Beyond the Limits of Planning Theory: Response to My Critics

Abstract

I want to thank the editors for giving me this opportunity to respond to the comments on "Rationality and Power" made above by Oren Yiftachel, Lisa Peattie, John Forester, Andreas Faludi, Arnold van der Valk, and Peter Marris. In what follows, I shall give my response to their criticisms. I shall focus less on the many positive things they also say about the book. First let me mention, however, that I was particularly happy to learn that the critics are favorable to the depth of detail in the book’s case-study of planning in Aalborg. This is especially important to me, because during the years when I was working in the archives, doing interviews, making observations, talking with my informants, etc.; a nagging question kept resurfacing in my mind. This is a question bound to haunt many carrying out what Peattie calls ‘dense data case-studies’: Who will want to learn about a case like this, and in this kind of detail?’