ABSTRACT
The most transferable finding may be the implications of an image-based theory of institutional evolution. If the image is at the heart of institutional change, this suggests that in order to manage change, we must manage the image. The image becomes the object of change. This is well known by corporate and political marketing strategists. Incremental institutional evolution may suffice when societal conditions are stable and institutions are perceived to be effective and are in step with social, economic, environmental, and political realities. In Madrid these conditions were met during the first decades following Castro's expansion plan, the early years following Bidagor's plan, and the Consejera's Gran Sur and Madrid Regin Metropolitana strategies. Planning based wholly on incrementalism sells itself short. It may have been appropriate in eras when planners typically operated in stable institutional settings, or in the reform of institutions within stable societal settings.
