Environmental regulation in the twenty-first century: a systematic review of (and critical research agenda for) JEPP scholarship

Abstract

Statutory and other forms of government-led environmental regulation (further ‘environmental regulation’) have evolved considerably since the mid-twentieth century. However, JEPP scholarship has shown little engagement with these developments over the last two decades. This lack of attention is unwarranted because environmental regulation is still a dominant approach to achieving the goals of environmental policy and planning. This article seeks to map, explore and evaluate current JEPP engagement with environmental regulations; explore three of the major developments in statutory and other forms of government-led regulation over the last decades relevant to environmental policy and planning; and present an environmental regulation research agenda for future JEPP scholarship.