Spatial Planning and Urban Development: Critical Perspectives

ISBN-13: 9789400732728 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 246 str.

Pier Carlo Palermo; Davide Ponzini

Opis

Urban transformations and management practice has always been complex, ambiguous and unstable, and therefore difficult to set into fixed and shared concepts. Through the decades, theoretical debate has formed an eclectic set of possible perspectives, without finding, in our opinion, a coherent paradigmatic framework which can adequately guide interpretation and action in urban planning. The hypothesis of this book is that the attempts of founding an autonomous planning theory are inadequate if they do not explore two interconnected fields: architecture and public policies. In this sense, reconsidering urban planning practices assuming the angle of architecture and public policies is a proper choice in order to better understand critical points and possibilities for governing urban and spatial transformations. Planning theory can be considered as a field crowded with issues and questions of great interest, but still undetermined in terms of principles and exemplary experiences. Exploring the architecture/public policy crossway could allow the reframing of planning problems in a more convincing and shared way, overcoming the eclecticism typical of current planning theory. The distinctive contribution of this book is a documented critique of the eclecticism and abstraction of the main international trends of current planning theory. The dialogical relationship with the traditions of architecture and public policy is proposed here in order to critically review planning theory and practice. The outcome is the proposal of a paradigmatic framework that, in the authors opinion, can adequately guide reflections and actions. A pragmatic and interpretative heritage and the project-orientated approach are the basis of this new spatial planning paradigm."

Recenzje

From the reviews:

"The text is grounded in a broad understanding of European planning traditions and conditions, augmented with an awareness of those on the other side of the Atlantic. A good portion of the book is devoted to a historical review of planning theory that acknowledges multiple overlaps in theory and practice in time and space. ... Spatial Planning and Urban Development makes a significant contribution to planning scholarship. ... Ponzini and Palermo have opened many avenues for constructive debate and progress in planning praxis and scholarship." (Sig Langegger, Journal of Planning Education and Research, Vol. 32 (3), 2012)

Spis treści

Urban Development and Planning: Issues and Dilemmas.- The Topic of Study.- The Many Faces of Planning.- A Crossroads with Many Dimensions.- Emerging Questions.- The Course of Our Discussion.- Unfinished Projects for Disciplinary Foundation.- The Rise and Crisis of Planning Theory.- Urban Design: The Lost Object.- Decision-Centred Views.- The Social Rootedness of Urban Planning.- The Interactive Turn.- The Collaborative Shift.- Escaping into Irrationality.- Designing the Possible.- Mediterranean Planning Cultures: Italy.- Characteristics of the Italian Model.- Towards a Planning Science?.- City Design.- Reformist Mainstream.- The Challenges for Policy Making.- Reconsidering Policy Design.- Critical Issues and Perspectives.- Planning, Implementation and Policy Tools.- Urban Regulation: Critical Issues.- Sense and Limits of Spatial Visioning.- Urban Development Projects in a Strategic Framework.- Rethinking Spatial Planning and Urban Development.- Choosing the Paradigm.- The Quality in Spatial Development.

Blurb

Urban planning is a complex field of knowledge and practice. Through the decades, theoretical debate has formed an eclectic set of possible perspectives, without finding, in our opinion, a coherent paradigmatic framework which can adequately guide the interpretation and action in urban planning. The hypothesis of this book is that the attempts of founding an autonomous planning theory are inadequate if they do not explore two interconnected fields: architecture and public policies.The book critically reviews a selected set of current practices and theoretical founding works of modern and contemporary urban planning by highlighting the continuous search for the epistemic legitimization of a large variety of experiences. The distinctive contribution of this book is a documented critique to the eclecticism and abstraction of the main international trends in current planning theory. The dialogic relationship with the traditions of architecture and public policy is proposed here in order to critically review planning theory and practice. The outcome is the proposal of a paradigmatic framework that, in the authors’ opinion, can adequately guide reflections and actions. A pragmatic and interpretative heritage and the project-orientated approach are the basis of this new spatial planning paradigm.

Pier Carlo Palermo is Dean of the School of Architecture and Society at the Politecnico di Milano, where he founded and directed the Department of Architecture and Planning. His m

ain research interests concern the theory and history of urbanism, urban studies, spatial planning and policy design. He has worked as planning consultant on programmes of national and international interest (EU Programmes, Italian Ministries of Economics, Environment, and Infrastructure and other territorial institutions). He has published numerous books on these topics. His most recent publications include: Innovation in Planning. Italian Experiences, Actar, Barcelona, 2006; I Limiti del Possibile. Governo del Territorio e Qualità dello Sviluppo, Donzelli, Rome, 2009.

Davide Ponzini received his PhD in Urban Planning from the Politecnico di Milano where he is currently Assistant Professor in Urban Planning. His research activity focuses on the role of cultural policies and contemporary architecture in urban transformation and local development, and more recently on issues of urban planning and policy tools. He was visiting scholar at Yale University, Johns Hopkins University and Columbia University. He is the author of Il Territorio dei Beni Culturali, Carocci, Rome, 2008, editor (with Mattias Legnér) of Cultural Quarters and Urban Transformation, Gotlandica Forlag, Visby, 2009, as well as author of several articles published in Italian and international scientific journals.