A Review of Contemporary Urban Planning Theories and the use of Radical Planning in Practice - Word Version
Uploaded by batt1eWound on Jan 04, 2019
A Review of Contemporary Urban Planning Theories and the use of Radical Planning in Practice
Approximately 3,300 words
What is planning and how do we plan are similar yet distinctly different questions. In defining planning, we begin to recognize that we are planning for a variety of different clients, in varying situations, each with their own needs, experiences and values. How do you develop a process to review and implement solutions that will complement all aspects of those that are impacted by the plan, what impacts take priority over others? Over the course of this paper we will revisit the question of what is planning and build upon this understanding of what is to plan in developing a fuller appreciation of how to plan.
What is Planning?
Thomas Adams, through Hodge & Gordon, describes that communities do not simply grow, but “their form and functions are the result of countless decisions made over the generations of their life” (p. 1). Hodge continues to describe that the needs, experiences, values and aspirations of the builders are inherent in the architectural design of the landscapes they are constructing but more importantly in the inter-relationships between their built form and the environment; social, economic, physical, and natural; around them. Although not formalized, looking back at any human use of the landscape has resulted in some form of planning, for example, the proximity of village to a water source, the design and location of a medieval castle overlooking a break in a ridge of a hill set, or simply the foresight to include the environment around you. The key to understanding our role as a Professional Planner, and the purpose of this paper, is to dissect this inter-relationship between built form and the environment and more importantly how our specialties interact and influence this inter-relationship in the context of the 21st century.
We call ourselves planners, and in doing so it is important to recognize what it means to plan. Jill Grant best describes planning as the “means by which we transpose cultural values onto our townscapes and landscapes: its strengths and weaknesses mirror those of society that employs it” (2000, p. 443). Although this definition does not describe the systematic process of planning, Grant’s definition of planning helps capsulate the fundamental caveat that Adams describes, that planning is representative of the cultural values and expectation of today. More importantly, it helps us understand the motivation inherent in the...