ABSTRACT
The evaluation of planning itself is distinct from the usual issues that engage evaluation theory and practice though, as we will see, it subsumes some of them. These can be defined as various forms or stages of evaluation, which differ materially in several aspects that include the subject of the evaluation, appropriate and applicable methods, the purpose of the evaluation and its institutional setting. In this sense we can identify a priori evaluation of schematic plan alternatives or possible projects, in-progress monitoring and evaluation of planning processes and plan, project and programme implementation, and ex post appraisal of completed plans and projects (Alexander, 2006: 7-9). What is evaluating planning, if it is not any of these? Evaluating planning
must mean evaluating the activity of planning itself, i.e. evaluating the relevant agents of or in planning processes. The evaluation of planning, then, involves the evaluation of planning systems and/or their institutions, which must address the relevant aspects of their performance and evaluate their identified outputs and impacts to determine to what degree this planning has been a success or a failure.
