1. UNIT 5: ADVOCACY, RADICAL & TRANSACTIVE PLANNING THEORIES

2. ADVOCACY PLANNING THEORY
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
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ADVOCACY, RADICAL & TRANSACTIVE PLANNING

3. ADVOCACY PLANNING THEORY
Background/History of Advocacy in Planning:
A statement by a planner in the Newcastle Council Planning Department:
“You’ve got to have a touch of arrogance to be a planner—and the basic confidence to know that you’re right even when you’re wrong, and the present City Planning Officer is such a man”, (Davies, 1972, cited Allmendinger, 2002, p. 136)
Search for a New Approach
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ADVOCACY, RADICAL & TRANSACTIVE PLANNING

4. ADVOCACY PLANNING THEORY
Meaning and Origin of ‘Advocacy Planning’:
What do you understand by ‘Advocacy Planning’?
Advocacy Planning emerged as another alternative to RCPM
Its main Proponents:
Paul Davidoff (1965) in his famous article, “Advocacy and Pluralism in Planning"
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ADVOCACY, RADICAL & TRANSACTIVE PLANNING

5. ADVOCACY PLANNING THEORY
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
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ADVOCACY, RADICAL & TRANSACTIVE PLANNING

6. ADVOCACY PLANNING THEORY
Main features of ‘Advocacy Planning’:
‘Public interest’ determined through debate or consensus building among the Advocate Planners
Several plans prepared by and debated among various the advocates
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ADVOCACY, RADICAL & TRANSACTIVE PLANNING

7. ADVOCACY PLANNING THEORY
Criticisms
Too tasking and difficult for the planners involved
Advocate Planners are demographically different from their ‘clients’
Raises expectations among the poor that cannot be met
It further weakens the political influence of the poor
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ADVOCACY, RADICAL & TRANSACTIVE PLANNING

8. RADICAL PLANNING THEORY
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 seen by Radicals as an instrument of Western capitalism
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ADVOCACY, RADICAL & TRANSACTIVE PLANNING

9. RADICAL PLANNING THEORY
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
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ADVOCACY, RADICAL & TRANSACTIVE PLANNING

10. 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
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ADVOCACY, RADICAL & TRANSACTIVE PLANNING

11. 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
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ADVOCACY, RADICAL & TRANSACTIVE PLANNING

12. 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
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ADVOCACY, RADICAL & TRANSACTIVE PLANNING

13. 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
4/16/2017
ADVOCACY, RADICAL & TRANSACTIVE PLANNING