ABSTRACT
As long as there have been cities their development has been planned and controlled in some way; all that has varied is the nature and extent of that planning and control. As Carter (1995) notes, while models of urban development based on the idea of the operation of free market economic forces proved appealing to urban theorists, the reality of city growth has always been one where these forces have been controlled and regulated in some way by those in power. Frequently, the urban planning and policy arenas have been characterized as stages on which battles between capital, the state and urban populations are played out in cities. How urban planning and policy operate within cities then has important ideological underpinnings, influenced by attitudes to the role that the state plays in influencing free market forces and to the role of the public in influencing these processes. Consequently, urban planning and policy have been viewed as either
beneficial or problematic by all sides of the political spectrum from far right to far left (Pacione 2009).
