Much hope has been placed in the potential of planning to solve social and economic problems. In the East nd the West, in devel- oped and less-developed countries, planning has become widespread. It has been praised and ridiculed, used and misused, both as a catch- word for a better future and as a scapegoat for bitter failure. Plan- ning has been interpreted differently by every society, giving rise to a wide range of styles and approaches. Fascination with the phenom- enon has yielded a variety of definitions of planning, each of them influenced by the actual problems facing the planners on...

Much hope has been placed in the potential of planning to solve social and economic problems. In the East nd the West, in devel oped and less-developed countries, planning has become widespread. It has been praised and ridiculed, used and misused, both as a catch word for a better future and as a scapegoat for bitter failure. Plan ning has been interpreted differently by every society, giving rise to a wide range of styles and approaches. Fascination with the phenom enon has yielded a variety of definitions of planning, each of them influenced by the actual problems facing the planners on the...