ABSTRACT
Certainly planning has its fair share of modern characteristics, including the momentum towards a commodification of control and a dark or sombre side. But as we have seen above, this ignores the changing complexity of practice which, in many ways, can be characterised as postmodern. It also ignores the wider social and political context that undoubtedly structures planning practice. This context has shifted and altered dramatically in recent years, exposing the political context of planning and its modern characteristics in an increasingly postmodern world. I mentioned above that there were both modern and postmodern forces that were at work in structuring planning practice and that, while this pointed towards a blend, their current co-existence is creating tensions that are the basis of dissatisfaction and ineffectiveness in planning. These trends are largely a result of the reaction to the changing economic, social and political contexts that emerged in the 1970s.
