ABSTRACT
Spatial planning today is a composite and a fusion of a range of different approaches. Whether in Europe, USA/Canada, Australia/New Zealand or South Africa, you can recognize the key approaches which influence the way planners work and the tools, knowledge and theoretical understanding they use. You may have graduated from a course which identifies itself completely with one tradition. As a non-professional, you may come into contact with professionals who have been trained in and think in a particular way. This chapter sketches the principle approaches to and traditions of planning evident in the literature and in practice. Seven main approaches are identified: (1) the economic, (2) physical, (3) public administration, (4) social, (5) environmental, (6) collaborative and (7) sustainable. The chapter shows how the different strands of planning conceptualize people, what social divisions and sectoral groups the different approaches use, how they consider difference and diversity. The chapter offers a broad overview and is structured around a simple outline of each approach with one or more illustrations. The aim is to raise questions and stimulate thinking rather than provide a definitive model. By viewing them through different lenses, the impact of the approaches on different groups of people can be examined. For instance, the notion of the gender contract is used to test some of the assumptions behind the economic approach. The biological and social models of disability test the assumptions behind the physical model. In addition, the critique of the plan for Birmingham (England) using the lens of race provides a fresh insight into physical planning in the 1960s in the UK (Chan, 2003). The example of Berlin shows how physical planning has been used to express the city’s identity, through qualitative improvements and in-fill projects, by applying the theory of ‘critical reconstruction’ which allows traces of historical development patterns to become exposed. The example of the South East Queensland plan by Margerum (2002) gives an insight into the application of the collaborative approach. Walby’s (1990) theory of patriarchy is used to test the social approach to town planning. To effectively meet the needs and expectations of society in the future,
approaches to planning need to be explicit about their approach to difference. As a result, the analysis of problems and proposed solutions needs to become more relevant to the diverse communities of today and tomorrow. Situated in a particular space and time, each approach to and tradition of planning influences and is influenced by its socio-political context (Figure 2.1).
