Project

Discipline

planning cultures; zoning; urban planning

Lead
Weshalb Zonieren? Eine vergleichende Studie urbaner Planungskulturen
Lay summary
Weshalb Zonieren? Eine vergleichende Studie urbaner Planungskulturen Verschiedentlich wird festgestellt, dass sich die Stadtplanung in einer Krise befindet: Insbesondere die funktionale Trennung von Wohnen, Arbeiten und Erholen — die Grundlage zonenbasierter Stadtplanung der Moderne — wird für dysfunktionale Entwicklungen verantwortlich gemacht, wie Zersiedlung der Landschaft, ausufernde Agglomerationen und anwachsende Pendlerströme. Vor diesem Hintergrund untersucht das Projekt Planungskulturen im urbanen Raum aus der Perspektive der Stadtsoziologie und der Wissenschafts- und Technikforschung. Dabei untersucht es Vancouver (Kanada) und Zürich (Schweiz), zwei Städte vergleichbarer Grösse und Atmosphäre, die beide zonenbasierte Planung anwenden, allerdings in unterschiedlichen Kontexten. Der Fokus des Projektes liegt auf der Zonierung, als einem der zentralen Instrumente der Raumplanung, welche im Zusammenspiel mit Stadtentwicklung zu einer spezifischen Planungskultur führt. Dazu wird ein hybrider analytischer Ansatz verwendet, der Zonieren als in wechselseitiger Prägung mit einer bestimmten Planungskultur auffasst. Im Gegensatz zu traditioneller Planungsliteratur wird Planungskultur nicht als übergreifender Begriff für Planungsansätze sondern als analytisches Konzept verwendet, das die Kategorien ‚Themen’, ‚Akteure’, ‚Arenen’ und ‚Praktiken’ zonenbasierter Stadtplanung umfasst. Das Projekt möchte nicht nur zu laufenden Diskussionen in der Wissenschaftsforschung und der wissenschaftsforschungsorientierten Stadt-, Planungs- und Raumforschung beitragen, sondern auch eine relativ neue, noch nicht breit etablierte Perspektive in diesem Bereich eröffnen. Erkenntnisse dieser Forschungsarbeit sollen auch in die untersuchten Stadtplanungsbehörden der beiden Städte zurückfliessen.

Direct link to Lay Summary

Last update: 01.04.2013

Active participation

Self-organised

Number	Title	Start	Funding scheme

Urban development discourses have diagnosed a crisis in planning. Above all, the functional separation of living, working, and recreation-the basis of function-based zones and urban planning in modernity (e.g. Athens Charter)-has been severely criticised for producing dysfunctions, such as urban sprawl, excessive land use and increasingly long commutes. These considerations form the background of the proposed project on planning cultures in urban areas, which is located at the interface of urban sociology and science and technology studies (STS). It focuses on zoning as a major tool of land use planning and as a device that interplays together with urban development and participates in building a planning culture (Haar & Kayden 1989; Talen 2005). This analysis of urban planning viewed through the lens of zoning employs a hybrid approach which is based on the concepts of actor-network theory (ANT) (Latour 2005) and urban assemblages (Farías & Bender 2009). In this regard, zoning is conceptualized as a non-human actor in an ANT sense that frames and is being framed by a specific planning culture. In contrast to traditional planning literature, planning culture is not used as an over-arching term for diverse planning approaches. The term rather refers to an analytical concept which has been derived from comparative approaches of culture in STS such as epistemic culture (Knorr Cetina 1999) and political culture (Jasanoff 2005), to explore the categories issues, actors, arenas and practices of zone based urban planning.The proposed project aims at analysing planning cultures in Vancouver (Canada) and Zurich (Switzerland), two cities, comparable in size and atmosphere. Both use zoning as an instrument, however, practiced with different operational, legal and political background. The proposed qualitative comparative study will employ a mix of methods comprising participant observation at urban planning authorities and qualitative interviews of planning experts and is based on the following hypotheses:1.Zoning as a land use development tool is employed extensively in both Zurich and Vancouver; however, the planning culture of each city frames and is framed by the issues, actors, arenas and practices of zoning.2.Despite similarities in the issues addressed and the arenas in which planning processes take place, both cities differ considerably in the actors involved and their practices, i.e, how zoning and urban planning are performed.The empirical analysis of the planning cultures of both cities will consider the following scopes of investigation:1.issues: thematically and content-related structures linked to zoning and urban planning2.actors involved in urban planning and zoning3.arenas: places, where urban planning and zoning processes take place4.practices of urban planning and zoningBy introducing a practical theory approach of analysing issues, actors, arenas and practices of planning and using an ANT-inspired hybrid-framed concept, i.e., planning cultures, the proposed project aims at overcoming the thusfar neglected understanding in urban sociology of the city as a non-stable entity. Doing this, it contributes to transcending action theory’s and institution theory’s blind spots of framing cities, planning and zones as stable, and well-defined entities. By using a comparative, micro-analytical approach, the project not only adds to ongoing discourses in STS and STS-framed urban and regional studies, but also offers a relatively new and not yet well established perspective in planning and urban studies. In addition, the relevance of the project lies in its potential that the findings may be directly implemented in urban planning. Due to its comparative approach, the project opens new perspectives on planning and its consequences-aspects that might be of high benefit to authorities, departments and individuals involved in planning in both cities analysed.