Dialogical Planning in a Fragmented Society: Critically Liberal, Pragmatic, Incremental

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This book is the culmination a critical study of a certain conception of philosophy and its application to planning. The conception of philosophy that links the various chapters is based on what can be referred to as neopragmatism, an approach that has been best expressed or implied in the writing of Hilary Putnam, Richard Rorty, and, in particular, Donald Davidson, John Rawls, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. The chapters flow from philosopher Stanley Stein’s examination of neopragmatism and his thinking about how this philosophical approach can be useful in the field of environmental design—specifically, how it can be applied to planning procedures and problems. Thomas Harper provided the context for this theoretical application from his academic background in economics and management as well as his practical experience with political decision-making processes, community planning, and economic development, to illustrate the approaches examined. The result is a fresh synthesis of ideas—a new approach to thinking about planning theory and its implications for, and relationship with, practice. Philosopher Michael Walzer has asserted that “Philosophy reflects and articulates the political culture of its time, and politics presents and enacts the arguments of philosophy. . . .” Similarly, the authors view planning theory as planning reflected upon in tranquility, away from the tumult of battle, and planning practice as planning theory acted out in the confusion of the trenches. Each changes the other in a dynamic way. The authors’ hope is that this book will demonstrate the intimate and inextricable link between them. ------------------------------------------- CONTENTS Preface Introduction I. PLANNING SHOULD GIVE UP THE MODERNIST PARADIGM -- The Crisis in Modernist Planning -- Modernistic (Rational) Planning II. PLANNING SHOULD BE PRAGMATIC -- Two Responses to Modernism: Postmodernism or Neopragmatism -- Out of the Postmodern Abyss: Postmodernist Themes III. PLANNING SHOULD BE CRITICALLY LIBERAL -- Classical Liberalism and Planning -- A Critical Liberal Perspective -- Pragmatic Incrementalist Planning IV. PLANNING SHOULD RECOGNIZE AN EMERGING WAY -- A Dialogical Planning Approach -- A Dialogical Planning Approach: Critiques and Questions -- Dialogical Planning in Practice V. PLANNING SHOULD AVOID MODERNIST AND POSTMODERNIST TRAPS -- The Search for Clear Categories and Universal Principles -- The Radical Paradigm Shift -- The Multicultural Trap (Relativism) -- The Rejection of Theory -- Power, Trust, and Planning -- Conclusion: Key Strengths of Dialogical Planning Endnotes Glossary Sample Glossary Entry: Meta-narrative: An overarching explanation or story of how the world is—for example, the liberal/capitalist story of material progress through the hidden hand of the market; the Marxian drama of class conflict culminating in proletarian revolution; the Freudian plots of father–son rivalry and mother–son love; the Enlightenment’s story of progress and triumph of reason. Meta-narratives attempt to derive general social principles that are precisely explanatory/predictive in the same sense as scientific laws, i.e., universally true theories. Postmodernists view meta-narratives as totalizing discourses that are imprisoning and are ultimately linked to structures of power. References Index