Expanding the ‘language’ of planning: A meditation on planning education for the twenty‐first century

Abstract

To cite this article: Leonie Sandercock (1999) Expanding the 'language' of planning: A meditation on planning education for the twenty-first century, European Planning Studies, 7:5, 533-544, ABSTRACT What kinds of knowledge do planners need in a post-modern age in which cities and regions are characterized by fragmentation, polarization, and 'difference' in its many guises? This paper identifies four dilemmas of traditional planning education: the reduction of 'knowledge' to a set of measurable skills; the ossifying of programmes around a core which reinforces an outdated modernist paradigm; the loss of focus on questions of meaning, of value, of the spirit, which has resulted from a divorce between planning and design education; and the tendency to draw tight boundaries around professional identity, which prevents a truly interdisciplinary practice from emerging.Preparing planners for the challenges of the twenty-first century might involve the following: identifying the specificity of the domain of planning in a more dynamic way so that the core does not become redundant every decade; articulating planning programmes with environmental and design programmes; shifting from an emphasis on skills to key literacies (five are identified); approaching planning as an ethical inquiry.Interdisciplinary ... is not just a question of putting several fields together, so that individuals can share their specialised knowledge and converse with one another within their expertise. It is to create sharing in a field that belongs to no-one, not even to those who create it. What is at stake, therefore, in this inter-creation is the very notion of specialisation and of expertise, of discipline and professionalism.

Who speaks? And who listens? The relationship between planners and women’s participation in local planning in a multi-cultural urban environment

“…In order to move away from professional planning language, feminist planners have used for example methods of storytelling and anecdotes as an alternative (Sandercock and Forsyth 1992). In Towards Cosmopolis, Sandercock (1999) argues for a new planner role, which needs new approaches, new theories and new methods, that is a planning that builds on practical wisdom, is more people-oriented, based on other ways of knowing, gears to community empowerment and requires a new kind of multicultural literacy. However marginal these examples are in the overall planning practice, they have taken the theoretical planning discussion further.…”

“…The more marginalised the individuals are, the less credibility they have and less valued their input is in the eyes of the planner (Snyder 1995, p.101). This critique has been dealt with by several feminist planners who call for openness to other forms of knowledge and the acceptance of embodied experiences (Fainstein 2000;Sandercock and Forsyth 1992;Sandercock 1999;Fenster 1999). In feminist theory it is also emphasized that the planner/researcher should not separate between the self and the object of research.…”

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“…Issues such as climate change or recent large-scale population migration require actions and planning interventions at multinational if not global as well as local level. Planning departments in multicultural cities and internationally operating consultancies increasingly expect students to be 'globally-minded' with an understanding of international issues (Scholl, 2012) and to have multi-cultural literacies (Sandercock, 1999).…”

Density and Decision-Making: Findings from an Online Survey

“…However, when it comes to considering density in cities, students also need to have a broader skillset that embraces the more informal side of working with individuals and communities. Such resources should reflect the dynamic, cultural-and value-sensitivities of communities [71,72], and need to be embedded in a curriculum that regards these skills as important, rather than something that professionals will -pick up‖ on the job.…”