Planning Theory current issue

Populism, Localism and Environmental Politics: the Logic and Rhetoric of the Stop Stansted Expansion campaign

Griggs, S., Howarth, D. — 2008-06-24

Proposed plans to build or expand large infrastructure projects such as airports, motorways or housing developments are often sites of intense political contestation and conflict management. This article explores the intersection between environmental planning processes and political practices by analysing the Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) campaign to curtail the further development of Stansted Airport in the south-east of England. Highlighting a paradox of political engagement, the article builds upon recent poststructuralist theory to develop a novel grammar of concepts and logics with which to explore the dynamics of political campaigning. This grammar develops Ernesto Laclau's recent approach to populism by elaborating a spectrum of political forms of engagement, along which concrete manifestations can be located. We then characterize the logic of the SSE campaign surrounding New Labour's consultation exercise for the 2003 Air Transport White Paper, before problematizing strategies and tactics in the light of the available options. We conclude by sketching out the possibility of a dialectical connection between localism and populism, in which particular demands can be inscribed into a more universal rhetoric and strategy for change.

Democratic Assessment of Collaborative Planning Processes

Agger, A., Lofgren, K. — 2008-06-24

Collaborative planning is often mentioned as one of the most appropriate planning theories in relation to the network society owing to its focus on creating fair and inclusive institutional settings for deliberations among public and private stakeholders. Even though this theoretical framework discusses potential outcomes, the actual democratic effects of collaborative planning processes are notably overlooked in the literature. The central question raised in this article is: how can we assess the democratic effects of collaborative planning processes? The article presents a tentative evaluative framework for assessing the different stages (input, process and outcome) of collaborative planning processes deriving criteria from democratic theory, as well as from theories on collaborative planning, which can be deployed for empirical studies.

The Contribution of Assemblage Theory and Minor Politics for Democratic Network Governance

Van Wezemael, J. — 2008-06-24

This article starts from Sørensen and Torfing's (2004) notion that the field of network governance is `somewhat eclectic and confusing' and that it lacks a sound ontological foundation. I will argue that the lack of a proper conceptualization of intermediate-scale entities such as interpersonal networks, organizations or social movements in network governance hampers the introduction of post-liberal concepts of democracy into network governance. In the second part of the article I introduce DeLanda's theory of social complexity, which is a development of DeuleuzoGuattarian Assemblage Theory. I propose it as an ontological foundation for network governance research. Assemblage theory connects to concepts of minor and major politics. In the third part of the article I present a concept of `minor governance' in order to revisit democratic network governance.

Ideologies of Certainty in a Risky Reality: Beyond the Hauntology of Planning

Gunder, M. — 2008-06-24

Two perceptions of `risk' tend to dominate leading conceptualizations of this term. The first perspective is largely held by government and the scientific community. Risk, in this view, is something that can be measured, observed, mapped and generally controlled. Under this perspective, planning is often perceived as playing a central scientific role in the achievement of this `management' task. The second perspective is a poststructuralist one where risk is a constructed concept. This article explores this perspective from the position that risk is a fear of the repressed, undecidable and unknown that haunts social reality, for it may spring up at any time to create adversity and misfortune. In this view, risk is inherently an ideological spectre responding to a lack of knowledge, uncertainty and/or inherent unknowability, which in turn induces society to crave and then seek to generate further constructs of certainty, even if these are mere fantasies and illusions that purport to control and overcome the unknown. In contrast to the scientific realist perspective of `manageable' risk, this article argues that planning often produces just such an ideological response. Further, it argues that a desire for certainty to offset the haunting of this risky future, no matter how illusionary, underlies and empowers planning's very ontological purpose. It concludes by proposing an alternative ontology for planning, which actively engages with change and the unexpected.

The Role of Knowledge in planning

Alexander, E.R. — 2008-06-24

Response To E.R. Alexander's Comment On `The Role Of Knowledge In Planning'

Rydin, Y. — 2008-06-24

Book Review: Richard Scholar (ed.), Divided Cities: The Oxford Amnesty Lectures 2003. London and New York: Oxford University Press, 2006, 228 pp., ISBN 978 0192807083, GB{pound}17.00/US$24.95 (pbk)

Lo Piccolo, F. — 2008-06-24

Book Review: Dennis V. Lindley, Understanding Uncertainty. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2006, 272 pp., ISBN 978 0470043837, US$64.95 (hbk)

Slotterback, C. S. — 2008-06-24