The NSW planning reforms and their implications for planning education and natural and built environment

Planning systems in many parts of the world, including various states in Australia, are going through a process of reform for increased efficiency. These reforms can be seen as an inevitable outcome of the ascendance of neo-liberal political economic ideology. The planning reforms of New South Wales are very extensive and will have far- reaching implications for the natural and built environment in the state as well as for planning education. This paper is an effort to address this concern by analysing the nature of the reforms and the reasons behind their enactment. The paper draws on the author's earlier work on planning reforms, a literature review, comparison of the NSW planning reforms and their outcomes with reforms elsewhere and extensive discussions on this topic with the senior planning students at the University of Western Sydney in the professional practice class (most of whom are working as planning professionals in the field). The paper begins with the exploration of planning reforms in NSW. It looks at the parallels between these reforms and reforms elsewhere, with a particular focus on their neo-liberal economic underpinnings. The planFirst changes are used to highlight problems with the reform process in NSW. The paper also discusses the likely outcomes of the planning reforms in terms of the natural and built environment. A discussion on implications of the reforms for the planning profession and planning education has also been included