2009 Articles

Realizing Planning's Emancipatory Promise: Learning from Regime Theory to Strengthen Communicative Action

Irazabal Zurita, Clara E.

This article informs communicative action theory with insights from urban regime theory. The synthesis proposes a model of planning that is more comprehensive in its treatment of the linkages between planning and governance and helps advance the creation of network power, emancipatory knowledge, empowering subjectivities, and spaces of solidarity. The article then discusses the merits of these insights in the context of a categorization of planning into traditional, democratic, advocacy, and incremental approaches.