Planning Theory: New Planning Theory

Image: Archetectual Drawing of the Portola Valley Town Centre as part of their town plan.

Image obtained from: http://www.portolavalley.net/index.aspx?page=76

Modern day planning needs to adaptive to the needs of people of which the planning process serves. There are however planning approaches or paradigms which are observed across the profession- Fainstein in her work 'New Direction in Planning Theory' (2000) suggest these three mainstream contemporary planning approaches:

 1) "The Communicative Model": Planner takes a facilitative approach which does not focus on technical capacities but learning and mediating the needs of the stakeholders. This promotes a somewhat self determinate approach for engaged parties. Acknowledges planners should not take the role of simply prescribing what the city, region, town or community needs but develop workable solutions through consultation.

 2) " The New Urbanism": Popular planning approach which highlights design for close knit, walkable neighbourhoods, mixed use and civic centres/spaces.

 
3) "The Just City": A alternate, left socialist approach that views the decision making process to be biased or even corrupted by those who have the responsibility of power given their tendencies to favour certain polices that established of maintain the 'power' capacity. The Just City approach prescribes that positive progressive change will be the result of participatory and entrepreneurial participation of those who had typically been excluded from or not held positions of power.