Open AccessBeyond soft planning: Towards a Soft turn in planning theory and practice?
Author(s) -
Carminda Cavaco,
João Morais Mourato,
João Pedro Costa,
João Ferrão
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
planning theory
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.305
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1741-3052
pISSN - 1473-0952
DOI - 10.1177/14730952221087389
Subject(s) - environmental design and planning , clarity , spatial planning , corporate governance , soft systems methodology , scenario planning , transportation planning , land use planning , sociology , management science , business , political science , environmental planning , engineering , economics , management , geography , land use , information system , marketing , management information systems , biochemistry , chemistry , civil engineering , law , transport engineering
Over the last decade, soft planning has become an increasingly visible concept in planning literature. Since the term soft spaces was firstly coined, soft planning has been used to describe a growing number of practices that occur at the margins of statutory planning systems. However, as soft planning-related literature proliferates, so does the diversity of approaches and planning practices it encompasses. Such diversity fuels long-standing questions about what can or cannot be considered as soft planning as well as about its usefulness for today’s planning theory and practice. To shed light on this still unclear conceptual outline, this article divides the soft planning debate into five contextual components (ethos; governance; politics; policies; spaces; and scale) while paying particular attention to the relationship between soft planning and strategic spatial planning. The aim is to foreground soft planning as a concept, and add clarity and awareness on the challenges, the risks and opportunities, planning currently faces.