Planning Research Network Prize Papers 2004: Introduction

摘要

Town Planning Review is very pleased to support the initiative of the Planning Research Network's Prize Paper awards by publishing the papers submitted by the 2004 award-winner and the runner-up. The Planning Research Network (PRN) is one of four major research networks established in 2003 by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to respond to the need for better evidence-based policy making through providing links to the research community beyond government. The networks cover the fields of planning, urban and neighbourhood studies, housing, and local and regional governance. Each network has an external co-ordinator who, with the ODPM, is responsible for bringing together key researchers in higher education and other research organisations and research sponsors. The networks achieve their objectives through organising particular links and a programme of meetings so as to enable policymakers and researchers to share ideas and learn from each other. They thus help to provide the means by which new research findings can inform policy making and increase the understanding of the context in which policies operate in practice.