ABSTRACT

Paul Davidoff challenges the planning profession with a call for a new type of planner: the comprehensive city planner, who will be an advocate for the poor, broadly educated, and concerned as much with social and economic issues as with physical planning. Davidoff argues the importance of planners who are advocates rather than dispassionate professionals, and deeply involved in the politics of planning. According to Davidoff, for an effective urban democracy, planners should encourage pluralism by giving voice, power, and representation to the concerns of many interest groups, especially the poor.