Compromise Planning

A Theoretical Approach from a Distant Corner of Europe

Louis C. Wassenhoven

$214.95 $171.85

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Springer Nature Switzerland AG
30 March 2023

Cultural studies; Public administration; Regional government; Economic geography; Regional geography

The purpose of the book is to elaborate a planning theory which departs from the plethora of theories which reflect the conditions of developed countries of the North-West. The empirical material of this effort is derived from a country, Greece, which sits on the edge between North-West and South-East, at the corner of Europe. No doubt, there is extensive international literature on planning theory in general from a bewildering variety of viewpoints. The interested professional or student of urban and regional planning is certainly aware of the dizzying flood of books, articles and research reports on planning theory and of their never-ending borrowing of obscure concepts from more respectable scientific disciplines, from mathematics to philosophy and from physics to economics, human geography and sociology. He or she probably observed that there is a growing interest in theoretical approaches from the viewpoint of the so-called “Global South”. The author of the present book has for many decades faced the impasse of attempting to transplant theories founded on the experience of the North-West to countries with a totally different historical, political, social and geographical background. He learned that the reality that planners face is unpredictable, patchy, and responsive to social processes, frequently of a very pedestrian nature. Planning strives to deal with private interests which planners are keen to envelop in a single “public interest”, which is extremely hard to define. The behaviour of the average citizen, far from being that of the neoclassical model of the homo economicus, is that of an individual, a kind of homo individualis, who interacts with the state and the public administration within a complex web of mutual dependence and negotiation. The state and its administrative apparatus, i.e., the key-determinants and fixers of urban and regional planning policy, bargain with this individual, offer inducements, exemptions, derogations and privileges, deviate unhesitatingly from their grand policy pronouncements, but still defend the rationality and comprehensiveness of the planning system they have legislated and operationalized. It is by and large a successful modus vivendi, but only thanks to a constant practice of compromise. Hence, the term compromise planning, which the author coined as an alternative to all the existing theoretical forms of planning. This is the sort of planning, and of the accompanying theory, with which he deals in this book. It is the outcome of experience and knowledge accumulated in a long personal journey of academic teaching in England and Greece, research, and professional involvement.

By: Louis C. Wassenhoven
Imprint: Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Country of Publication: Switzerland
Edition: 1st ed. 2022
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 155mm,
Weight: 664g
ISBN: 9783030943332
ISBN 10: 303094333X
Pages: 403
Publication Date: 30 March 2023
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Louis C. Wassenhoven is Professor Emeritus (Urban and Regional Planning), National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). He holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), a Postgraduate Diploma in Planning from the Architectural Association School of Architecture (London), an MA in Architecture (NTUA) and a Certificate in Town Planning (Ministry of Housing, France). Apart from his career at NTUA, where he was the director of the Laboratory of Regional Planning and Urban Development, he has taught as Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer at the Development Planning Unit, Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning (University College London) and as visiting teacher in other universities. He has served as chairman of the Greek National Council of Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development, as chairman of the Steering Committee of the Joint Activity on Urban Management of OECD, as vice-chairman of the Greek State Scholarships Foundation, as member of the board of the company Hellinikon s.a. (Management and Redevelopment of the site of the former Athens international airport), and as member of the council of the Technical University of Crete. He is a past member of the British Royal Town Planning Institute and a member of the Association of Greek Urban and Regional Planners. He is the author of four books in Greek, i.e., on Territorial Governance, Maritime Spatial Planning, Hellenic … passion: Development of the former Hellinikon airport of Athens, and Putting order in our country: A history of spatial planning in Greece after World War II (in print). He is also the author of a book in English (The Ancestry of Regional Spatial Planning: A planner’s look at history) published by Springer, and of a number of articles and papers in Greek or English. He wrote the volume on Greece of the EU Compendium of Spatial Planning Systems and Policies.