Theory Terms

Question 1

Normative Theories

Answer 1

Theories of the public good, social justice, utilitarianism, rights - To what ends out planning be focused?

Question 2

Disciplinary Theories

Answer 2

Economics, geography (GIS), environmental science; how do communities and regions work? By what methods do we assess existing a project future conditions?

Question 3

Procedural/Process Theories

Answer 3

Decision theory, political science, negotiation theory, public participation; how might planners act?

Question 4

Utopianism

Answer 4

Edward Bellamy; Sought to birth the good society through “Intentional Communities”; plans should equal imaginative visions rooted in moral philosophy; focused on ends, not pragmatic means. Utopianism believes that planning is most effective when it proposes sweeping changes that capture the public imagination. Daniel Burnham’s Plan of Chicago, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Broadacre City, and Le Corbusier’s La Ville Contemporize are often cited as utopian works.

Question 5

Garden City Movement

Answer 5

Ebenezer Howard, turn of the century; Bounded city with agricultural belt to integrate town and country; community ownership of land, public revenues based on rents rather than taxes; social reform and economic self-sufficiency

Question 6

Modernism

Answer 6

Pioneered by Le Corbusier (1920s); Radically efficient Taylorist physical and social order; open floor plans, wall independent of structure, set in parks with access to freeways and transit; utopian design for public housing (towers)

Question 7

Broadacre City

Answer 7

Frank Lloyd Wright; response to Radiant City by Le Corbusier; proposed to replace dense cities with small cities (<10,000) covering the entire US connected by highways; each city embedded with nature in its own culture and economic center; self sufficient economy without land, rent, landlords, and profits

Question 8

Utopianism, Interrupted

Answer 8

Planning movements contained elements of utopianism (rejected historic precedent, proposed new social and economic arrangements), but failed as visions due to social and economic proposals largely ignored, provided rationale for suburbanization, freeways, sprawl, and lacked vision and learning

Question 9

Rational Planning

Answer 9

A structured process of decision making that seeks to maximize the achievement of desired goals (ends) by careful consideration of potential consequences of available alternatives (means); Focuses on quality of decision, action to knowledge, and knowledge of values

Question 10

Rexford Tugwell

Answer 10

Univ of Chicago (1947); A vision of science contributing to guide societal choices and to curb the irrational decisions of politicians; conceived society as a complex organism and planning as the brain and central nervous system (planning as the 4th power). Rational planning

Question 11

Martin Meyerson and Edward Banfield

Answer 11

Authors of “Politics, Planning, and the Public Interest”; Univ of Chicago; introduced rational planning process in the context of the study of public housing in Chicago

Question 12

Davidoff and Reinger

Answer 12

1963, A Choice Theory of Planning; Value formation-widen and politicize choices; means identification-identify a universe of means; effectuation-implement and monitor

Question 13

Andreas Faludi

Answer 13

1973, A Reader in Planning Theory; Normative procedural theory of planning (integrate public participation)

Question 14

Wicked Problems

Answer 14

Goals and means are uncertain (diverse interests, broad groups, 5-20 years before results back); Problems are wicked (each attempt changes understanding of problem, problem definition evolves, not the same as intractable problem)

Question 15

Incrementalism

Answer 15

Charles Lindblom, The Science of Muddling Through (1959); select goals and policies simultaneously; consider alternatives only marginally different from status quo; says planning is less scientific and more politically interactive; major policy changes are best made in little increments over a long time

Question 16

Mixed Scanning

Answer 16

Amitai Etzioni; Mixed Scanning 1967; Bounded instrumental rationality simplifies the world less than incrementalism; wide angle examination of patterns across all possibilities (long term context and plan); a close in examination of the most promising options (short term choices)

Question 17

Advocacy Planning

Answer 17

Paul Davidoff, “Advocacy and Pluralism in Planning” 1965; Planners should not be neutral technicians and the public interest is not unitary; planning should be pluralistic and represent diverse interest; planners should represent and plead the interests of many groups (special responsibility to marginalized groups)

Question 18

Radical Planning

Answer 18

Seeks to manage development in anequitableandcommunity-based manner. The seminal text to the radical planning movement isFoundations for a Radical Concept in Planning(1973), byStephen GrabowandAllen Heskin. Grabow and Heskin provided a critique of planning as elitist, centralizing and change-resistant, and proposed a new paradigm based upon systems change, decentralization, communal society, facilitation of human development and a consideration of ecology.

Question 19

Social Learning

Answer 19

Planning seen as integral to dynamic system of social change and learning (single loop learning vs double loop learning (looking at cause and underlying assumptions))

Question 20

Transactive Planning

Answer 20

John Friendman; carried out face-to-face with people affected by planning decisions with involvement throughout decision making process; emphasizes processes of personal and organizational development

Question 21

Citizen Participation / Sherry Arnstein

Answer 21

Challenged planners to expand the role of citizens in plan making and implementation; Nonpartisan (manipulation, therapy); Degrees of Tokenism (informing, consultation, placation); Degrees of Power (partnership, delegated power, citizen control)

Question 22

Theory of Communicative Reason

Answer 22

Jurgen Habermas; Rejects abstract rationalism as masking social structures and inequalities ; identifies priorities, justifies claims, and selects strategies based on deeply deliberative processes of public interaction and debate

Question 23

Communicative Turn

Answer 23

John Forester, Patsy Healy, Judith Innes; advocate for mobilizing the creative and self-empowering power of a community; planners facilitate deliberative processes that seek to produce a system of shared meanings between planners and the public

Question 24

Communicative Rationality

Answer 24

Planning is fundamentally linked to the clarification of interests (desired ends); selection of means cannot be isolated from the identification of ends. Emphasis on transparency, inclusiveness, and truth-seeking

Question 25

Communicative Planning in Action

Answer 25

Lawrence Susskind; The public interest is revealed through the interaction of stakeholders seeking to negotiate desired outcomes within well-structured processes; a focus on design and facilitative skills

Question 26

Contingency Theory

Answer 26

Hoch, Christensen, Alexander; Planning is a professional act that occurs within a political community; political and social interactions are central activities in decision making and in learning; approaches depend on agreement of goals, uncertainty, immense of decision, need for community buy in

Question 27

Critical Pragmatism

Answer 27

Draw on American Pragmatist John Dewey and Richart Rorty; emphasis on deductive reasoning is inconsistent with pragmatic problem solving used by most public decision makers; Calls for blend of inductive and deductive reasoning (abductive reasoning, or inferring to the best explanation)