Urban planning

Epistemological / knowledge problem

planners never have enough information to rationally steer complex systems.

Market argument

markets coordinate supply and demand more efficiently than government planning.

Democratic argument

planning risks being technocratic, shifting power to experts and away from citizens and elected representatives.

Bureaucratic argument

planning processes are slow, rigid, and prone to inertia.

Ideological argument

planning can serve the interests of the powerful, reproducing inequality.

Hayek reasoning for markets>planning

• Knowledge problem

• inefficient allocation

• dynamic innovation loss

• bureaucratic rigidity

• political dangers: centralisation → authotarism

Correcting market failures

addressing undersupply of common and public goods, externalities, transaction costs

Equity and redistribution

reducing social inequalities and improving access to collective goods

Long-term perspective

safeguarding intergenerational interests and sustainability, beyond short-term market logics

Democratic rationality

providing a forum for public debate, value negotiation, and collective decision-making

Efficiency through coordination

aligning public and private investments (e.g. infrastructure and land-use development)

Externality

a consequence of an industrial or commercial activity which affects other parties without this being reflected in market prices, such as the pollination of surrounding crops by bees kept for honey

Matthew effect of market forces

= distibutative forces

"those who have will get”

Transaction costs

costs to arrive at an economic transaction in the market

visionary

setting out a normative agenda of principles or goals for a desirable future

strategic

providing an evidence-based integrated and long-term frame of reference for coordinated action and decision making across jurisdictions and sectors

framework-setting

establishing policies, proposals and other criteria for a territory that provide a non-binding reference for other plans and decision-making

regulative

makes legally binding commitments or decisions concerning land use change and development

Episode 1

The 1962 Act and the Regional Plans

Episode 2

The structure plans and the 1999 Act

Episode 3

Codex 2009 and policy planning

Clientelism

people with connections get advantages