ABSTRACT
In this chapter we examine the US-American spatial planning term ‘Smart Growth’,1 in order to explore the concept of growth in relationship to spatial planning, predicated on the axiom that we exist in a world of finite carrying capacity.2 The seeking of enjoyment, or what Lacan calls jouissance, will be central to this consideration. As Stavrakakis (2007, 181) observes, ‘what sustains the social bond is not only symbolic power, but also affective investment’. To this end, jouissance provides a ‘sophisticated angle on the discussion of emotions and affects’ that is currently intriguing the social sciences (see, for example: Connelly 2002; Nussbaum 2001a; Thrift 2004, 2008). After an introduction to the concept of jouissance, we engage with the spatial planning paradigm of Smart Growth. We use this master signifier of US-American city and regional planning as a springboard to explore, from a Lacanian-derived perspective, the dominance of liberal capitalism. In particular, we will explore how the orthodox response to city-making as the accommodation of growth, is derived from, and driven by, the hegemonic values of wealth creation and maintenance of capital via spatial planning related laws and regulations. Indeed, we suggest that spatial planning sits at the very heart of this inherently political process.
