ABSTRACT
There is a growing consensus in planning theory literature that there has been an emergence of a distinct and identifiable approach to the theorising of planning. Broadly termed the "practice movement" (Liggett, 1996), this new approach is characterised by the study of individual planners and planning practice: the documentation and analysis of the many and varied activities of planners, their products, their interactions and their impacts. The assumption is that it is possible to learn from practice in order to inform practice. This raises some often unasked questions: can documented experience contribute to learning; how can writers convey this learning and how do readers receive it; and what form can "practice writing" most usefully take? Different forms of "practice writing" are evident in recent literature and this offers an opportunity to assess the usefulness of this kind of work.
