ABSTRACT
It was not long ago that planning practitioners had few directly applicable theoretical resources or empirical findings to draw on to inform their practice as the new-economy global dynamics and new planning challenges emerged. That is the case no longer. There now are cases from which to derive lessons and there is a growing body of appropriate, rich and diverse planning theory that can offer general guidance for the practice of planning. Relational theory and its principles represent promising conceptual resources for the regional planner who is engaging the new dynamics and complexities of the global knowledge economy and network society. As portrayed here, a number of related conceptual constructs have been introduced or used to illustrate some ways that these concepts can be useful in contemporary regional and local relational planning practice.
