Example estate management dissertation topic 2:

Rural building conversions: A rejoinder.

The government’s proposed changes to planning regulations and the perceived ‘watering’ down of the green belt provides the legislative and political background to this dissertation. Focusing upon those areas of the country that will be directly affected by the development of the HS2, this dissertation looks at the conflicting demands of smallholders, existing rural dwellers, and would-be commuters to the issues of agricultural building conversion (more commonly known as barn conversions) as well as the reassignment of land use. This is a dissertation which will alter and grow as the research is undertaken and is, as a consequence, a dynamic research area fusing together theoretical concerns as well as practical business and political issues.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Prag, P. and Gibbard, R. (2003). ‘Private investment in the countryside’. Planning, vol. 14, 3-29.
• Ravenscroft, N. (1990). ‘The nature and extent of diversification on rural estates in Britain’. Land Development Studies, vol. 7(2), pp. 83-95.
• van der Vaart, J.H. (2005). ‘Towards a new rural landscape: Consequences of non-agricultural re-use of redundant farm buildings in Friesland’. Landscape and Urban Planning, vol. 70(1), pp. 143-152.