ABSTRACT
From 1945 onwards, the former colonies and other territories1 of Europe’s overseas empires progressively severed their imperial ties in ways that ranged from triumphant liberation struggles to elaborate ceremonies of peaceful handover. Yet, whatever the means by which it came, the first dawn of independence was usually an occasion of gladness and confidence. It also laid a responsibility on each new government to address the symbolic, material and welfare needs of its newly sovereign nation. This responsibility inevitably demanded diverse actions across a broad front. Some, at least, of these actions involved physical and territorial planning, for example managing the urbanisation rush and creating new spaces from which to govern the new states. Yet these challenges soon surpassed the slender technical capacities of the new nations, forcing their governments to reproduce some aspects of the colonial reliance on external expertise with a new dependence on foreign technical aid. This, in turn, underpinned a flowering of international planning practice in the postcolonial world that was more diverse than that of the colonial era.
