King's College London

Senior Lecturer in Property Law at The Dickson Poon School of Law, Dr Yael Lifshitz, is one of seven researchers whose policy-focused projects have been selected by the British Academy as part of their Policy Insight Case Studies scheme. 

The Policy Insight Case Studies scheme supports research in the Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts for People and the Economy/Environment (SHAPE) that provide clear and factual lessons for policymakers. The awards are for up to £25,000 each for a period of six months. Broadly focused on issues related to sustainability, technology and inequality, the selected research projects highlight a range of issues from addressing net zero to digital inclusion.

About Dr Lifshitz’s project

Policymakers at the local level are now facing challenges of a new kind and magnitude. Local Planning Authorities are increasingly called upon to deal with concerning issues such as rising sea levels, increased floods, disappearing biodiversity and siting of renewable energy installations. All these require Local Planning Authorities to consider not only the here and now, but also those who will come after us – the future generations. This project will examine to what extent local planning authorities in England consider future generations.

The contribution of the project is threefold: first, it will allow local policymakers to reflect on their own planning policies, and to draw lessons from best practices in other local authorities to improve their consideration of future generations; second, it will advance the debate regarding how future generations can be given a voice in current decision-making; third, it will facilitate improved inter-temporal thinking within local policymaking.

Dr Lifshitz is a leading academic who has worked in energy law and policy, and in property law and theory. Her research explores the diverse set of rules and institutions that govern access to resources, with a particular emphasis on energy governance, and the private law aspects of the climate and energy transitions. She is a member of the Law School’s Centre on Climate Law & Governance and the Yeoh Tiong Lay Centre for Politics, Philosophy and Law, and a Fellow of the Guarini Center on Environmental, Energy and Land Use Law at New York University (NYU) Law School. She teaches energy law, property law, and environmental law.