ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to understand the forms of knowledge that shape planning decisions in the contemporary political era where decisions are influenced more by emotions rather than scientific knowledge. The chapter asserts that the way scientific knowledge is defined has passed through distinct phases over the last 60 years, influencing the scientific approaches and theories shaping planning. From World War II up to the 1980s the modernist way of thinking and positivism that claims scientific knowledge must be universally acknowledged and should be based on observations of the external world dominated planning theories and practice. While in the 1980s and 1990s post-modernism and constructivism that view all knowledge as constructed, being contingent on convention, human perception and social experience have shaped planning experience. From 2000 onwards, cognitive knowledge became more important. This chapter introduces an introductory discussion on possible implications of cognitive knowledge for planning, and what the development of cognitive science can bring to decision-making processes.
