This positioning paper is the first output of a research project, which aims to examine two models of public engagement in planning approval processes—Third Party Objection and Appeal Rights (TPOAR) and Fast tracked planning—to see how they impact on housing supply, resident perceptions, and realisation of planning goals. Authors: Nicole Cook, Elizabeth Taylor, Joe Hurley...

Despite some consensus across key texts in planning history that non-experts have influenced aspects of urban governance, politics and urban environmentalism, the impact of non-experts on planning― including planning policy and planning law― remains unspecified. Taking as its case planning reform in NSW in the late 1970s, this paper aims to address this gap.

However, the planning drive towards medium density housing (MDH) has triggered widespread local resistance. This has led to new scrutiny of mechanisms for public participation in planning and efficiency of third party objection and appeal rights (TPOAR). This paper focuses on the latter.

Drawing on two cases of large-scale residential property development in NSW (Warnervale Town Centre and ADI-St Marys), this paper situates residential development in relation to planning trajectories in NSW and orients this form towards hybrid forms of neoliberalism.

Using the ADI St Mary’s site to explore long standing issues in the planning and management of urban development, this paper identifies the generic nature of issues such as constraining the scale of development and empowering people in specific contexts, resulting from a complex interplay of individuals, community groups, firms, local governments, state agencies