Differences between theories of planning, theories in planning and theories about planning
Answers
Answer.
Michael Gunder, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition), 2015
Introduction
Planning theory may be conceptualized broadly under a contemporary triplet of labels: rational, communicative, and critical, which corresponds loosely to a topology of planning theory addressing three normative issues: ‘What is planning's purpose?’, ‘What constitutes good planning process?’ and ‘What constitutes good planning?’ (Yiftachel, 1989: p. 26). This article is principally concerned about the latter question. Critical planning theory (CPT) engages with questions of power, equity, language, knowledge construction, and related issues so as to test “professional concepts, models and ‘gospels’ against their real world material and discursive consequences” (Yiftachel and Huxley, 2000: p. 910).
Spatial and related types of planning, by their very nature, are largely apparatus of state government and governance (see Planning Theory: The Good City and Its Governance); hence, CPT inherently tends to interrogate the role of the state and its overarching constituting ideology to evaluate who benefits and loses through the application of planning's diverse activitie