3.

5 Management of the regional planning process

A major issue, perhaps the central one, in a process as complex as most regional
planning exercises, is coordination, or integration. John Friend and his colleagues argued
that planners should aim to reduce uncertainty by adopting the role of reticulating
practitioners, or reticulists. These were network formers or catalysts. Such planners were to
bring in all actors with influence and resources, whether in the planning or the
implementation of an areas development. This required a conscious design of the process,
working out whom to include when, and who would have influence over strategic choices or
decisions.
The strategic choice approach has some similarities to a second approach, that
emphasises networks and governance, as expounded by political scientists in particular in the
1990s (Rhodes 1997). Here the idea is that governments, and professionals employed by
them, no longer have any monopoly on planning processes, and must work with a wide range
of interests, thus forming a more horizontal network structure, where governing is shared,
often with no clear leading decision maker. The result may be more governance than
government, it is argued, involving in a real way far more social and economic actors.
A third approach, again overlapping with that of networking, and developed at the
same time, embraces collaborative and communicative perspectives. This includes various
understandings, that developed by Patsy Healey (Healey 1997, 2003; Vigaret al. 2000) being
quite comprehensive, others such as the work on communicative approaches (Forester 1999;
Innes 1996) not necessarily seeking to present a whole model for planners to operate with.
These perspectives advo-cate the careful construction of shared arenas for dialogue, leading
to the making of concerted storylines for areas, which can then form the basis for durable
shared strategies. The importance of as open and honest communication between interests as
possible is stressed, drawing on the political philosophy of Juergen Habermas, especially his
theory of communicative action (Habermas 1987).