Dialogical Planning in Practice

In recent years, various approaches to public decision making have emerged that incorporate some significant elements of what we are advocating here. Among them are a focus on communicative rationality, a critique of the status quo, ¹ an aim of including all stakeholders, an attempt to build consensus, a non-modernist approach to knowledge and to justification, a recognition of the importance of normative values, a respect for differing values, and an attempt to build relationships of respect and trust. None of these approaches should be seen as the full application of dialogical or communicative planning theory, nor should they be hailed as universal panaceas. However, most have achieved some degree of success in particular circumstances.