Planning Cultures en Route to a Better Comprehension of ‘Planning Processes’?

Planning culture is not a scientific term; it is rather ill defined, addresses a diffuse research area and is not bound to a specific body of theories. More often than not, planning culture is used as a mere integrating term covering an ensemble of variables which can be observed in practical planning. In publications, in the Anglo-Saxon ones in particular, ‘planning culture’ is applied synonymously with the term ‘planning styles’, often very widely defined as ‘a general model of professional practice behaviour’ (Hemmens 1988, 85). Therefore no difference will be made between ‘planning style’ and ‘planning culture’ in the following.