Summary
Modern town planning has developed from a diffuse and unstable set of philosophical and technical stimuli, to which has been added the provocations of contemporary scientific achievements. There is a persistent danger that town planning can become ‘dehumanized’ persuing altruistic internally-generated rather than anthropocentric goals and objectives.
This paper explores some of the basic philosophical and ideological parameters of planning as a step towards the establishment of a substantial raison d'etre for the craft—expressed succinctly it attempts to review a possible basis for ideological fundamentalism in town planning by examining the concept of social justice, the spectrum of ideology, the historical legacy of town planning and its commitment to spatial systems.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bailey, J. (1975)Social Theory for Planning, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.
Burchell, R. W. and Sternlieb, G. (eds.). (1978)Planning Theory in the 1980s, Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
Davies, J. G. (1973)The Evangelistic Bureaucrat, Tavistock, London.
Eversley, D. C. (1973)The Planner in Society, Faber, London.
Fagence, M. T. (1975) Town Planner as Diplomat,RAPIJ, 13(2), pp. 58–65.
Foley, D. L. (1973) British Town Planning: One Ideology or Three?: In A. Faludi,A Reader in Planning Theory, Pergamon Press, Oxford, pp. 69–93.
Gans, H. J. (1972)People and Plans, Pelican, Harmondsworth.
Geertz, C. (1964) Ideology as a Cultural System, in D. Apter (ed.),Ideology and Discontent, The Free Press, New York, pp. 52–57.
George, V. and Wilding, P. (1976)Ideology and Social Welfare, Routlege and Kegan Paul, London.
Goodman, R. (1972)After the Planners, Pelican, Harmondsworth.
Grabow, S. and Heskin, A. (1973) Foundations for a Radical Concept of Planning,JAIP, 39(2), pp. 106–114.
Harvey, D. (1973)Social Justice and the City, Arnold, London.
Healey, P. (1974) The Problem of Ideology,JRTPI, 60(3), p. 602.
Jacobs, J. (1965)The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Pelican, Harmondsworth.
Kaplan, M. (1973)Urban Planning in the 1960s, Praeger, New York.
Rabinovitz, F. (1969)City Politics and Planning, Aldine-Atherton, Chicago.
Rawls, J. (1971)A Theory of Justice, Cambridge, Mass.
Sandercock, L. (1975)Cities for Sale, University of Melbourne Press, Carlton.
Singer, R. (1971) The Planner as Value-Neutral: A Useless Myth?,Plan (Canada),11(2).
Webber, M. (1968/69) Planning in an Environment of Change,Town Planning Review, 39, pp. 179–175, 277–295.
Wildavsky, A. (1973) If Planning is Everything, Maybe It's Nothing,Policy Sciences, 4, pp. 127–153.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
After graduating at the University of Nottingham (1963), Michael Fagence spent six years in town planning research with local authorities in Britain, and with the Colin Buchanan partnership engaged on the South Hampshire Study. Research at the University of Southampton (1972), and six years lecturing at Portsmouth Polytechnic preceded migration to Australia in 1974. Since joining the Department of Regional and Town Planning at the University of Queensland research endeavours have concentrated on rural planning, especially the problems of small rural towns, and the political and philosophical milieu of town planning. A British Council Award supported research of Gosgrazhdanstroy in the Soviet Union (1975), and six months were spent as Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Southampton (1978).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fagence, M. Ideological fundamentalism in town planning-an exploratory appraisal. Environmentalist 3, 17–27 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02240040
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02240040