Bridging the theory and method nexus in planning: The potential and limits of Habermas for urban planning scholarship

Abstract

The work of Habermas has had a transformational impact upon contemporary planning practice and theory. Habermasian thinking has sparked a reconceptualisation of urban planning as a mechanism through which the co-production and use of knowledge can inspire and shape action. To plan the city is to both intervene (to make decisions about development proposals, land uses and the siting of infrastructure) and to create spaces for discussion and debate to occur about the future city. This wicked tension between ongoing decisions and discussions has provoked considerable urban planning scholarship. Habermas’ communicative rationality and deliberative democracy have inspired much of this empirical e..