SPT-E1030 Planning TheoryVesa KanninenUniversity Lecturer050 512 4632 vesa.kanninen@aalto.fi

12.09.2018IntroductionIntroductionsPractical issues• Course schedule autumn 2018• Course work methods, assignments and evaluation• Expectations from “Planning Theory”?

Introductory lecture• Brief history of planning theory

Assignment: what is planning theory?

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Course schedule autumn 201812.9. Introduction

Origins of modern planning theory19.9. What is planning theory?26.9. The tradition of physical & blueprint planning3.10. Rational planning and the concept of bounded rationality

Contemporary planning theory approaches10.10. Advocacy planning and transactive planning17.10. Communicative planning theory31.10. Agonistic planning perspectives

Enduring themes in planning theory7.11. Wicked problems and planner’s personal expertise14.11. Knowledge in planning 21.11. Politics and planning28.11. Justice and ethics in planning

13.12. Theory and practice – reflection and course feedback 15.9.20183

Learning objectives

A student who has passed the course will be able to:• understand broader philosophical and societal discourses that are related to the

societal role and tasks assigned to planning,• understand the interplay of planning and other major societal forces (e.g. other

sectors of public governance, (global) markets, NGOs),• understand possibilities and limitations of planning to make a difference in

society• elaborate conceptually various ethical implications related to choices made in

planning,• associate and evaluate critically various theoretical responses to different types

of planning problems,• engage reflectively in discourses concerning contemporary planning challenges.

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Course assignments• Weekly assignment: individual reading, keeping a learning diary

& preparing for following week’s discussion • Compulsory reading options à learning diary à argument for discussion• may be done in pairs but requirements still same• Due every Tuesday at 9:00 in the morning!

• Group assignment (10 groups): • One of the 10 course subjects (weeks 2-11) • Preparing a short introduction (presentation) for classroom • Preparing arguments/questions for the discussion

• Course assignment: individual essay on a subject of your own choosing• Instructions given next week, due at the end of the course

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Course work methods 1

• Course is 5 credits = 135 hours of work• 25 hours in classroom à 110 hours outside!• Lecture: • 10 minutes practicalities & takes from learning diaries (VK)• 5 minutes introduction (by a student group)• 45 mins plenary discussion based on the weekly assignment

(may include group work, individual tasks)• 15 minutes wrap-up (VK & student group)• 15 minutes next week’s topic introduction and assignment (VK)

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Course work methods 2

• Learning diary• Weekly updated account of your learning• Includes most important takes from the readings• The main point is the advancement of your personal knowledge• There is complementary reading, if the compulsory choices are too easy –

always possibilities for learning!

• Should include also accounts of classroom discussions• Minimum length 5000 characters /week, no upper limit• Can be amended any time, only final version graded!• Instructions in MyCourses, submitted to MyCourses weekly

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Course evaluation and gradingGrading :• Learning diary 40%, Essay 40%, Course activity 20%• Grading 0-5, 0 is fail and 1-5 are pass• each weekly assignment graded & grades aggregated • Principle: you start with grade 5 and no-passes lower the maximum grade;

qualitative grading for final diary & essay

Passing the post: • Each weekly reading portrayed in the diary• Diary handed in each week & at the end; Essay handed in • Attendance during group assignment

• Missing the deadline: diary – until the weekly lecture -1 grade, after that -2 grades, cut-off 1 week; essay: -1 grade, after 1 week top grade drops to 2,5; cut-off 3 weeks 6 days

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• The roots of planning theory (theoria) could befound from utopian tradition – utopias as idealplaces that do not exist

• Historical roots: Plato’s ”Republic”, a theory aboutthe ordered and just city state

• Idealism (metaphysical, ontological)• The term ”utopia” originates from Thomas More

(1516)• Literary utopia, social utopia, a theory or a vision of

a perfect society• 54 identical cities, the physical/aesthetic character

of which is described in an elaborate manner

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Brief history of planning theory

• Advances in the techniques

of representation during the

Renaissance; new possibilities

in the creation of visions of

a perfect city

• Utopian socialism; utopias put into practice, mixing

the traditions of social and architectural utopias

• Ebenezer Howard operationalized utopian thinking

in his Garden City – focus on land management

principles15.9.2018

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Letchworth Garden City (1903), designed by Raymond Unwin & Barry Parker

• The birth of modern urban planning at the end of the 19th century – struggle between differentprofessions and different ideas about the essenceof planning

• Civil engineers and surveyors had much power overland-use issues in the 19th century, but design-based physical planning became even moreinfluential after…

•

Camillo Sitte’s works:• To be a serious discipline, planning needs

theoretical principles• Also architectural design has principles; these

principles should be considered as the crux of planning

• However, what counts after all is the personalexpertise and judgment of a design professional

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Plan of Chicago (1909) Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett

Sunnyside, NY (1923) Elevated pedestrianism, NYC (1961)Lewis Mumford

• Planning remained as physical planning and planners were typically architects in the first half of the 20th century

• Theories in physical planning? Environmentaldeterminism, physical qualities, including aestheticqualities, influence the social aspects of a city

• Theories of planning? Planning should be basedon the design expertise of architect-planners and also on inspiring examples

• Inflexibility of plans? Difficulties of respondingto rapid urbanization, population growth, technological progress, new lifestyles…

• Political blindness? Does the architect plannerknow what people need and appreciate…

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Le Corbusier, Plan Voisin, 1925

Ludwig Hilberseimer: Hochhausstadt, 1925

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Cité Radieuse, Marseille (1947) Le Corbusier

Lafayette Park, Detroit (1959) Ludvig Hilberseimer, Mies van der Rohe

• The lack of theory-basis became a problem for the legitimacy of planningin the latter half of the 20th century

• Novel, more rational theoretical grounds were found on systems theory(urban systems) and decision-making theory (planning process)

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• However, the ”rational” theories of planning havenot been without problems either:

• Political blindness was still regarded to be oneof the major flaws of planning theory

• Also rationality was regarded to severely”bounded” (Simon) – sub-optimal decisionsmade according to the most satisfactory solutionunder the circumstances

• At least we should not proceed from thehypothesis that there is something like an all-encompassing rationality ensuring that wecan make comprehensive, far-reaching plans

à should we rather stick with incremental changes(Lindblom)

à or should we combine the general and the particularby performing ”mixed scanning” (Etzioni)

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• Political and moral choices became the newfocus of interest for planning theorists

• Responses to political blindness:

• Transactive planning (Friedmann)

• Advocacy planning (Davidoff)

• Communicative planning (Forester, Healey)

• Agonistic planning (Hillier, Pløger)

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So, what is planning theory?

• Is planning a theory-based activity? Is there a theory of planning, or arethere only theories in planning?

• What is ”planning”?– Is urban design included? Is traffic planning included?

Is economic planning included?• What is ”theory”?

– Ethymologically theoria refers to contemplation, to ”looking at things”, to mystical or religious experiences rather than scientific and rationalunderstandings of theory as a rational explanation or method• ”a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something, especially one based on general

principles independent of the thing to be explained.”• synonyms: hypothesis, thesis, conjecture, supposition, speculation, postulation, postulate,

proposition, premise, surmise, assumption, presumption, presupposition, notion, guess, hunch, feeling, suspicion;

• ”a set of principles on which the practice of an activity is based.”• ”an idea used to account for a situation or justify a course of action.”

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• There is no shared definition, but there is a shared understanding of thecanon of texts or a web of ”family resemblancies”

• Some characterists and functions of planning theory:

An instrument with which to reflectthe professional identity of the planners

An instrument for justifying planning practice

An instrument for developing and improvingplanning systems and planning practice

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Assignment for 19.9.For our session on 19th of September, please read one of the articles from the followingselection:Scott Campbell & Susan S. Fainstein: Introduction: the structure and debates of planning theoryJohn Friedmann: Two centuries of planning theory: an overviewAND watch Andreas Faludi’s interview on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3RJgaSx6t8(the first 14 minutes…)2) Write a concise (but 5000 characters minimum) entry in your learning diary, discussing your take on the article(s). The idea is not to cite or describe the text(s) as such, but to highlight the most importantthings you learned from it/them. You should concentrate your diary entry on a limited number of keyissues. Follow the overall instructions on how to construct a learning diary! Deadline: Tuesday 18.9. at 09:00For structuring your thoughts, please feel free to utilise the below questions in your diary discussion:What is planning theory, according to the authors? What are the key questions in the field of planningtheory? What kinds of disciplines are central in the field of planning theory? Do you think that plannersneed planning theory? Why? What is the value of planning theory for planning research in general?Please note that while the assignment must be handed in by the deadline, the learning diary may beamended any time until the end of the course.3) Construct an argument: based on what you've read and learned, you should write down oneargument for the discussion on 19.9.Be prepared to make the argument or to utilise it in the discussion as support/opposition/broadening/focusing of other arguments!

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