Abstract

Barrie Needham (1942) graduated in 1964 from the University of Cambridge with a part II economics degree. He worked with a planning consultant in London, then taught at the (then) Polytechnic of Central London. Between 1970 and 1977 he was a lecturer at the University of Aston in Birmingham and at the beginning of 1978 he moved to the Netherlands for a post at the University of Nijmegen. In 1982 he was awarded his PhD there, in 1994 he was promoted to professor of spatial planning, in 2007 he retired, and he now has the status of emeritus professor. The combination of two circumstances – brought up with the English planning system and working with the Dutch planning system, and a degree in economics and working in land-use planning – has greatly affected his teaching and research. This has centered on the relationship between land and property on the one hand, and on the other hand attempts by the government to influence – by land-use planning among other things – how land and property are used. Much of his research into this has been done with researchers from other countries, in the form of comparative research. In the Netherlands he has been consulted many times by the central government for advice about changes in legislation for planning and for land policy. His two most recent book (in English) are: ‘Planning, law and economics’ (London: Routledge 2006) ‘Dutch land use planning’ (The Hague: Sdu publishers, 2009) In 2010 there will be published in Urban Studies ‘Institutions in theories of land markets’ (written together with Segeren and Buitelaar).