MODULE 6: THEORIES IN PLANNING  fully integrated public consultation

Source: The Paradox of the Rational

10 Steps in Environmental Planning
Comprehensive Model of Planning

Rational Comprehensive Model (RCM) of 1. Stakeholder Preconsultation -

Planning Stakeholders, including special interest
groups, decision makers, technocrats,
 Takes a scientific/rational approach to bureaucrats, consultants, etc., are
problem solving and, in its purest identified and consulted before
application, would result in a full irreversible decisions are made.
analysis of all possible factors affecting
a given set of circumstances and of all 2. Problem Identification - Problems are
possible alternatives to resolving the defined in such a way that planners are
problem under study. able to recommend solutions that allow
 Theory: results in the “best” solution decision makers to apply policy
because it has taken into account the intervention or to act upon solutions
widest variety of variables. through the political process
 Practice: the processes it engenders can
be overly complex, redundant, time- 3. Goal and Objective Formulation - Goals
consuming, and expensive and objectives are identified and
RCM Requirements formulated. Often technocrats and
bureaucrats draft the goals and
 a “holistic” definition of the objectives, while stakeholders and the
environment, including biogeophysical public “fine-tune” them.
and socioeconomic factors
 goal setting 4. Analysis - The problem situation is
 justification of project need and analyzed and modeled. The
rationale geographic/political boundaries and
 “net-effects” analysis (i.e., impact population groups are defined,
assessment) for functionally background data are collected,
 different alternatives to the regulatory processes (including
undertaking, and alternative documentation requirements) are
 methods of implementing the preferred identified, policy instruments are
undertaking highlighted, methodologies are
 including analysis of alternative sites to presented, and formal
find a preferred (best) site stakeholder/public interaction is
 an assessment of the consequences of initiated.
the do-nothing alternative (the null
hypothesis); 5. Identification and design of alternative
 the selection of a preferred alternative courses of action
after comprehensive
 review of all alternatives A. The “null alternative” - Often
 a preference for quantitative methods referred to as the “do-nothing”
and feedback loops alternative.
 B. Functionally different alternatives - 9. Implementation - In rational
Cost-benefit analysis and comprehensive models, decisions are
environmental impact assessment meaningless unless they are
are commonly used to compare implementable. Usually, three stages
each alternative. Stakeholder and are required:
public scrutiny may identify new  Documentation: the plan is
alternatives or eliminate submitted to regulatory agencies as
unreasonable ones. a formal document or documents
 Approvals: the documentation is
C. Spatially different alternatives - scrutinized through a regulatory
The selection of geographic “sites” filter (sometimes involving public
or “routes” is one of the sources of hearings) and bureaucrats or
greatest controversy in the planning judicial authorities provide permits,
model. Therefore, a rank ordering licenses, etc.
of potential locations for the  The policy action is put into effect.
preferred functional alternative is
necessary for comprehensive 10. Monitoring and Feedback - Monitoring
rationality. and feedback of the results of
implementation vis-à-vis original goals
6. Effects Assessment - The predicted and objectives and impact assessment
effects of each alternative are are made by the planner.
identified. This information is used to
rank-order choices in stage 5. Effects Source: Strategic Planning – Concept and
are usually examined in terms of Rationale
economic impacts, social impacts, and Origin and History
environmental impacts.
Warfare
7. Evaluation - Evaluation of the effects of  Originated during warfare
the alternatives in terms of the goals  Civil-military officials elected by the
and objectives. Consequences are citizens of Athens to assume leadership
usually examined in the light of political during times of war were expected to
implications. Feedback mechanisms are prepare and implement overall, top-
often used, especially in terms of public level plans in order to achieve the long-
consultation processes, to provide input term goal of winning the war (through
into evaluation. battles, negotiations, or any other
means available, according to the
8. Decision - A decision based on the changing situation).
selection of the most desirable  Key Characteristics:
alternative is made. A decision made o to think big, by taking into
not to proceed with the preferred
consideration all possible
alternative may ultimately be
options and paying due
considered a “rational” choice
attention to the changing
environment
 o to focus on a clear, final, and situations to be achieved (objectives)
firm long-term goal to be and the determination of relevant
achieved. actions that need to be taken in order
to reach those objectives at a
Business World
reasonable cost.
 At least in complex enterprises,  Main Criticisms
strategic planning should not only take o Too much focus was placed on
place at the executive level but that it plan preparation and not
should also be undertaken at the enough on implementation -
different levels and functions within the o Plans were being prepared in a
organization. top-down, technocratic way
 In order to increase the chances of o Not enough consideration was
successful implementation, the given to the changing
preparation of a strategic plan could not environment
be left to external consultants or even
Strategic Planning Approach
internal planning units alone.
 A good plan will take into consideration  A management tool to help an
the whole organization or management organization to improve its
unit and, therefore, all staff should be performance by ensuring that its
involved in its preparation in one way or members are working to the same goals
another. and by continuously adjusting the
direction of the organization to the
Public Sector
changing environment on the basis of
 The basic assumption behind the results obtained.
introduction of strategic management
Key Characteristics of Strategic Planning
in the government sector is that, in
spite of their differences, strategic 1. Strategic planning is guided by an
planning is an approach which is overall sense of direction
relevant to all kinds of organizations  It needs a global sense of purpose
simply because all organizations have and direction capable of guiding
specific long-term goals to reach and, implementers in making everyday
since resources are always limited, they choices about what actions should
have to find the most efficient way to be taken in order to produce the
attain these. expected results.
 Different types of organizations have  Mission Statement - a short
their own features, which means that paragraph summarizing the overall
strategic planning can never be applied goal which the organization is
in a blue-print manner but has to be trying to accomplish, the main
adapted to the specificities of the type method it is going to follow to
of organization under consideration. reach its goal, and the basic
principles and values that will guide
Traditional Development Planning
the fulfilment of the mission.
 The anticipation of possible future  Vision Statement - sets out the
situations, the selection of desirable ideal state of affairs which the
 organization would like eventually objectives (expected results) that
to achieve. must be reached during the
medium-term plan.
2. Strategic planning is sensitive to the
environment
 Strategic planning is based on 4. Strategic planning is a mobilization
the belief that the successful instrument
development of an organization is  Strategic planning should therefore
the result of finding the right fit not be carried out in isolation by
between its internal strengths and experts alone, but rather as an
weaknesses and the external inclusive process in which the
opportunities and threats stemming implementers and stakeholders are
from the environment. actively involved in one way or
 In order to be effective, another
organizations must be responsive to
their environment, which is 5. Strategic planning is flexible in its
continuously changing implementation
 A careful scanning of the  Strategic planning is based on the
environment is important not only at belief that no neat, fi nal plan can be
the stage of making the initial prepared, simply because situations
diagnosis for preparing a plan, but have become too complex and
also, and even more so, at the stage environments too unpredictable,
of monitoring the plan and because it is impossible to
implementation. foresee every possible consequence
of future decisions that will be made.
3. Strategic planning is result-oriented  A strategic medium-term plan should
 The main emphasis is shifted away lay out the final goal and the general
from compliance monitoring to path to be followed, rather than the
performance (or results) precise steps to be taken to reach
monitoring. that goal.
 Results of a specific activity are then
Summary of Differences
usually measured at three
successive levels: immediate
outputs (e.g. the number of schools
built), intermediate outcomes (e.g.
the increased enrolment rates) and
long-term impacts (e.g. the
increased average number of years
of schooling of the population).
 In order to be able to measure
properly the different types of 4 Key Questions and Activities in Strategic
results obtained, the overall broad Planning
policy goals will have to be
translated into more precise
  Plans are constructed by a mixture of
"intuition, experience, rules of thumb,
various techniques (rarely
sophisticated) known to individual
planners, and an endless series of
consultations
Source: Comparison of Current Planning
 derives from a series of criticisms
Theories: Counterparts and Contradictions
leveled at synoptic rationality: its
Synoptic Planning/Rational Comprehensive insensitivity to existing institutional
Approach performances capabilities; its
reductionist epistemology; its failure to
 Point of departure for most other appreciate the cognitive limits of
planning approaches, which represent decision-makers, who cannot
either modifications of synoptic "optimize" but only "satisfice" choices
rationality or reactions against it. by successive approximation
 4 Classical Elements:  incremental planning adheres more
o Goal Setting closely to the economic logic of
o Identification of Policy individuals pursuing their own self-
Alternatives interest.
o Evaluation of Means Against
Ends Transactive Planning
o Implementation of Policy  focuses on the intact experience of
 Typically looks at problems from a people's lives revealing policy issues to
systems viewpoint, using conceptual or be addressed.
mathematical models relating ends  not carried out with respect to an
(objectives) to means (resources and anonymous target community of
constraints) with heavy reliance on beneficiaries, but in face-to-face
numbers and quantitative analysis. contact with the people affected by
 Despite its capacity for great decisions
methodological refinement and  Planning consists less of field surveys
elaboration, the real power of the and data analyses, and more of
synoptic approach is its basic simplicity. interpersonal dialogue marked by a
Incremental Planning process of mutual learning
 refers to the evolution of decentralized
 Charles Lindblom planning institutions that help people
 "partisan mutual adjustment" or take increasing control over the social
"disjointed incrementalism processes that govern their welfare
 policy decisions are better understood,  more emphasis is given to processes of
and better arrived at, in terms of the personal and organizational
push and tug of established institutions development, and not just the
that are adept at getting things done achievement of specific functional
through decentralized bargaining objectives
processes best suited to a free market  plans are evaluated in terms of the
and a democratic political economy plans’ effect on people-on their dignity
 and sense of effectiveness, their values  “going back to the roots” content to
and behavior, their capacity for growth operate in the interstices of the
through cooperation, their spirit of Establishment rather than challenging
generosity. the system head-on functions usually
vested in central bureaucracies.
 The second stream of radical thought
takes a more critical and holistic look at
large-scale social processes: the effect
Advocacy Planning
of class structures and economic
 successful as a means of blocking relationships; the control exercised by
insensitive plans and challenging culture and media; the historical
traditional views of a unitary public dynamics of social movements,
interest confrontations, alliances, and struggles.
 advocacy calls for development of
plural plans rather than a unit plan
 advocacy planning has been criticized
for posing stumbling blocks without
being able to mobilize equally effective
support for constructive alternatives
 One effect of the advocacy movement
has been to shift formulation of social
policy from backroom negotiations out Evaluating Planning Traditions
into the open
 Another result has been the stronger 1. Theory of the Public Interest
linkage between social scientists and  Can goals be considered
judiciary processes in policy decisions. separately from specific
 Advocacy planning has both reflected options?
and contributed to a general trend in  Should conflicts that arise
planning away from neutral objectivity among groups in
in definition of social problems, in favor connection with planning
of applying more explicit principles of be underplayed in favor of
social justice. seeking a consensus?
Radical Planning  Synoptic planning largely
ignores or avoids issues of
 stresses the importance of personal conflict by referring to a
growth, cooperative spirit, and freedom unitary concept of the
from manipulation by anonymous public interest.
forces.  Radical and advocacy
 its point of departure consists of planning are based on
specific substantive ideas about conflict models of the
collective actions that can achieve public interest
concrete results in the immediate  Transactive and
future. incremental planning are
based on dialogue and
 bargaining among plural subtle and complex
interests, although without processes of bargaining, but
an explicit treatment of they come closer to what
power. skilled entrepreneurs and
politicians and social
2. Human Dimension mobilizers do anyway, so
 Should planning seek to they score fairly well on the
provide a framework of criterion of feasibility.
objective decision rules  Transactive and radical
(e.g., as benefit-cost planning call for the
analysis provides in fostering and strengthening
synoptic planning)? of community-based
 Should it aim at a more institutions which are
holistic context for presently overshadowed by
judgment, referring not centralized and
just to scientific and bureaucratically organized
technical data but to agencies of government
subjective realities? and corporate enterprise.
 Transactive planning gives
special attention to 4. Action Potential
psychosocial and  Synoptic planning
institutional processes addresses possibilities of
which facilitate growth and large-scale action and major
mutual learning between departures from current
the planner and his strategies of problem-
constituency. solving, based on fresh
 Radical planning insight and thorough
emphasizes the role of examination of goals and
human will and ideological policy alternatives.
cohesiveness which gives However, rational
effective power to technical comprehensive planning is
knowledge. vulnerable to the criticism
that its plans never reach
3. Feasibility the stage of
 Synoptic planning has the implementation.
virtue of being easily  Other planning traditions
grasped: its analytical seek to reduce the gap
techniques are fairly between decision making
standard applications of and implementation by
social science, and its embedding planning
intentions are processes in the common
straightforward. everyday practice of social
 Incremental and advocacy management and
planning refer to the more experimentation.
 initial statement of a
5. Substantive Theory planning problem
 Mainstream theories of  Transactive planning
planning are principally emphasizes dialogue and
concerned with procedural development of trusting
techniques. interpersonal relationships.
 Substantive content is  Advocacy planning relies
usually left to secondary on the test of mobilizing
levels of specialization in people to challenge
sectorial areas such as established procedures and
education, housing, institutions in protecting
poverty, industrial their collective interests.
development, or land use  Radical planning calls for
regulation ideas to be tested in actions
 Radical and transactive aimed at permanent change
planning both insist that in social institutions and
planning styles and values.
methods must adapt to
Source: Approaches to Participation in Urban
correspond to the specific
Planning Theories
nature of social problems
being addressed. 1. Rational-Comprehensive Planning
Theory
6. Self-Reflective Theory  Auguste Comte
 Incremental planning is  Comte’s association of the
least explicit in this respect. methods of classical science
The "science of muddling with the study of societies and
through" is full of hidden social phenomena is central to
agendas and bargaining the theory of rational-
processes which encourage comprehensive planning
participants to keep their  The theorists of rational
motives and means to comprehensive planning
themselves. thought that the more
 In synoptic planning, there comprehensive the analyses of
is far more emphasis on the planning problem were, the
laying everything out on the better the plan would be.
table, but the rules of the  This approach is evident in the
game require that one deal notion of ‘public interest’,
with technical decisions on formulated as the goal of
the basis of objective data rational-comprehensive
 Transactive, advocacy, and planning. Public interest meant
radical planning each have planning solutions that were of
specific procedures for common benefit.
pressing inquiry beyond the
 from his special
knowledge.
o There is the sense in
which a professional
advocate or citizen
professional
still takes a professional
stance, claiming special
knowledge and
autonomy which he
may abuse in his
relations with his
2. Advocacy Planning Theory clients.
 Paul Davidoff
 It is evident from this criticism
that the existing view of
planning as neutral and value-
free was false and that the
‘public interest’ in objective
terms could not be defined.
 The planners were to aid in this,
by engaging in the political
process of planning as
3. Incrementalist Planning Theory
advocates both of the local
 not only concerned with how to
government and other local
bring the interests of different
interest groups, such as the
groups into the agenda of
above mentioned, that are
public planning, but,
concerned with the future
furthermore, how agreement
development of the
could be reached between
community.
these diverse and conflicting
 Advocacy planning is motivated
interests
by the empowerment of
 “partisan mutual adjustment” –
marginalized groups, but
a method of bargaining and
hereby the view of planning as
compromise-seeking between
an oppositional power struggle
the interest groups concerned
is also heightened.
with a planning issue.
 There are two difficulties in
 Concentrate only on short-term
such measures:
planning. The longer the time
o There is the difficulty of
scale, the greater the
combining [the group’s
uncertainty.
adversarial stance
 Rely only on the existing
toward the professional
planning policy and experiences
with a wish to benefit
gained from former similar
planning tasks, so that you
 direct your limited resources of by definition, is always
analysis in the current planning reachable.
task to the unique features, of
which there is no prior
experience and no ready
solutions or courses of action
available.
 Broaden the knowledge base of
planning by introducing various
interest groups to the planning
process
 it provides a method of settling
Source: Video
disputes without having to
attempt at dialogue System Components
 In partisan mutual adjustment,
 Objects – physical entities
mutual agreement on planning
decisions is not necessary;  States – take a duration of time
instead, the method guarantees  Events – are one point in time
that decisions are made despite o Internal – inside the system
the lack of agreement. o External – outside the system
 Time and Space – are one point in
time

Source: Others

1. Systems Approach
 based on the conception of
phenomena as 'systems', which
are themselves coherent
entities composed of
interconnected and
interdependent parts
 A city can in this way be
conceptualized as a system with
4. Communicative Planning Theory interrelated parts of different
 Communicative rationality is a land uses, connected by
sort of straitjacket, where each transport and other
individual is given a universal communications
identity as a rational and moral  The idea of the city as a system
creature that shares his deep meant that it became critical for
lifeworldly conceptions with the planners to understand how
others, and who, withthis cities functioned.[61] It also
identity, is given the task of meant that a change to one
searching for consensus with part in a city would have effects
the others – a consensus which, on others parts as well.
  There were also doubts raised 4. Mixed Scanning Model
about the goal of producing  Organizations plan on two
detailed blueprints of how cities different levels: the tactical and
should look like in the end, the strategic. He posited that
instead suggesting the need for organizations could accomplish
more flexible plans with this by essentially scanning the
trajectories instead of fixed environment on multiple levels
futures. and then choose different
 Planning should also be an strategies and tactics to address
ongoing process of monitoring what they found there.
and taking action in the city,
rather than just producing the 5. Participatory Planning
blueprint at one time.  an urban planning paradigm
 The systems approach also that emphasizes involving the
necessitated taking into entire community in the
account the economic and strategic and management
social aspects of cities, beyond processes of urban planning; or,
just the aesthetic and physical community-level planning
ones. processes, urban or rural.
 aims to harmonize views among
2. Rational Process Approach all of its participants as well as
 The rational process identified prevent conflict between
five different stages: (1) the opposing parties.
definition of problems and
aims; (2) the identification of 6. Synoptic Planning
alternatives; (3) the evaluation  (1) an enhanced emphasis on
of alternatives; (4) the specification of goals and
implementation: (5) targets; (2) an emphasis on
monitoring. quantitative analysis and
 This new approach represented predication of the environment;
a rejection of blueprint planning (3) a concern to identify and
evaluate alternative policy
3. Incrementalism options; and (4) the evaluation
 This incremental approach of means against ends
meant choosing from small
number of policy approaches 7. Transactive Planning
that can only have a small  Instead of considering public
number of consequences and participation as a method that
are firmly bounded by reality, would be used in addition to
constantly adjusting the the normal training planning
objectives of the planning process, participation was a
process, and using multiple central goal.
analyses and evaluations  the public was encouraged to
take on an active role in the
 policy-setting process, while the process to understand each
planner took on the role of a other.
distributor of information and a  The idea is that each individual
feedback source will approach a conversation
 Transactive planning focuses on with his or her own subjective
interpersonal dialogue that experience in mind and that
develops ideas, which will be from that conversation shared
turned into action goals and possibilities will
emerge.
8. Advocacy Planning  The model seeks to include a
 the advocacy planning model broad range of voice to
takes the perspective that there enhance the debate and
are large inequalities in the negotiation that is supposed to
political system and in the form the core of actual plan
bargaining process between making.
groups that result in large  In this model, participation is
numbers of people unorganized actually fundamental to the
and unrepresented in the planning process happening.
process. Without the involvement of
 It concerns itself with ensuring concerned interests, there is no
that all people are equally planning
represented in the planning
process by advocating for the 11. Critical Planning Theory
interests of the underprivileged  Critical planning theory (CPT)
and seeking social change engages with questions of
 A plurality of public interests is power, equity, language,
assumed, and the role of the knowledge construction, and
planner is essentially the one as related issues so as to test
a facilitator who either “professional concepts, models
advocates directly for and ‘gospels’ against their real
underrepresented groups world material and discursive
directly or encourages them to consequences”
become part of the process

9. Radical Planning
 a stream of urban planning
which seeks to manage
development in an equitable
and community-based manner.

10. Communicative Planning

 It focuses on using
communication to help
different interests in the