The Two Cultures of Planning

Abstract

Cities and planning are intimately related; so much so that the notion ‘planning’ is commonly employed as shorthand to the more longer term ‘urban and regional planning’ (which is not the case with economic or social planning, for instance). A possible reason for this is that cities were always regarded as signs and symbols for the existence of strong central authority capable of planned action – in antiquity, walls, roads, canals, castles, fortresses, temples and the like, indicated a central authority that is capable of planning. The same holds true for today’s cities: their roads, pavements, highways, public institutions, civil centers, industrial zones and residential areas are often seen as the result of a dominant central authority that plans and controls the city.