ABSTRACT
Planning is supposed to be a positive exercise. It is intended to be a fair and democratic process, aiming to produce environments that are better places to live decent and healthy lives. However, we have seen that some-times planning is not what it seems. An apparently open and democratic process may turn out, on critical examination, to have undercurrents that serve certain [elite] interests other than those it purports to serve. Such insights have been extended and generalized by some followers of Foucault (Foucauldians) to claim that all supposedly legitimate planning processes are a sham in the sense that they can be understood only in terms of those who have the most power to advance their own interests. In light of the increasing influence of the Foucauldian school, we decided to end this book with a more extended critical evaluation of the Foucauldian perspective and its implications for planning than was presented in chapter 4.
