7 Planners as Advocates Introduction, Although tis chapter is mtd Planners as Advocates, t covers more teri and fundamental ses concerning planning han le indicates In planning theory, advocacy is normally associated with the work of Pal aviol (1930- 8) who argued for a deeply personal and highly poli sew of pang ae planners. Sach a vew fll contrasted ih he ‘more apical, technical and bureaucratic pespective and approach of, for example, the stems and rational approaches (ee Chapter 9. The dso between these two word views represents a deavage hat reflec stttces in sore towards the oe ofthe tate and wha was aempting to do withthe machinery it had established to contol the development of land. Ths thie chapter alto about some findamenal questions concerning what planing is and how to go about i Italo raises ‘questions concemsing who the planner is planing for ~ dei employee (eg. local authori), wider interest ofa ct of values upon which a rofeonal Iyer of sls and valves is adel ‘The polities of planning. ‘The systems and rational approaches to planning detailed in Chapter 3 save itn technical snd not parents demoerate exercise. Panness ‘vere experts who conld model and predict cies and regions and ‘through the tool of planing contol ensure dat they worked eiieny and effectively. This was the instrumentally rational approach that was home of the Faghtenment and modemity ee Chapter 8). I posited planner as profesonas at the centre ofthe societal universe pling the levers of control. But a pointed out ia Chapter 3, the actual result was far from apolitical. The consequences for those who were tobe ‘planmed” ‘were offen highly pola ara numberof case studies of planning in ‘the 1960 al 1970s highlighted. Te worth rection N90 sch exes Iss13 Planing Thy [Norman Dennis (1972) was a graduate from a planning soo and resident ofan indstaled and working clas area of Sunderland called [Milled located o the south of the river Wear ia the north eas of Fneland, During the 1960 the local council bad allocated the area for ‘lenrance wth the resents bring -howed. As Denis puts i he area fons largely comprised of single storey terraces but in the nineteenth ‘century to howe workers atthe neaehy factories. The condition of these Ihouses varied. Some had evolved litle from when they were originally bai and lacked amenities that we would today regard as normal, such avin tet, watbasins and eo on, However, the sacral quality OF the houses semed to be largely adequate (despite the lack of & ‘dampproof couse} and frm the photographs in the book they look ike Aan atracive Viewrian terraces of houses. ‘Nevertheless, the local coun ere intersted in securing money fom central government fr redevelopment. Milfield had a strong and unite Residents Astocation who were aggrieved by both the principle of ‘learance andthe uncertainty banging ver the are, Implementation of the plan was a continoally moving target and the atea was terandably lfering fiom Blight through such uncertainty. Residents who wanted to improve their homes were denied loans heeause of the possibilty that the area would be ckared. and redeveloped, As this went on for amber of years the overall sate of the howes in the area deteriorated. thereby making the counds assesment of the quality of homes in the area selling, A meeting vith local fii paced them when they were told tobe "patient and “ait fr plans to merge’ The new pan way snounced some months later with (another) diferent schedle of works, Disquet not only focused on the scheduling but also on the research that had been undertaken t@ provide the bass of those areas that were to be ‘condemned, The definion of what the planning departnent regarded ‘sunt seemed arbitrary al subjective. But tao became clear that a rey of facies howe inthe area had been undertaken in a rather laps way, Information onthe condition and Facies of some houses ‘pad been gathered from neighbours if the occupier was not when the ‘fciascaled. In rany eases thie information was, not surprisingly, ‘Such misunderstanding and factual inaccuracies might have been ‘resolved if the coun and ie planners were willing 1 get ivolved in the ‘rea more. Although there were some moetngs beoween planners and the residents asuciaon these were to announce plant or defend Plame a Ader 135 entrenched postions. Phnners took no notes at any) meetings and fppeared to'eamy on with their plans regard of the views of Toe people: One instance summed up the attitude of planners towards het Tole and that ofthe resdens, Aca local meting the chairman of the planning committe (ako the leat connellor timed up and requested that the Resident’ Awocation should in future addres all, correspondence t0 dhe planners rather than him. When the reidens ‘objected on the grounds that he war their elected representative he repli! that he was only the chairman ofthe planning eommiee and that the commie fllowed the recommendations of planners. From, (Gat point on plier refined io aleve or answer any eter that twas oe sent to dem rather than the elected representative ofthe arc, ‘Acone poine planner told puble meeting i Miield that In any noma gain, any norma decent wasaton goes ong the ‘ic I you ae alg with an inal Ben, you dont we fo he runaging dose. You got the ola (Deni 1972208) Apart from the interesting analogy between planning and an industry ‘the ute ofthe wor ‘decent sx Dennis points ut, implies the Resident Awocaton were indecent in thee pura of representation and a voce. Writing leters to ther lected representative, the planner continued, “anagonises al of us. He antagonises ll the staff that have to deal with, ‘hie Dennis, 1972, p. 211), The outcome of this proracted serie of propor and procedures war thatthe area was not comprehensively ‘eared thongh this had more eo do with lak of money to implement the plans rather than a lack of determination om behalf ofthe local, Hees The Milficld case demonstrates the use ad misuse of rationality as swell ax some more darker quetions concerning the atte, ees and "esponsibitesof planners who were exposed as, at bet, slctively using indormation and their positon of power to free through wpopolar proposals for an area of many thousands of people. While Dennis's focoune is compeing and befievable care needs to be taken, He is ‘leary sympathetic to the residents being chairman oftheir asoriation He & abo not uniympathetic to the use of estes and modeling in planing tha the planners were scking to employ ~ he thinks that they heed impeoving 10 be more elfecive ruher than dropping altogether. Nevertheles, as he sates, che planners claimed that eveything they ‘Proposed wes selon inviolate technical foundations and impeccable136 Planing Thy factual data, The residents were simpy ating ‘vatonally’ inthe face of ‘ich information fom trained professionals who were acing in the publi good. “Jon Gower Davis (1972) proved further daring study of the suite of planners ai the Bebplesnes of communis in is study of [Rye Hill in Neweasl, Rye Hil had some strong simiariis and Jnportant dillerences with the nearby Milield. Like Mill ic was Gesigated for “improvement by the counel though this was to be {ough compubory purchase and refurbishment rather than clearance and rebuilding, Like Milled was an area of sold Vieorian properties Inosty owned by tie occupiers Tike Milild the scheme was ‘provravted and over the nine years when plans were made and remade the area slfered fom considerable bight. "The ewo main dillerences fnnecrn the disagreements within the community about wehat should happen (hough they were writed in their opposition the Counci's schema) and the refusal of the Miniser for Panning to confirm the (Compulsory Purchase Order. ‘Davie work acives more ofa balance between his case study and analysis ofthe wider implications partially of the contest of planning At the time, His chess concerns why planners (ook sucha highhandel attire towards communities, When the intl plan for Rye Hill was fmmouneed by the Chief Panning Ofer in 1963 he commented that, the plan wis bold one though many would be hurt by it. He was lauded by the planning and architect professions for his boldness though throughout the city opposition was grwing tothe arrogance of sch, famprehensive planing. Davies argues thatthe planners managed to proceed inthe face of sich opposion dough ther slFele: As one Senior planer in the Neweaste Covell Planing Department put it Youve got w have atone of arogaee to be a planner ~ and the base ome to know ta yo igh even when youre wrong a te present {Gay Paming Oe such a man. (Dasi, 1972 p18) “This evangelical zeal originated in the education of planners which formed an ideology of selerightcousness that protected them against inevitable crim from an inherenly conservative population. ‘The Neweastle planers were proud of thee reputation as being one ofthe ros ‘progtesive’ arrogant?) i the country, They dew upon technical jitificatons to back up asertons that Davies aims were based on litle ‘nore than whim in many cakes. Bureaveraie evangelism may sound ike Planers as Adscats 137 «4 srong term it formed the le of Davie’ ook} particular ou perspective nearly forty years on, butte worth quoting again the Chie Planning Ocer of Neweasle: “Comprehensive social planning uavoiable if we relly Exieve inthe love of human binge (que in Davies, 1972, p. 121), I is easy to look back at this period and reflect on how far things have developed inter of participation. However, by coincidence as Twas writing this, an article in the Guardian (13 September, 2000) sagt my eye. tle ‘Steet Deana’ it old of the battle erent hing waged between Newcastle City Council planners and local residents in the Walker and Scotswood areas ofthe city. Forty years ‘om the same council was sll pursing redevelopment schemes though iis time they were proposing to demolish the housing tha they had Init to replace the Vicioran terraces, The eoureil has proposed a ‘comprehensive redevelopment scheme that involves the demltion of {6600 houses with no other options being examined, The leader of the ‘Council commented that "The Council has got to have its own vision! whl resident fea tha iis ot enough to be consulted over plans they fear are a fait accompli and demand instead to he involved in decisions ‘Other suc have demonstrated that this phenomenon of centralise highend an arsogane planning isnot reaticted either wo the UK ot the 1960s. Bent Fyvbjerss analyse of planning process inthe Danish cd of Aalborg demoratraes a siulary in the eparaion between the ‘planner and the planned as T discuss in Chapter 3, Both studies ecused shove eae a nutuber of important questions concerning the role of planners that [outlined at the beginning of the chapter: what does it mean to be a planning profesional, who are the diens of Planning?, to what extent can planning be separated from those who it il affect, and is it posible to have an objectively rational planning? The latter queton was partly addrened in che dacuon on rationality in Chapier 3 where it elear that planners have no recourse 10 some “objective, technical realty an that consequently planing was highly polcal proces. ‘This was the view that Paul DavidofT and ‘Thomas Reiner (1953) came to in dhe easly 19605 ~ planing conflated both formal and substantive raonaity. They presented issues and questions as all being inthe realm ofnstrumental radonaliy. What somewhat Surprising is that this paper and a later one by Davida (1965) preceded the studies in Newease and Sundestand,