Planning Theory

PIEP Review April 27, 2019

Ramon C. Sevilla PhD
rcs53@hotmail.com

1
 American Planning Association:

What is Planning?

“Planning, also called urban planning or city and regional planning, is a

dynamic profession that works to improve the welfare of people and
their communities by creating more convenient, equitable, healthful,
efficient, and attractive places for present and future generations.”

“Good planning helps create communities that offer better choices for
where and how people live. Planning helps communities to envision
their future. It helps them find the right balance of new development
and essential services, environmental protection, and innovative
change.”
Source: https://www.planning.org/aboutplanning/whatisplanning.htm

Note: Contributions of Urban Planning and Urban Design. 2

Planning is a highly collaborative process (consensual
vs adversarial)
Why?
• because one needs to work with local residents,
politicians, and special groups to help define the
community’s vision for itself. (*facilitator role)

• contributing their technical expertise, analysis of

existing conditions and future trends (housing,
transportation, land use, employment, natural and
cultural resources, community services/amenities,
population, economic development.*. (*not only spatial)
Source: https://www.planning.org/aboutplanning/whatisplanning.htm
3
Planning is related to the idea of “Progress”.
• A belief that, in general, history proceeds in the direction of improved
material conditions and a better (i.e., healthier, happier, more secure, more
comfortable) life for more and more people.
• But there are different conceptions on what progress is or what the good
life entails.
• More simply: In the long run, most things get better.
• How?? the possibility of progress is a consequence of the directed and
focused actions of rational human beings: i.e., Science and Technology
based
• rational – not based on emotions, feelings, instincts, superstition

The Ideology of “Modernism”

• material progress and the rational organization of society would make
better human beings, that there is a complete identity between material
progress and moral progress.

Source: http://condor.depaul.edu/dsimpson/awtech/progress.html; http://www.wfs.org/bisk.htm

4
 HOWEVER…..
The past century may more accurately be called the “Century
of Disillusionment” or the “Century of Genocide”

Post-Modernism
• realization that material progress does not automatically
lead to moral progress,
• that rational and just social institutions do not resolve the
problem of human evil
• what is the significance for planning? Why do we plan?

Thus:
Less optimism, even pessimism placed on the idea of
progress.
5
Public versus Private planning

Public planning is more difficult. Why?

• more interests to satisfy, is accountable to more interests.

• “ends” (objectives, goals, purposes) are more than one,

and interdependent even in conflict with each other. e.g.,
“solving” traffic jams vs unlimited growth.

Private planning is much simpler. Why?

• usually single end or a small number of ends
• a private builder for example has only one motive: profit.

6
Public Planning is highly political

• the recognition that planning is contestation by different

groups.
• Planners take politics as a crucial element in planning.

• Any plan will be resisted because it threatens to replace

what is familiar that exists at the moment

• Planners should think about their implementation strategies

from the start and have the skills to create strategies to
overcome resistance to change within the limits of the law.
Otherwise, plans are useless.

7
;

8
9
10
Example of Disciplinary theories of planning or theories about
the object of planning – substantive theories of the
subject matter of planning –

for example,
• planning deals with population growth/migration – what is
the theory of demographic change? The determinants and
consequences of migration (theory of migration);
• planning deals with the environment – what is the theory of
environment?,
• planning deals with housing problems, theories about
housing markets
• poverty issues,
• women’s (gender) issues,
• mass transit
• In each of these issues we ask about social justice, ie. Who
benefits, who suffers? 11
We need substantive theories about Planning issues
to help us understand the problem(s) and find ways to
intervene:

Further examples:
• informal sector employment
• transportation (gravity models)
• industrial and commercial location
• globalization and its impact on spatial development
• social movements and social change
• environment

12
A desired future – planning cannot be value neutral, it must
serve multiple public interests in increasingly complex and
changing environments, and that it must involve all stakeholders
in the decision-making process. (Beauregard 2001).

Future orientation of planning

“The question is not whether planning will reflect politics but whose
politics it will reflect. What values and whose values will planners seek
to implement? … In the broadest sense plans represent political
philosophies, ways of implementing differing conceptions of the good
life. No longer can the planner take refuge in the neutrality of the
objectivity of the personally uninvolved scientist” (Norton E. Long,
Planning and Politics in Urban Development, 1959, 168).

13
Illustrations of the normative character of planning in the
Philippines - (it is not purely a technical process)

The unique role of the Sanggunian in local planning and

development is explicitly provided in its power to “prescribe
reasonable limits and restraints on the use of property” which
is the basis of local land use planning.
Source: Serote, Ernesto M. (2004), Rationalized Local Planning System in the Philippines, page 3.

Serote also talks about the desired urban form

“… “WHEN THE DESIRED URBAN FORM IS USED AS THE
ORGANIZING CONCEPT OF THE ZONING ORDINANCE, THE
URBAN FORM CEASES TO BE A MERE SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM
BUT A CONCRETE BASIS FOR THE Sanggunian to “prescribe
reasonable limits and restraints on the use of property”… to attain
the proper rate, direction and density of development.”

14
CODE OF ETHICS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL
PLANNERS IN THE PHILIPPINES
Article VII RESPONSIBILITY TO THE PUBLIC AND TO THE COUNTRY
Section 11. The primary obligation of the Environmental Planner is to serve the country
and in so doing safeguard public interest.
a. He shall have special concern for long-range consequence of present actions and
must therefore pay close attention to the inter-relatedness of his decisions and opinions.

b. He shall strive to provide full, clear, and accurate information on planning issues and
concerns to the general public and government decision-makers in order to optimize
their participation in the planning process.

c. He shall strive to increase choice and opportunity for all persons, a special
responsibility to plan for the needs of the disadvantaged, disabled and recognizing a
special responsibility to plan for the needs of the disadvantaged, disabled and
underprivileged groups or persons.
15
d. He shall diligently protect the natural environment, opt for excellence of

What is not normative here?

environment design and endeavor to conserve and sustain the unique physical heritage
of the environment.
e. He shall devote adequate attention to the physical, economic
and social problems and needs of the people, as well as
identification of positive cultural and social values and historical
assets to be preserved.

f. He shall provide flexibility and choice in planning without

sacrificing the integrity of the master plan to give priority to
proposals and projects which would contribute to the alleviation of
poverty and inequity, thus, promoting community and national
stability and unity.

g. He shall strive for a balanced urban and countryside

development in support of the efforts for our comprehensive and

What is not normative here?

sustainable economic recovery and growth.

16
Are these densities acceptable? - - is a normative
questions

17
LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE

SEC. 17. Basic Services and Facilities. - (a) Local government

units shall endeavor to be self-reliant and shall continue
exercising the powers and discharging the duties and functions
currently vested upon them. They shall also discharge the
functions and responsibilities of national agencies and offices
devolved to them pursuant to this Code. Local government
units shall likewise exercise such other powers and discharge
such other functions and responsibilities as are necessary,
appropriate, or incidental to efficient and effective provision of
the basic services and facilities enumerated herein.

(b) Such basic services and facilities include, but are

not limited to, the following:
18
Municipality….

(vi) Solid waste disposal system or environmental

management system and services or facilities related to
general hygiene and sanitation;

(vii) Municipal buildings, cultural centers, public parks

including freedom parks, playgrounds, and sports facilities
and equipment, and other similar facilities;

19
Province…..

(viii) Programs and projects for low-cost housing and

other mass dwellings, except those funded by the Social
Security System (SSS), Government Service Insurance
System (GSIS), and the Home Development Mutual Fund
(HDMF): Provided, That national funds for these
programs and projects shall be equitably allocated
among the regions in proportion to the ratio of the
homeless to the population

For a City:
All the services and facilities of the municipality and
province, and in addition thereto, the following: 20
 Synoptic
(Comprehensive)
Planning

21
Synoptic - manifesting or characterized by
comprehensiveness or breadth of view
source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/synoptic

22
 Meaning of Rationality

Source: Simon, H.A. (1955), ‘A Behavioral Model of Rational Choice”,

Quarterly Journal of Economics, 69 (1), 99-118

23
• assumes man has at least impressively clear and
voluminous knowledge regarding his environment.

• assumed to have a well-organized and stable

system of preferences

• Rationality refers to a skill in computation that

enables him to calculate, for the alternative courses
of action that are available to him, which of these
will permit him to reach the highest attainable point
on his preference scale.

Knowledge and Choice 24

 Meaning of Rationality continued
What do you understand by Rationality?
• Making decision based on reason/logic and in
pursuance of one’s best interest (maximize personal
advantage)
• Good judgement
• This type of planning (RCMP) applies the concepts of the
scientific method to city planning. The rational model
closely matches the scientific method and includes the
following steps: set goals; determine, evaluate, choose and
implement alternatives; evaluate.
• The main criterion is efficiency (in the allocation of
25
resources)
• no choice can ever be perfectly rational, for there are
usually a very great - perhaps an infinite - number of
possible actions open to the actor and the
consequences of any one of them would break down
further to further consequences.
• No decision-maker could have the knowledge (or
the time!) to evaluate even a small fraction of the
actions open to him.
• For practical purposes, a rational decision is one in
which alternatives and consequences are considered
as fully as the decision-maker, given the time and
other resources available to him, can afford to
consider them.
Source: Banfield, E. (1959), “Ends and Means in Planning”,
International Social Science Journal Vol. XI, No.3. 26
Steps in rational model:
1. Define the problem
2. Clarify values (establish goals and objectives)
comprehensiveness
3. Select goals (“ends”) (iterative)

4. Formulate alternative plans or programs (“means”)

• generate all possible alternatives and consider the Consequences of all Alternatives
• the criterion for selection of “means” is efficiency (i.e., cost effectiveness)

5. Forecast (evaluate) the consequences of the alternatives developed in #4 (guided

by theory)

6. Evaluate and select one or more (best) alternatives

7. Develop detailed plans for implementing the alternatives selected

• the output of CP are plans or “blueprints” that indicate the course of action to
pursue

8. Review and evaluate 27

28
Optimize through efficient allocation of resources

29
30
Two main types of rationality:
1.) Instrumental or functional rationality focuses
on the most efficient or cost-effective means to achieve a
specific end, but not in itself reflecting on the value of that
end.

Thus, to the extent that rationality is concerned with critically

evaluating actions, instrumental rationality tends to focus on
the 'hows' of an action, rather than its 'whys'.
- Profound danger of using such kind of rationality as technology for
destruction increases.

Heidegger, Martin (1950). "The Question Concerning Technology".

31
2.) Substantial Rationality:
definition of correct (rational) end states or
goals

Ideas of Karl Mannheim

• Mannheim’s caution:
– Planners should not over rely on Functional Rationality;
– They should demand attention to Substantial Rationality

32
33
 Characteristics of the Rational-Comprehensive
Planning Model (RCPM)

• Planning viewed as a goal-oriented process that

relies heavily on quantitative models, eg:
– cost-benefit analysis;
– input-output analysis
– spatial interaction models;
– projections/forecasting;
– operations research, etc.
– Why? RCPM focused on “optimal” allocation of
resources in budgets 34
Critique of the Rational-Comprehensive
Planning Model (RCPM)
• Too costly and technically demanding
• Tends to be top-down or centralized:
– bureaucratic structures of administration
– Lack of stakeholder participation—especially the
poor
• No mechanism to deal with conflicting goals, local
needs or changing values*
* cannot get the best or optimal (“most favorable”, “greatest degree
attainable under specified conditions”, “most effective”) solution for
society as a whole, only satisfactory (i.e. adequate) but in reality, some
35

will be dissatisfied.
Optimal versus Satisfactory solution

36
 Critique of the Rational-Comprehensive
Planning Model (RCPM)
• Criticisms of Charles Lindblom (1959):
– Unachievable and out of step with political realities:
– Political leaders cannot agree on goals in advance
– They prefer to choose policies and goals at the same time
– Evaluating all possible alternatives on all possible measures of
performance (criteria) exceeds human abilities*
*the notion of bounded rationality: decision makers can never be
completely rational in the sense of having total knowledge of a
situation and the alternatives available to them. Impossible to satisfy
the excessive information requirements of RCPM (“greedy for
information”)
– Relationship between science and policy choice is oblique at best
37
– A "good policy" is one on which policymakers agree
 Critique of the Rational-Comprehensive
Planning Model (RCPM)
• Findings from Alan Altshuler's (1965) doctoral dissertation:
– Planners seldom achieved their objective, scientific
aspirations
– Planners claims to comprehensiveness not backed up by
reality
– Planners’ recommendations often ignored by policymakers
in favor of the wishes of the politically connected
stakeholders.
– Policymakers prefer to satisfy the wishes of the politically
connected rather than follow objective, scientific
recommendations from planners.

38
 Critique of the Rational-Comprehensive
Planning Model (RCPM)
• Beazley (1989):
– Planning being a technical, value-free, apolitical activity
without proper consideration of socio-economic and
political climate in which it operates

• Goodman (1972):
– RCPM maintains the existing power relations under a mask
of rationality, efficiency and science
– Under this model, planning is likely to benefit capitalists and
those in the middle class while the poor become the
casualties
39
40
Wicked Problems

41
Rittel and Weber (1973) argues that the
Rational Comprehensive Model of
Planning (RCMP) is unattainable, even as
we seek more closely to approximate it.

•RCMP cannot solve “wicked problems”.

42
43
Societal problems are “wicked problems”
Wicked problems: Impediments to Optimization
• The kinds of problems that planners deal with are inherently different
from problems that scientists/engineers deal with
By contrast, the problems planners deal with are:
– interconnected (interdependent), the nature of problem is ill defined
– less apparent where problem centers lie, and thus, where and how
we should intervene even if we do happen to know what aims we
seek
–Rely upon elusive political judgment for resolution
• Social problems are never solved. At best they are only re-solved-over
and over again.
• The problems that scientists and engineers have usually focused upon
are mostly "tame" or "benign" ones; for example:
• The organic chemist analyzing structure of an unknown compound;
• The chess player attempting to accomplish checkmate in five
moves.
 "We are all beginning to realise that one of
the most intractable problems is that of
defining and locating problems."
• defining problems (knowing what distinguishes an
observed condition from a desired condition)
• locating problems (finding where in the complex causal
networks the trouble really lies).
• In turn, the problem of identifying the actions that might
effectively narrow the gap between what-is and what-
ought-to-be.
• it becomes ever more difficult to make the planning idea
operational.
45
 “We use the term 'wicked' in a
meaning akin to 'malignant' or
'vicious' or 'tricky' or 'aggressive'...
to characterise social problems”
The use of term "wicked" here has come to
denote resistance to resolution, rather than evil.
Moreover, because of complex
interdependencies, the effort to solve one aspect
of a wicked problem may reveal or create other
problems.
46
47
 “To find the problem is the same
thing as finding the solution; the
problem can't be defined until the
solution has been found”

48
 “One cannot meaningfully search for
information without the orientation of a
solution concept; one cannot first
understand, then solve”

"the information needed to understand the

problem depends upon one's idea for
solving it”, (Rittel & Webber 1973, p. 161)
49
 “Part of the art of dealing with
wicked problems is the art of not
knowing too early which type of
solution to apply”

50
51
Not easily defined
No clear stopping rules (cannot be fully resolved)
No right or wrong approach
No clear measures of success
An iterative process
Solutions are discovered
Each are unique
Level of detail a matter of judgement
Strong moral & political pressure against
failure

52
Traffic congestion and narrow roads create impossible situations.
Where do you put the CITOM enforcer in this situation without
being run over?
Where will they park their motorcycles? If they need backup how
will the responders
be able to arrive
in time?

“Counterflow”
Phenomenon
under extreme
congestion in
Cebu City
Divider

Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153679806340225&set=gm.670967316378647&type=3&theater

53
Procedural rationality focuses on the process that generated it.

54
Disjointed Incrementalism? (by Charles Lindblom)

• “incremental” means small additions or changes

• because the rational model is “greedy for facts” (and the reality of bounded
rationality) we cannot follow completely RCMP

• “muddle through” - to achieve a degree of success without much planning or effort.

• instead of big/sudden changes, use the incremental approach which means a
fine tuning of previous this is more likely to gain acceptance
• options are considered by comparing actual consequences.
• try the option and then observe consequences.
• If consequences are fine, then a little more.
• If consequences are negative, then back off and try something different.

• incremental adjustments require less knowledge and theory.

• more realistic when resources are limited.
• piecemeal solutions, rely on past experience
• but the problem is not “solved”. Because there is no new (idea) direction taken.
• No effort to clarify values, redefine the problem and refine goals.

• examples: traffic jams in Cebu City or Manila, disasters relating to climate change.

55
56
57
Mixed Scanning Procedural Theory of Planning
by Amitai Etzioni

1. Scan to get overall picture and decide which elements require

more detailed examination.

2. Examine those areas that revealed themselves to be

problematic in more detail. (detailed planning following a
structured, rational model-like approach).

This style of planning is similar to SWOT analysis. After analysis,

detailed planning follows in the rational model focusing on
specific aspects.

58
 Advocacy Planning

Background/History of Advocacy in Planning:

• Failure of rational-comprehensive and incremental

planning approaches to deal with poverty and exclusion

• Growing power and ‘arrogance’ of Planners (technocratic

approach)

• Advocacy Planning emerged as another alternative to

rational comprehensive planning (RCMP) approach
59
60
61
62
63
64
Main features of ‘Advocacy Planning’:

• Provision of ‘Planning Services’ to low-income and

minority neighbourhoods
• Akin to legal services provided by a lawyer
• Advocate Planners to be hired by neighbourhoods
themselves or the city government (we would need a
highly developed profession of trained planners for this)
• ‘Public interest’ determined through debate or
consensus building among the Advocate Planners
• Several plans prepared by and debated among various
advocates
65
Radical Planning
Meaning and Characteristics

• Based on Marxist critique of RCPM

 RCPM separates doing planning from the socio-
economic and political environment within which
planning takes place

 City or regional planning in the rational mode is an

instrument of Western capitalism

66
 Radical Planning Theory
• “Planning is necessary to the ruling class in
order to facilitate [capital] accumulation and
maintain social control in the face of class
conflict. The modes by which urban planners
assist accumulation include the
development of physical infrastructure, land
aggregation and development, containment
of negative environmental externalities, and
the maintenance of land values … Urban
planners specialize in managing the
contradictions of capitalism manifested in
urban form and spatial development” (Fainstein
N and S Fainstein (1979), “New debates in urban planning, The impact of
marxist theory within the United States”, International Journal of Urban and
Regional Research, Volume 3, Issue 1-3, March-December, 148-9).

67
 Radical Planning
Meaning and Characteristics
• Radicals call for a more progressive approach to planning,
following not-satisfactory-enough outcomes of Advocacy
Planning experiments
• Call for decentralization, ecological attentiveness and
spontaneous activism guided by a vision of self-reliance
and mutual aid
• Radical planning emphasizes the importance of personal
growth, cooperative spirit, and freedom from
manipulation by anonymous forces

68
 Radical Planning Theory
Meaning and Characteristics
• It calls for structural changes to promote equality,
participation and legitimacy in planning

• Proponents:
– Based on several Marxist writings, e.g. Stephen Grabow
and Alan Heskin's (1973)

Critique
• Radical planning is an ambiguous tradition; no clear road
map for doing planning
69
70
71
72
73
 Post Modern concerns in the West
• Move from grand narratives to problem centred planning
– Inner city decline - urban regeneration
– Economic boom - social inequalities
– Ecological crisis - sustainable development
– Urban ugliness - urban design
– State control - public participation
• Two major shifts
– Design - science
– Planners as technicians - planners as (social) scientists

74
 Expanding the Normative basis in
the Post-Modern Critique

• Planners strive to act in the interests of people to

include different values (different from the
unitary“public interest”) by
• Giving voice to disempowered (social justice)
• Integrating disempowered groups to the
mainstream economic and social life
• Promoting respect, cultural diversity
• Equality of rights
• Valuing qualitative over quantitative growth that
would include ideas of sustainability, gender
equality 75
*Networkers, collaborators with a
host of societal actors.

76
Social Learning. characteristics
• Critical feedback
• Shared values with clients
• Strong institutional memory
• Based on past experiences, institutions learn from their mistakes and
are able to improve themselves.
• Openness requires democratic procedures. Favors open over closed
meetings, and invites criticism and comment.
• Role of media and evaluation research is important
• Access of these types of information by communities is important
• So that they have a basis for criticism

Accountability of Planning
• Accountability increases when planning process is brought out in the
open
• In secrecy, mistakes accumulate, leading in the long term to disaster
• Requires confident leadership that is not afraid to admit mistakes.
• Share experiences openly, both success and failure.
77
78
 TRANSACTIVE PLANNING THEORY
Meaning and Characteristics:
• Main proponent: John Friedmann (1973)
• Rejects planning approaches that view people/ communities
as ‘anonymous target beneficiaries’
• Focuses on face-to-face contacts between planners and
those affected
• More emphasis on collaboration, participation, dialogue and
mutual learning than surveys and analyses
• Characterized by decentralized planning and institutions that
enable people to have greater control over social processes

79
Transactive Planning Theory
Transactive = “a communicative action or activity involving two parties or
things that reciprocally affect or influence each other”
• two kinds of knowledge: expert (Planners) versus experiential knowledge
(communities).
• Experiential knowledge - unsystematized knowledge of people who will be
affected by potential solutions. (not written in reports, but comes out only
in speech, conversations)
• To arrive at solutions the two kinds of knowledge must be brought together.
This can occur only in face-to-face communication between planners and
people to arrive at a knowledge adequate to find solutions to the problem:
“PARTICIPATORY”, planners help build capacity of communities to
participate and speak up.
• But it takes time therefore both planners and people must have capacity to
listen symphathetically and share responsibility for problem definition
and solution. It results in detailed information brought out into the open.
• Optimum group for transactive planning to work : small groups of up to 20
people.
80
 TRANSACTIVE PLANNING THEORY
Meaning and Characteristics:

• Planner seen more as a Facilitator or Communicator and less

as a Technician

• Effectiveness of Planning measured not merely in terms of

what it does for people but also in terms of its effects on
people

81
 TRANSACTIVE PLANNING THEORY
Critique

• Those who can dialogue well are likely to manipulate others

– i.e. the outcome (the plan) may not reflect real collective
decision-making

82
83
84
 Communicative action

• Habermas - theory of communicative action

– Effective communication
• Comprehensible/intelligible
• Truth/veracity
• Sincere
• Legitimate
• Normative ideal for participatory processes in
planning (and trust)

85
86
87
88
89
90
91
Source: Webster, Douglas and Patharaporn Theeratham (2004), Policy Coordination, Planning and Infrastructure Provision: A
Case Study of Thailand, paper commissioned for the ADB-JBIC-World Bank East Asia and Pacific Infrastructure Flagship Study,
November 17, p. 27.
92