ABSTRACT
This chapter will provide a multi-disciplinary overview of ways of understanding consensus and consensus planning. It will examine the theoretical groundwork of consensus planning from the perspective that good planning practice is best informed by a grasp of broad theoretical principles. This chapter thus will provide a broad theoretical framework on the basis of which the implications for the practical quality within infrastructure development can be considered in the remainder of the study. Similarly, the chapter will specify the theoretical principles to, ultimately, propose an improved consensus-planning notion. The theoretical foundation of consensus planning, then, will be the key area of interest for this chapter. Three points of view will be outlined through which this foundation is explored. The study will also provide an explanation of the several terms and notions used throughout. Before embarking on these explorations, however, Section 2.2 will deal with some basic notions of planning theory.
