Planning Theory recent issues

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

Editorial Note

Hillier, J. — 2008-02-13

Research Ethics in Planning: a Framework for Discussion

Lo Piccolo, F., Thomas, H. — 2008-02-13

This article discusses research into planning, and specifically how we might best frame the ethical issues which arise in, and through, such research. One of its central contentions is that ethical sensitivity is developed by researchers as part of a social practice, that is, through communal activity of a particular kind. Therefore, important as it is to ensure that researchers are aware of their personal ethical responsibilities, understanding what the moral point of view requires — that is, being sensitive to ethical issues, especially in new circumstances — is something which researchers acquire through involvement in appropriately conducted social practices. The article's suggestion is that the notion of a social practice, as used by MacIntyre (1985) and others is helpful in framing thinking about research ethics in planning because it places the individual's acquisition and development of a moral perception, and judgements, within a social context. The first section discusses this notion. The article also explores whether the notion of a social practice can usefully be employed to distinguish between the ethical issues which arise in scholarly research in planning as opposed to those which arise in policy-related research in planning.

Plan(e) Speaking: a Multiplanar Theory of Spatial Planning

Hillier, J. — 2008-02-13

I develop a new theory of spatial planning. This is a multiple, relational approach of dynamic complexity to understanding and working with contingencies of place, time and actant behaviours. Inspired by the planar philosophy of Gilles Deleuze, I offer the potential for multiple planes: several — or perhaps one collectively preferred — broad trajectories or `visions' of the longer-term future — (Deleuzean planes of consistency or immanence) — and shorter-term, location-specific detailed plans and projects with collaboratively determined tangible goals — (planes of organization or transcendence). I explore what spatial planning practice could look like if it were to become along Deleuzean lines. I argue the case for performance-based planning rather than performance-measured, target-based master plans, discussing critical problems and issues for theory and practice.

Foucault's dIspositif and the City

Ploger, J. — 2008-02-13

Michel Foucault was concerned with the role of urban planning in `bio-politics'. Only a few authors, however, emphasize the crucial role of the dispositif in his thinking about space and discipline. This article emphasizes the dispositif ensemble as exemplary to understanding urban planning and to one of Foucault's main themes: the constitution of disciplinarian forces through relations of power, knowledge and space. The article explores the dispositif both categorically and in its common use, and indicates Foucault's understanding of dispositif by looking at his writings on `the healthy city' and the Panopticon.

The Culturization of Planning

Young, G. — 2008-02-13

Culture as an organizing concept and framework offers planning a new, deeper and more sustainable foundation. The fact that culture constitutes and is constituted by our geographies, histories and societies, is expanding, and is the world's leading intellectual resource, can be the basis for a new positionality for planning. A positionality of this kind is proposed as a new paradigm, and tagged with the neologism of `culturization'. As a specifically ethical, reflexive and critical approach, it stands in contrast to the broader, socio-economic trend to `culturalization' and its acknowledged commodification. For the purposes ofculturization, an integrated concept of culture and an integrated approach to planning research are described in order to engage all of the forms and dimensions of culture, and to link a plurality of cultural theory and communicative and postmodern planning theory to the enterprise. Further, innovations in theoretical writings and culturized planning practices that have emerged in recent times are cited for their relevance to a more systematic culturization of planning with greater sustainable and transformational potential.

Post-Liberalism: On the Ethico-Politics of Planning

Roy, A. — 2008-02-13

Book Review: Jill Grant, Planning the Good Community: New Urbanism in Theory and Practice. London: Routledge, 2005. ISBN 978-0-415-70074-0, GB{pound}79.00/US$138.50 (hbk); ISBN 978-0-415-70075-7, GB{pound}29.99/US$52.50 (pbk)

Ellis, C. — 2008-02-13

Book Review: Thomas L. Harper and Stanley M. Stein, Dialogical Planning in a Fragmented Society: Critically Liberal, Pragmatic, Incremental. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University, Center for Urban Policy Research, CUPR Press, 2006. 372 pp. ISBN 978-0-882-285179-2, US$24.95 (pbk)

Alexander, E.R. — 2008-02-13

Book Review: Stephen Eric Bronner, Reclaiming the Enlightenment: Towards a Politics of Radical Engagement. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006. 234 pp. ISBN 0231126093, US$19.00 (pbk)

Allmendinger, P. — 2008-02-13

Book Review: Oren Yiftachel, Ethnocracy: Land and Identity Politics in Israel/Palestine. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006. 368 pp. ISBN 081223927X, US$69.95/GB{pound}45.50 (hbk)

Thomas, H. — 2008-02-13

Culture Stories:Understanding Cultural urban Branding

Jensen, O. B. — 2007-11-13

This article argues for a narrative approach to the study of urban branding and planning and presents an analytical framework for understanding narratives and place. The notion of the `representational logics of urban intervention' captures this idea that urban branding interventions are guided by certain representations and embedded in certain norms and values. The analytical framework is applied to a case study of cultural urban branding, the harbour front in Aalborg, Denmark, where a number of flagship architecture projects and cultural institutions are planned. It illustrates the competing stories told by proponents and opponents of the interventions, and also shows how the relation to place in the stories differs radically according to their allegiances. The article aims to throwing light on the complex relationship between story and place.

Inventing the Greatest: Crafting Louisville's Future Out of story and Clay

Throgmorton, J. A. — 2007-11-13

In earlier publications I have argued that planning can be thought of as a form of persuasive and constitutive storytelling about the future. In this article I tell a story about the transformation of Louisville, Kentucky, a city of approximately 700,000 people located in the middle of the United States. The story begins in the early 1950s with a youth named Cassius Marcellus Clay, moves through space and time, weaves together a series of locally grounded common urban narratives, and ends at a new Center in Louisville named after Muhammad Ali. By weaving these tales together, I seek to demonstrate how narrative might be used to generate a more capacious approach to planning, but also to indicate how the physical design of the city-region has to be changed to make space for diverse common urban narratives. I end by suggesting that such an approach might help increase the sustainability of Louisville and other city-regions.

Re-Conceptualizing Public Participation in Planning: A View Through Autopoiesis

Chettiparamb, A. — 2007-11-13

This article examines the relevance of the concept of autopoiesis for public participation in spatial planning. The concept of autopoiesis within social science, as advanced by Niklas Luhmann (1995) argues for a systemic, consistent and sophisticated theory of society based on a systems view, as opposed to more familiar action-based theories (for instance as in the case of the Habermasian tradition). By examining the relevance of the concept for public participation in spatial planning, this article highlights specific aspects of public participation that draw attention to dimensions of planning that are not currently explicitly highlighted within mainstream discourses in planning.¹

Collaborative Planning in an Uncollaborative World

Brand, R., Gaffikin, F. — 2007-11-13

The purpose of this article is to expose the concept of collaborative planning to the reality of planning, thereby assessing its efficacy for informing and explaining what planners `really' do and can do. In this systematic appraisal, we begin by disaggregating collaborative planning into four elements that can enlighten such conceptual frameworks: ontology, epistemology, ideology and methodology. These four lenses help delimit and clarify the object of our examination and provide transparent criteria that guide our examination of collaborative planning's strengths and weaknesses. The second part of this article comprises an empirical investigation of planning processes in Northern Ireland, ranging from region-wide to local and from statutory to visionary. Planning efforts in this province make suitable test cases because special care has been invested in participatory deliberation processes to compensate for the democratic deficits in its mainstream political system. Such efforts have sought to ensure a maximally inclusive planning process. And indeed, the consultation process leading to the Regional Development Strategy, for example, has earned plaudits from leading exponents of collaborative planning. The final analysis provides a systematic gauge of collaborative planning in light of our empirical evidence, deploying the four conceptual dimensions introduced in the first part. This exposes a range of problems not only with the concept itself but also regarding its affinity with the uncollaborative world within which it has to operate. The former shed light on those aspects where collaborative planning as a conceptual tool for practitioners needs to be renovated, while the latter highlight inconsistencies in a political framework that struggles to accommodate both global competitiveness and local democratic collaboration.

On essays and Debates

Yiftachel, O. — 2007-11-13

Another planning theory? Rewriting the meta-narrative

Law-Yone, H. — 2007-11-13

This essay proposes to frame the persistent scientific/literary genre known as `planning theory' as a peculiar meta-narrative whose ideological underpinnings are seldom faced even by its critics in the discursive field. Although self-referred to as theory, its consistent ignoring of the material and concrete in planning practice on the one hand, and the subservience to the political role of the state by unquestioned professionalism, makes its complicity with power obvious. This kind of theory or theorizing, in spite of its negation of practice as object for analysis, is therefore to be seen as praxis itself. The proposed re-evaluation of this meta-narrative restates past critiques and reviews the historical and material genealogy of planning as a spatial apparatus of the modern state. A critical deconstruction of the dominant discourse of planning suggests challenging its foundational traits: authoritarianism, hierarchy, anonymity and time/space absolutism. Finally, the essay calls for a re-imagining of planning as a counter-hegemonic project.

Deja-vu

Sanyal, B. — 2007-11-13

From Radicalism to Reformism

Thomas, H. — 2007-11-13

Introduction: Land-Use, planning and the law

Moroni, S. — 2007-06-26

Planning rights and their Implications

Alexander, E.R. — 2007-06-26

Planning rights' (PRs) implications for planning theory and practice are traced in several directions. One explores the complex planning process, where PRs can link the micro-scale to the macro-level of theory and analysis. Another addresses the opposition between planning and property rights, which the concept of PRs resolves. For evaluation in planning, awareness of PRs implies revisions in theory and practice, balancing utilitarian-analytic with normative-dialogic approaches. Recognizing PRs also revitalizes the Public Interest. PRs have positive implications too for the meta-ethics of planning, integrating consequential-utilitarianism with value-based normative judgment. This will affect enacted planning practice and enable real application of professional ethics.

The control of Discretion: Planning and the Common-Law tradition

Booth, P. — 2007-06-26

The very marked differences that exist between the planning systems of continental Europe and Britain are generally understood to be the result of contrasting legal systems. This article explores the origins of the common-law tradition of England and the way it came to influence public local administration. It seeks to demonstrate the impact that common law has had on the way in which town planning is conceptualized and some of the strengths and weaknesses that result.

Planning, liberty and the rule of law

Moroni, S. — 2007-06-26

The article aims to demonstrate that neither the British planning system nor Continental planning systems adhere perfectly to the classical (liberal) ideal of the rule of law. It suggests a different approach to the regulation of land use more in line with this ideal, based on the assumption that it is not only relevant but also one that cannot be renounced. The objective is to show that the more complex an (urban) system becomes, the greater is the need for abstract, general and end-independent rules to favour a sort of beneficial, spontaneous order — self-coordinating and polycentric — of individual actions.

Planning rules for a self-planned city

Alfasi, N., Portugali, J. — 2007-06-26

Planning theory, laws, and systems are essentially procedural in that they focus on the process of planning and decision-making but do not deal with the substance of the decisions nor their impact on cities. They emphasize the role of the many (f)actors that shape the built environment rather than the resultant properties of the built environment itself. This is true both for the rational comprehensive theory of the 1960s and the 1990s postmodern theory of communicative planning theory. In this article we claim that current planning weaknesses, on the one hand, and viewing cities as complex self-organizing systems, on the other, require re-linking planning theory, law, and administration to the substantive qualitative relations between the various urban elements. We then introduce, first, an example for theorizing such an `Urban Code' that turns the spatial relations into a planning rule and, second, a suggestion for a planning system that is responsive to these qualitative relations and is capable of updating them.

Final comment: Land-use planning and the law

Needham, B. — 2007-06-26

Book Reviews: Paul Sabatier, Will Focht, Mark Lubell, Zev Trachtenberg, Arnold Vedlitz and Mark Matlock (eds), Swimming Upstream: Collaborative Approaches to Water-shed Management. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005. 328 pp. ISBN 0262195208, {pound}41.95/US$65.00 (hbk); ISBN 0262693194, {pound}16.95/US$26.00 (pbk)

Connelly, S. — 2007-06-26

Book Reviews: Walter F. Baber and Robert V. Bartlett, Deliberative Environmental Politics: Democracy and Ecological Rationality. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005. 288 pp. ISBN 0262025876, {pound}38.95/US$60.00 (hbk); ISBN 0262524449, {pound}15.95/ US$24.00 (pbk)

Margerum, R. D. — 2007-06-26

Book Reviews: Robert Bruegmann, Sprawl: A Compact History. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2006. 306 pp. ISBN 0226076911, US$17.00 (pbk); 2005. ISBN 0226076903, US$27.50 (hbk)

Ward, S. V. — 2007-06-26

Book Reviews: Doreen Massey, For Space. London & Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2005. 232 pp. ISBN 1412903610, {pound}60.00/US$75.95; ISBN 1412903629, {pound}18.99/ US$41.95

Bertolini, L. — 2007-06-26

Book Reviews: Jane S. Jaquette and Gail Summerfield (eds), Women and Gender Equity in Development Theory and Practice: Institutions, Resources, and Mobilization. Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press, 2006. 376pp. ISBN 0822337002, US$84.95 (hbk); ISBN 0822336987, US$23.95 (pbk)

Kudva, N. — 2007-06-26