Dialogues in Urban and Regional Planning. Volume 2 - Review

Through a selection of the best urban planning scholarship from each of the world's planning school associations "Dialogues in Urban and Regional Planning Volume II" offers a wide overview of the state of the art of regional planning across the world. All the papers presented have been previously selected and awarded through a competition by the Global Planning Association Network (GPEAN). However, the "academic" character of the book doesn't have to be considered as a limit. On the contrary, the book presents a significant point of view on a crucial topic of our time: knowledge formation processes in the age of globalization. In the introduction, Bruce Stiftel, Vanessa Watson and Henri Acselrad, editors of the book, underline what said before as one of the most problematic aspects of their work, but also as one of the most interesting ones. They maintain how, in a period of great transformation of the idea of knowledge itself, it is necessary to start from the "global themes" to measure the relationship (gap?) between global and local cultures. Thus, it seems useless to remark that the starting point of the book is represented by the topic of globalization and its impact on local knowledge systems.

The rise of globalization has fostered a number of different representations of the impact of global economy and global power on local socio-spatial systems. Some of these representations imagine the complete disappearing through assimilation of local cultures; others depict a process of homogenization of the methodological and analytical approaches to city and space. This consideration is very important for example, at the European level, where the process of integration is progressively fostering a general convergence of different planning traditions toward very similar positions. At the global scale, the situation doesn't seem so different, as long as the increasing pressure of economy and power seems to impose almost everywhere similar strategies.
All the "stories" contained within this book can be seen as possible explorations of how planning is treated within different cultural contexts. Like parts of a greater History, each articles contributes to clarify and to expose some of the most significant themes of the contemporary international debate. Organized around a series of pivotal topics, such as "Economy, urban space and planning", "Environment and conservation of heritage", "Planning process and the nature of decision-making", "Planning and gender", and so on, all the different articles presented explore a universe of theories, experiences, practices, points o view, of great interest for who wants to understand some of the main contradictions existing in the opposition between globalization of knowledge and local cultures.

In the opening essay, entitled "Post-industrialism, post-modernism and the reproduction of Vancouver's central area: retheorizing the twenty-first century", the author focuses on the relationship between globalization of economic processes and its impacts on social urban life. In the last two decades Vancouver central area has been witnessing to a general restructuring of its physical and social landscape, with the location of multinationals, foreign investments in property, the development of the urban mega-project, and growth of enclaves of immigrant population. Thus the article tries to understand the role of planning in introducing public values into the development process to include public housing and public amenity. A key initiative, Hutton argues, was the 1991 Central Area Plan, which enabled the comprehensive reordering of the inner-city space within a complex process that included diversity, complexity and interdipendency of territory and land-use.
Beriatos and Gaspodini, like Hutton, focus on the transformation of urban landscape in Athens during the preparation for the 2004 Olympic Games. The aim is to put in evidence the impact of the intervention on the built environment and on the relationship between global and local forces. More specifically their central questions regard the way in which urban design schemes have contributed, in the era of globalization, to realize a coherent urban landscape. The background used by the two authors draws from Zukin's conceptualization of the relationship between culture and capitalism in the postmodern age. Thus the attention of the study focuses on the analysis of the main urban projects realised during the 2004 Olympic Games. The study concludes that Athens partially followed the international paradigm, focusing investments on competitive landscape transformations, based on heritage projects and innovative design. The difference between Athens and other Western urban realities lies in the scattered nature of investments across Athens, which could retard positive economic effects in the short term.
The Donzelot article focuses on the impact of changing economic and social forces on socio-spatial articulation of the city. The conclusion is a three-fold urban scheme in which different urban areas correspond to different social compositions. The first socio-spatial patterns is represented by the areas of marginalization, e.g. social housing projects and new towns. The areas of periurbanization (car-dependent suburbs and gated communities), where there is a majority of middle-class population; the areas of gentrification that correspond to inner-city areas occupied by the wealthiest. The article concludes with a reference to the fact that these areas are not socially homogeneous and that the interdipendence between the three areas requires that it is not possible to act on one without considering all three.
The Samadhi article addresses the problem of the relationship between globalization and identity. The essay, entitled "Reinforcing identity: urban design concepts for achieving Balinese cities with cultural identity", focuses the problem of how tourism related economic development erodes the cultural identity of a place. The author then proposes the construction of a spatial vocabulary build on the traditional urban forms of the Balinese tradition. Starting from this understanding, spatial principles are translated into urban design guidelines, able to reinforce the traditional forms of the Balinese urban culture.

The topic of globalization, which somehow represent the common ground of all the essays presented, introduces a second topic, related to the relationship between planning process, democracy and decision-making. The March and Low article, entitled "Knowing and steering: mediatization, planning and democracy in Victoria, Australia", offers a critique of planning, viewed as an aspect of democratic governance, using as a case the local planning system of the state of Victoria in Australia. Starting from Habermas conception of the way policy is influenced by "steering media" (e.g. low, bureaucracy, money), the article analyses the relationship between the local government and the problem of democracy in decision-making processes. From the analysis of four "dilemmas of democracy", the authors underline how in most liberal-democratic forms of government there are problems in achieving a democratic decision-making process. The dilemmas are: first, the need to include as many people as possible in a democratic process versus the need to circumscribe the process itself when decision have to be taken; second, the opposition between concentration and dispersion of power; third, right-based approach versus utilitarian approach based on public interest; fourth, equality delivered by the state and liberty exercised through the market. The authors conclude that each single institution involved in the functioning of local democracy can act to remove barriers and limits and to achieve a correct democratic planning process.
The topic of globalization is also strongly related to the problem of formation of local culture as in the case of Australian planning. Freestone article, entitled "The Americanization of Australian planning", explores the correlations between Australian and American planning systems. The aim of the study is first to criticize the point of view that wants that Austalian planning system is "clearly derivate" of foreign planning ideas. Freestone then deals with Australian-American ibridations in terms of a concious interchange between the two systems. More in particular the author states that the formation of Australian planning system has been following a process of selection of the Anglo-Saxon planning ideas. Within this process only the ideas that could better deal with the Australian culture were accepted. Ultimately, Freestone argues, it has been less the case of an Americanization of Australian planning and more the Australization of American one.

The existing of multiple intersections between the topics exposed above and some main aspects of the Italian debate confirms the substantial continuity between local aspects and the global scenario. This element allows some conclusive notes on the nature and the utility of this debate in the analysis of the contemporary condition. A first consideration regards the need for an open debate between different experiences, as a fundamental element within the process of knowledge construction. There is however at least one aspect that must be considered. This regards first the nature of the process itself, which ultimately requires a more conscious consideration of the methodological and analytical criteria applied. For example the increasing claim for "superlatives" in urban analysis is progressively confusing more than clarifying the terms of the problem. Ultimately, it seems necessary to adopt a more careful methodological approach able to put in evidence the existing gap between reality and its (scientific) representation. This book represents a step in the direction of a global confrontation among planning schools across the world, not just in the sense of cultural exchange but also in terms of a deeper understanding of the methodological differences existing in each approach. The aim is hard but the outcome deserves attention, especially for the Italian university and research that could enrich itself a lot from such debate.