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

by Harper,Thomas L.

• ISBN13: 9780882851792
• ISBN10: 0882851799
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2005-10-15
• Publisher: ROUTLEDGE

Summary

The culmination of a critical study of neo-pragmatism philosophy and its application to planning, Dialogical Planning in a Fragmented Society begins with philosopher Stanley M. Stein's examination of neo-pragmatism and his thoughts on how it can be useful in the field of environmental design-specifically, how it can be applied to planning procedures and problems. Neo-pragmatism is an approach that has been, in the past, best expressed or implied in the writing of Hilary Putnam, Richard Rorty, and, in particular, Donald Davidson, John Rawls, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Thomas L. Harper furthers this tradition by providing 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. 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, and the authors demonstrate the intimate and inextricable link between them.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Credits and Acknowledgments	xiii
Introduction	xv
I PLANNING SHOULD GIVE UP THE MODERNIST PARADIGM
1 The Crisis in Modernist Planning	3	(17)
2 Modernistic ("Rational") Planning	20	(23)
II PLANNING SHOULD BE PRAGMATIC
3 Two Responses to Modernism: Postmodernism or Neopragmatism	43	(20)
4 Out of the Postmodern Abyss: Postmodernist Themes	63	(18)
III PLANNING SHOULD BE CRITICALLY LIBERAL
5 Classical Liberalism and Planning	81	(13)
6 A Critical Liberal Perspective	94	(24)
7 Pragmatic Incrementalist Planning	118	(17)
IV PLANNING SHOULD RECOGNIZE AN EMERGING WAY
8 A Dialogical Planning Approach	135	(22)
9 A Dialogical Planning Approach: Critiques and Questions	157	(28)
10 Dialogical Planning in Practice	185	(28)
V PLANNING SHOULD AVOID MODERNIST AND POSTMODERNIST TRAPS
11 The Search for Clear Categories and Universal Principles	213	(11)
12 The Radical Paradigm Shift	224	(16)
13 The Multicultural Trap (Relativism)	240	(14)
14 The Rejection of Theory	254	(9)
15 Power, Trust, and Planning	263	(19)
16 Conclusion: Key Strengths of Dialogical Planning	282	(6)
Endnotes	288	(15)
Glossary	303	(13)
References	316	(19)
Index	335