epistemology of planning

0503902 Epistemology of Planning

Epistemology of Planning

University of Technology, Jamaica

Urban and Regional Planning

Development Planning Methods

Brain Collins

Mr. E. Bailey

October 17, 2010


Epistemology of Planning

The term Epistemology can be defined as the branch of Philosophy that is concerned with

knowing. Epistemology is concerned with questions such as what is the knowledge of Urban

Planning, how and why was knowledge acquired about urban planning, what people know about

urban planning, why is it that we need to know about urban planning. Epistemology is the study

and justified belief. (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Planning is the utilization of scarce resources to satisfy the need and wants of man while

conserving these resources for present and future generations. Urban planning integrates land use

planning to improve the built, economic and social environments of different geographic areas.

Levels of planning include The National Level, Local Authority Level and The Sub-regional

Level. Types of planning include Physical and Economic, Allocative and Innovative, Multi and

Single Objective, Indicative and Imperative, and Strategic Planning. Planning in the twentieth

century will depend on how planners play their role in political and other socio-economic actors

and work with communities in the enhancement of social and political struggles of our time.

History helps us to gain a better understanding of the variations of the actual practice of planning

thus a better understanding of the epistemology of planning. A historical perspective contains

five and sometimes overlapping strands of planning in the modern world. These include the

liberal humanist tradition, utopian-revolutionary planning, policy analysis planning, socio-

cultural diversity sensitivity planning, and consultative and participatory planning.

In studying the Epistemology of planning, we need to divulge into the history of the dynamic

principles of Urban and Regional Planning. This study traces the evolution of Urban and regional


problems and of planning philosophies, techniques and legislations from the Industrial

Revolution to present day.

Modern urban and regional planning has risen in response to specific urban and regional

problems, which in turn were triggered off by the industrial revolution at the end of the

eighteenth century. Planners have argued however that these problems did not initially occurr at

once especially in a uniformed fashion, however they changed in character and in relative

importance. As problems were identified, solutions were proposed for them. However, due to

the ways in which people condition their minds and other social and political processes, these

solutions, especially the more radical ones may not have been put into place until decades

afterwards. By then the problems might have already changed in nature and often times in

importance.

Planning before the industrial revolution however is similar in the sense that it was also in

response to social and economic problems. There were many important cities prior to the

industrial revolution. Cities such as Rome in 100 AD had an estimated population 1,000,000 and

London about 200,000 people. Correspondingly these cities had social and economic problems.

Cities such as Rome had to be supplied from had to be supplied from considerable distances.

Rome also suffered from a major problem of traffic congestions. Epistemology of planning in

this regard would specify why there was a need for this practice.

With epistemology of planning, everything is kept separate, there is really no synthesis.

Epistemology of planning has laid the theoretical foundations that have influenced the practice of

planning globally. Epistemology has informed us formally and informally of planning

terminologies such as zoning, urban partnerships, linkages and inclusionary zoning, greenbelt,


community development and economic development among others. Through epistemology of

planning, planners have sought to distinctly subdivide planning into four levels. Physical:

planning for the areas of spatial and other physical structures, land form/function. Economic:

levels of economic prosperity through the market mechanism. Allocative: coordination,

resolution of conflict ensuring that existing systems is efficient in operating more regulatory in

nature. Innovative: planning for the efficient functioning of existing systems.

The advancement of planning theory and improvement of planning practice has been guided by

the following epistemological positions namely positivism, idealism, rationalism, and realism.

Auguste Comte was the person who introduced the term positivism. Historically, there are three

stages in the development of positivism. The exponents of the first were Comte, E. Littré and P.

Laffitte in France, J S Mill and Herbert Spencer in England. Alongside the problems of the

theory of knowledge (Comte) and logic (Mill), the main place in the first Positivism was

assigned to sociology (Comte's idea of transforming society on the basis of science, Spencer's

organic theory of society). Positivism emerged in response to the inability of speculative

philosophy to solve philosophical problems which had arisen as a result of scientific

development. Positivism declared false and senseless all problems, concepts and propositions of

traditional philosophy on being, substances, causes, etc., that could not be solved or verified by

experience due to a high degree of abstract nature. Positivism claims to be a fundamentally new,

non-metaphysical philosophy, modeled on empirical sciences and providing them with a

methodology. Positivism is essentially empiricism brought to extreme logical consequences in

certain respects: inasmuch as any knowledge is empirical knowledge in one form or another, no

speculation can be knowledge. Generally positivism is concerned with normally associated with


naturalism, directed at explanation and understanding of events can be deduced from general

statements containing more universal laws.

Idealism refers to any philosophy that argues that reality is somehow dependent upon the mind

rather than independent of it. More extreme versions will deny that the “world” even exists

outside of our minds. Narrow versions argue that our understanding of reality reflects the

workings of our mind first and foremost, that the properties of objects have no standing

independent of minds perceiving them. Human consciousness is not merely an epistemological

thesis that individuals are born without built-in mental content and that their knowledge comes

from experience and perception which impressions are etched, but rather an active process

through which the external world is given pattern and shape. Only ideal reason can consolidate

the contradictions of finite and infinite through its capacity for the dialectical reconciliation of

opposites and for making a philosophical virtue out of conflicting necessities of reality.

Rationalism, from the Latin ratio, meaning reason, is a point of view that states that reason plays

the main role in understanding the world and obtaining knowledge. Whilst rationalism has

existed throughout the history of philosophy, it is usually associated specifically with three

philosophers during the Renaissance: René Descartes (1596-1650) Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

(1646-1716) Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677).rationalism is seen as the orthodox view and was the

theory behind the development and practice of comprehensive planning. The theory attempts to

make the model of planning as rational and as systematic as possible.

In philosophy, any viewpoint that accords to the objects of human knowledge an existence that is

independent of whether they are being perceived or thought about. In the metaphysical debate

concerning universals, realism is opposed to nominalism, which denies that universals have any

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology


reality at all (except as words), and to conceptualism, which grants universals reality but only as

concepts in the mind. Against idealism and phenomenalism, realism asserts the independent

existence of material objects and their qualities. Similarly, moral realism holds that the moral

qualities of things and actions (such as being good or bad, right or wrong) belong to the things or

actions themselves and are not to be explained in terms of the subject's feelings of approval or

disapproval. In opposition to conventionalism, realism holds that scientific theories are

objectively true (or false) based on their correspondence (or lack of it) to an independently

existing reality.

At the heart of planning lies a commitment to better cities, healthy environments and socio-

economic wellbeing foe all. Planners undertake their duties in the name of public good as policy

makers, public servants, builders, community organizers and political activist, working at all

levels of government, with the non-profit sector or in private practice. Planner’s specializations

include land use, housing, transportation, urban design, social policy, public health, economic

development, and the environment among others. The history and epistemology of planning is

the most important way to understand what planning is about.


References

Ellis, Cliff history of cities and city planning retrieved October 16, 2010.

http://www.art.net/~hopkins/Don/simcity/manual/history.html

American town plans: a comparative time line, by Keller Easterling, with a chronology by Keller Easterling and Richard Prelinger. NY: Princeton Architectural Pr., 1993. EnvDesign NA9105 E28 1993 Reference

epistemology of planning

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