New Directions in Planning Theory

The author examines three approaches to planning theory: the communicative model, the new urbanism, and the just city. The first type emphasizes the planner’s role in mediating among “stakeholders,” the second paints a physical picture of a desirable planned city, and the third presents a model of spatial relations based on equity. Differences among the types reflect an enduring tension between a focus on the planning process and an emphasis on desirable outcomes. The author defends the continued use of the just-city model and a modified form of the political economy mode of analysis that underlies it.