper reflects on the variable outcomes and...

Our new article in the Journal of Planning Literature confirms that there is limited academic engagement with investor stratifications. Furthermore, it establishes a new analytical framework for scholars to think along multidimensional lines to prevent...

On 6 February 2020, the WHIG Amsterdam team organised an interactive session at the Dutch Research Council’s Synergy ’20 conference, bringing together an interdisciplinary group of academics and practitioners active in the Dutch property market. The Synergy ’20...

Eleven students complete their master thesis in a WHIG-related thesis project group at the University of Amsterdam.The start of the WHIG project coincided with a new round of thesis supervision for master students of the MSc Urban and Regional Planning at the...

Given our focus on investment into residential real estate, an essential dimension is understanding how housing fits more broadly within the financialized economy of the UK (and the Netherlands and France).  An important but under engaged within urban studies part of...

UCL has a long-standing relationship with Just Space, an umbrella organisation for community groups across London. Whilst the WHIG project is not explicitly working with them at this stage, their work is highly relevant to understanding the planning context of London...

Hamlet Without the Prince or Why We Need More Research on How Private Sector Actors See the World.I recently gave a paper in the Department of Urban Studies at the University of Glasgow on the subject of ‘Seeing Like an Investor’.  The talk was based on a paper that...

Existing debates on ‘financialization’ in urban studies, and beyond, are intense. Given the nature of the WHIG project, we will inevitably be addressing the issue of financialization, financializing and financing head on. On Thursday 23 May, The Open University hosted...

Professor Tuna Tasan-Kok’s Inaugural Lecture sets out new lines of planning research and education to be taken up by the WHIG project.On Friday, 24 May 2019, Professor Tuna Tasan-Kok, recently appointed as Professor of Urban Governance and Planning, delivered her...