The Power of Planning

The book addresses critically the question: "What is the societal impact of urban and regional planning?". It begins with a theoretical discussion and then analyses, through a series of case studies, the intentions, contents, struggles and consequences of urban and regional planning. It shows that plans and policies often defy the commonly perceived role of advancing equality, justice, development and amenity, by causing social problems, marginalisation and inequalities. The book looks at planning from a critical distance, without a priori belief in its necessity or usefulness. The 12 chapters, written by renowned international scholars, demonstrate the multiplicity of social and political struggles over the contested terrain of spatial policies. The book focuses on four key areas where the impact of planning is explored: the community power, gender relations, ethnic tensions, and social polarisation, while comparing three societies: Australia, Israel and England.

Audience: This volume is mainly intended for faculty and students of academia, but also for urban professionals and policy-makers. The book is relevant to fields such as urban and regional planning, geography, political science, urban studies, urban sociology, urban anthropology, ethnic and gender relations.

Inhalt

Preface and Acknowledgements. Notes of Editors and Contributors. Introduction: Outlining the Power of Planning; O. Yiftachel. 1: Planning and Communities. Community Planning in Australia; I. Alexander, D. Hedgcock. Spaces of Resistance in Jerusalem; S. Hasson. One Step Forward and Two Steps Back: Urban Policy and Community Planning in England Since 1979; P. McManus. 2: Planning and Gender. Relationships Between Planning Policies and Women in Australian Suburbia; J. Hillier. Planning, Culture, Knowledge and Control: Minority Women in Israel; T. Fenster. Women and the Rural Policy Process in England; J. Little. 3: Planning and Social Polarisation. The Suburbs Strike Back: Culture, Place and Planning in an Australian City; M. Huxley. The Consequences of Planning Control: Mizrahi Jews in Israel's `Development Towns'; O. Yiftachel. Urban Policies and the Urban Poor in the UK; K. Bassett. 4: Planning and Minorities. Land and Resource Planning and Indigenous Interests: Reproducing or transforming the social relations of resource use; M. Lane, S. Cowell. The Dynamics of Ethnic Segregation in Israel; H.L. Yone, R. Kallus. Urban Policy Deracialized? S. Brownill, H. Thomas. Index.