CiNii Books - Life among urban planners : practice, professionalism, and expertise in the making of the city

Summary: "The contributors treat planning as a set of critical cultural acts that are both controversial and, in many cases, contested. Planning-and, as this volume places in focus, planners-can then be considered in relation to the social dynamics of the contexts in which they operate: in the planning office, on construction sites, in sometimes violent confrontations with those at whom they are directed. What roles do planners have in shaping the social dimensions and daily practices of urban life? How do they employ, manipulate, and reshape the expertise assigned to them for that purpose? The essays here critically examine what planners' persistent commitment to thinking about the future means for the ways in which people live in the present and represent and preserve the past. We are particularly concerned with the social contexts in which planners produce their work, including their cultural values, personal assumptions, social pressures, and beyond"-- Provided by publisher

Includes bibliographical references and index

Contents of Works

Introduction : Living life among planners / Jennifer Mack
Chapter 1. Shaping cultural space : reflections on the politics and cosmology of urbanism / Michael Herzfeld
Chapter 2. Why planners need anthropologists / Margaret Crawford
Chapter 3. Redesigning the Republic? Public gardens, participatory design, and citizenship in immigrant Paris / Andrew Newman
Chapter 4. Zoning as default : the politics of foreign-sponsored urban planning in Siem Reap, Cambodia / Adèle Esposito
Chapter 5. An anatomy of failure : planning after the fact in contemporary Bogotá, Colombia / Federico Pérez
Chapter 6. A "zoning tombola" : informal planning in Niamey, Niger / Gabriella Körling
Chapter 7. Breaking the rules, making the ruler : Syriac homes and the limits of Swedish planning / Jennifer Mack
Chapter 8. The scales of justice : region, rights, and responsibility in St. Louis, Missouri / Bruce O'Neill and Kevin Lewis O'Neill
Chapter 9. Power without the mustache : urban quality as planning practice in post-industrial Barcelona / Trevor Goldsmith
Chapter 10. The games we play : what is participation in urban planning? Insights from Warsaw / Monika Sznel
Chapter 11. From the real to the virtual : a Swedish solution for "universal" sustainable development in Hammarby Sjöstad, Stockholm / Mark Graham and Lissa Nordin
Afterword : The problem of the present in anthropology and urban planning / James Holston

Description and Table of Contents

Description

A collection of ethnographic case studies of urban planners and their practices Urban planners project the future of cities. As experts, they draft visions of places and times that do not yet exist, prescribing the tools to be used to achieve those visions. Their choices can determine how a city will merge its public transit and automobile traffic or how it will meet a demand for thousands of new dwelling units as quickly and with as little avoidable damage as possible. Life Among Urban Planners considers planning professionals in relation to the social contexts in which they operate: the planning office, the construction site, and even in the confrontations with those affected by their work. What roles do planners have in shaping the daily practices of urban life? How do they employ, manipulate, and alter their expertise to meet the demands asked of them? The essays in this volume emphasize planners' cultural values and personal assumptions and critically examine what their persistent commitment to thinking about the future means for the ways in which people live in the present and preserve the past. Life Among Urban Planners explores the practices and politics of professional city-making in a wide selection of geographical areas spanning five continents. Cases include but are not limited to Bangkok, Bogota, Chicago, Naimey, Rome, Siem Reap, Stockholm, and Warsaw. Examining the issues raised around questions of expertise, participation, and the tension between market and state forces, contributors demonstrate how certain planning practices accentuate their specific relationship to a place while others are represented to a global audience as potentially universal solutions. In presenting detailed and intimate portraits of the everyday lives of planners, the volume offers key insights into how the city interacts with the world. Contributors: Margaret Crawford, Adele Esposito, Trevor Goldsmith, Mark Graham, Michael Herzfeld, James Holston, Gabriella Koerling, Jennifer Mack, Andrew Newman, Lissa Nordin, Bruce O'Neill, Kevin Lewis O'Neill, Federico Perez, Monika Sznel.

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Life among urban planners : practice, professionalism, and expertise in the making of the city

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