Unified development: towards a new paradigm for planning

Abstract

This thesis advances the notion of a new paradigm for planning. This idea is based on the belief that many of the problems faced by the planning institutions in Britain result from the limitations of a fragmentary physical definition of environmental problems. The importance of the socio-political and personal dimensions of the environment is gaining currency not only among critics of the planning system but among a broad spectrum of writers concerned with the future generally. Using as its starting point the crisis of planning in Britain, the thesis attempts to outline the significance and meaning of a new paradigm. The problems facing the planning system are located within a far wider context by means of a survey of the "World Problematique". Theoretical support for the notion of a new paradigm is then presented. Finally , the practical viability cf the new paradigm is illust rated by reference to some aspects of the Tennessee Valley Authority regional development project. The thesis does not advocate the rejection of planning as it i s currently practised but suggests that by recognising the essential unity of developments in the personal, sociopolitical and physical dimensions of the environment , new insights and responses to existing problems may become apparent .