Urban and regional planning (or spatial planning, or town planning) has never been an easy public policy field to describe. Its focus – on place qualities and connectivities – is more diffuse to imagine than, say ‘education’ and ‘health’. Its interventions are not just about the direct state provision of public goods, but about shaping the terms through which others do this. Yvonne Rydin has managed to produce a very clearly written and readable introduction to the planning field. She takes her focus as the appropriate organising and managing of physical change processes in urban areas, in the context of a wider societal ‘vision’ of moving towards more sustainable urban futures.

She introduces the planning field in an attractively general way, explaining clearly why some shaping of how urban areas evolve is needed. As the book develops, she expands these arguments into explanations of how market processes, left to themselves, are unable to deliver adequate and sustainable living and business environments. Although drawing at times on international experiences, the book centres on the British experience, in particular the policies and practices of the British planning system (now diverging as UK nations develop more autonomy).

This British perspective is reflected in the organisation of the book. It starts with a discussion of the role of the ‘plan’, the challenge of shaping patterns of land use and land value and the difficulties of co-ordinating development and infrastructure. This leads on to chapters reviewing the role of planning activity in the provision of housing, the challenge of the ‘regeneration’ of urban areas and the various dimensions of heritage conservation. Chapter 6 then explores the issue of how people get involved with planning issues. This allows Rydin to introduce the argument that negative reactions to development (NIMBYism) are produced by particular practices frequently associated with the system in recent decades. This leads on to a wider discussion about the construction of notions of ‘the public interest’, about the debates and practices surrounding public participation and community engagement in the planning field, and about the roles of politicians. Chapter 7 is a fine chapter explaining clearly why people cannot just do what they like with their properties, but must acknowledge that their neighbours have a legitimate interest in each other's projects. Further, we all need to think about how our own building activities can be shaped to reduce the negative impacts these may have on the wider shared environment available for future generations. This orientation to the sustainability of urban development provides the normative position from which to develop and justify planning interventions.

Rydin winds up the book by reviewing three general themes which weave through the book. One, already mentioned, relates to the interaction between planning interventions and land and property market processes. The second centres on the challenges of community and stakeholder engagement with planning processes. The third links these two themes through a concern with the continual potential for conflict between public and private interests. Rydin argues that a way forward to minimise the blockages which can arise from such conflicts is to articulate a widely shared and stable vision of what the future could be like. She concludes the book with such a vision, centred on moving forward to a more sustainable future. This, in her view, involves decoupling the ‘good life’ from a narrow pre-occupation with economic growth.

For undergraduate students coming new to the planning field and for lay people struggling with planning issues, Rydin's book will be very helpful. She spells out clearly why a planning system was, is and will be needed, but does not hesitate to criticise ways in which the system in Britain has often failed to deliver. She grounds her discussions in broader conceptual debates but with a very light touch. Of course, fellow planning academics can criticise her selections and arguments. Is the planning project just about ‘planning systems’? Should there be more attention to place qualities and spatial connectivities? Why is there no discussion of particular kinds of urban places, notably city centres? What is the role of social movements in producing visions about future possibilities? Where does planning activity fit into wider governance contexts and the complex dynamics of, and debates about, urban governance in the present period? Did I (this reviewer!) ever argue that ‘the right procedures’ could lead to the ‘right outcomes’? (p. 127). (My concern has always been with the processes through which what is taken as ‘right’ is and should get to be accepted as legitimate.) And, with the likely readership in mind, why are there no illustrations! But these are minor caveats. Planning ideas, systems and practices are a complex bundle of activities which vary in their institutional contingencies but yet spin off a rich tradition of practice experiences and intellectual debates. Capturing these into an introductory account for British readers struggling to make sense of the ‘planning’ they encounter is no simple task. Rydin is to be commended for both attempting such a task and bringing it off so well.