Viewpoint: Re-evaluating the place of urban planning history

This article seeks to prompt new discussion about the place of urban planning history in the era of contemporary globalisation. Given the deep historic engagement of urban planning thought and practice with place shaping and thus with the constitution of society, culture and politics, the authors ask how relevant is planning's legacy to the shaping of present day cities. Late twentieth century urban sociology, cultural and economic geography have demonstrated the increasing significance of intercity relations and the functional porosity of metropolitan boundaries in the network society, however statutory urban planning systems remain tied to the administrative geographies of states. This territorial fixing of practice constrains the operational space of planning and, they argue, also limits its vision to geopolitical scales and agendas that have receding relevance for emerging urban relations. They propose that a re-evaluation of planning history could have an important part to play in addressing this spatial conundrum.