Synopses & Reviews
The third edition of the highly successful
Readings in Planning Theory continues its well-established role in defining the latest debates within the field of planning theory - identifying its boundaries, presenting the works that constitute its central focus, and addressing the central issues that face planners as theorists and practitioners. While maintaining an emphasis on developing an understanding of the process and substance of planning within real world constraints, readings in the new edition reflect many of the developments and rapidly changing dynamics of today's globalized world.
Editorial updates and the addition of some 19 new readings place an emphasis on emergent themes in planning theory, including changing approaches to modernism, urbanism, communicative action, power, inequality, and justice in the city. A major new section is devoted to planning in a globalized world, with readings addressing the impact of theories of globalization and development on planning theory. Essays continue to address the role of planning in developing the "good" city and region within the constraints of a capitalist political economy and a democratic political system, while seeking explanations and guides to planning practice based on analyses of the political economies of the US, UK, and other nations. Building on its established success and well-earned reputation, the third edition of Readings in Planning Theory is the definitive work in this increasingly important field.
Review
"
Readings in Planning Theory is comprehensive, balanced, and stimulating. Of great use to both teachers and scholars, it is without a doubt the preeminent collection in planning theory available today."
—Mark Purcell, University of Washington
"This trenchant volume succeeds in a vital way: it provides a framework for theories of planning that will enable planning students and practitioners to explain their chosen field much more cogently."
—Lawrence J. Vale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"Debates within planning theory define the nature of the planning activity. Through careful selection and thoughtful editing this substantially revised third edition of Readings in Planning Theory continues to be the definitive guide to the field."
—Heather Campbell, The University of Sheffield
Synopsis
The third edition of
Readings in Planning Theory features thirteen new readings that define current debates and presents the works that constitute the main focus of the field, addressing the central issues that face planners as theorists and practitioners.
- Expands the focus on international planning by including globalization and theories of development
- Includes new readings that examine themes emerging in planning theory, including a critique of the modernist roots of centralized planning, a re-emphasis on space in planning, and a discussion of the difficulty of sustainable development
- Features new case studies of planning success and failure on both sides of the Atlantic
- Addresses the range of core planning theory so as to remain the primary text in urban planning courses
- Examines the current state of planning theory and the new directions it has taken in recent years
- Draws on a wide range of authors who address planning history, arguments for and against planning, competing planning styles, planning ethics, the public interest, and considerations of race and gender
About the Author
Susan S. Fainstein is a Professor in the Urban Planning Program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Her books include
The Just City (2010),
The City Builders (second edition, 2001), and
Restructuring the City (1986). Fainstein is also a recipient of the Distinguished Educator Award of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) for lifetime career achievement.
Scott Campbell is an Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Doctoral Program Director in the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan. He is a co-author of The Rise of the Gunbelt: The Military Remapping of Industrial America (1991). His article on sustainable development won an award for best article of the year from the Journal of the American Planning Association.
Table of Contents
Introduction: The Structure and Debates of Planning Theory.
I. Foundations of 20th Century Planning Theory.
Section Introduction.
1. Robert Fishman, Urban Utopias: Ebenezer Howard, Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier.
2. Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities.
3. John Friedmann, The Good City: In Defense of Utopian Thinking.
II. Planning: Justifications and Critiques.
Section Introduction.
4. Heather Campbell and Robert Marshall, Utilitarianism's Bad Breath? A Re-evalution of the Public Interest Justification for Planning.
5. Richard E. Foglesong, Planning the Capitalist City.
6. Leonie Sandercock, Mongrel Cities.
7. James C. Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed.
8. Tim Love, Urban design after Battery Park City.
III. Planning Types/Normative frameworks.
Section Introduction.
9. Susan S. Fainstein, Planning Theory and the City.
10. Charles E. Lindblom, The Science of Muddling Through.
11. Paul Davidoff, Advocacy and Pluralism in Planning.
12. John Forester, Challenges of Deliberation and Participation.
13. Patsy Healey, Traditions of Planning Thought.
IV. Planning in Action: Successes, Failures, and Strategies.
Section Introduction.
14. Matti Siemiatycki, Implications of Private-Public Partnerships on the Development of Urban Public Transit Infrastructure: The Case of Vancouver, Canada.
15. James deFilippis, Collective Ownership and Community Control and Development: The Long View.
16. Vivien Lowndes, Citizenship and Urban Politics.
17. Bent Flyvbjerg, Bringing Power to Planning Research: One Researcher's Praxis Story.
V. Race, Gender and City Planning.
Section Introduction.
18. Iris Marion Young, Inclusion and Democracy.
19. June Manning Thomas, The Minority-race Planner in the Quest for a Just City.
20. Dolores Hayden, Nurturing: Home, Mom and Apple Pie.
21. Michael Frisch, Planning as a Heterosexist Project.
VI. Conflicting Priorities.
Section Introduction.
22. Scott Campbell, Green Cities, Growing Cities, Just Cities? Urban Planning and the Contradictions of Sustainable Development.
23. American Institute of Certified Planners, Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct.
24. Frank Fischer, Public Policy as Discursive Construct: Social Meaning and Multiple Realities.
25. Nicholas Low and Brendan Gleeson, Environmental Justice.
26. Margaret Kohn, The Mauling of Public Space.
VII Planning in a Globalized World.
Section Introduction.
27. Ward Steven, Reexamining the International Diffusion of Planning.
28. Peter Evans, Political Strategies for More Livable Cities.
29. Yang Zheng and Ke Fang, Is history repeating itself? Urban Renewal in the United States to Inner-City Redevelopment in China.
30. Oren Yiftachel, Re-engaging Planning Theory? Towards 'South-Eastern' Perspectives.