ABSTRACT
The chapter offers the hypothesis that the existing fragmentation of planning theories and of practice approaches likewise should be characterized as interdependent rather than competitive. It is important to recognize that the theoretical basis of city and regional planning is not to be viewed as fixed, but constantly evolving. Embracing the metaphor of a store, the chapter explores growth management as an important tool of city and regional planning in the US and examines the influence of different ideas, or theories, in and of planning and their relations to growth management practice. The emerging theories described by P. Healey et al. are the offspring of a learning process out of systems analysis and procedural planning theory. The view of knowledge in postmodern thought in planning theory differs widely from systems analysis and procedural planning knowledge. The collaborative planning strand of theory distinguishes itself from modernist as well as post-modernist thinkers' considerations.
