John Friedmann – författare

For nearly fifty years John Friedmann's writings have not just led the academic study of the discipline, but have given shape and direction to the planning profession itself. Covering transactive planning, radical planning, the concept of the Good City, civil society, rethinking poverty and the diversity of planning cultures, this collection of Friedmann's most important and influential essays tells a coherent and compelling story about how the evolution of thinking about planning over several decades has helped to shape its practice.With each essay given a new introduction to establish its context and importance, this is an ideal text for the study of planning theory and history.

For nearly fifty years John Friedmann's writings have not just led the academic study of the discipline, but have given shape and direction to the planning profession itself. Covering transactive planning, radical planning, the concept of the Good City, civil society, rethinking poverty and the diversity of planning cultures, this collection of Friedmann's most important and influential essays tells a coherent and compelling story about how the evolution of thinking about planning over several decades has helped to shape its practice.With each essay given a new introduction to establish its context and importance, this is an ideal text for the study of planning theory and history.

In an era of the globalization of finance, production and distribution networks, cities have become increasingly competitive. The business environments preferred by such international investment impact on the lives of citizens, on urban spaces, services, amenities and infrastructure. In the fight for the future of our cities, civil society has now entered the fray. Whether resisting the intrusion of both state and corporate economy into the life of neighbourhoods and communities or working with both government and the private sector in managing urban affairs, civil society lays claim to inclusion in a more democratic politics of planning. This political shift is refashioning planning. Planning is now recognized as more than simply a state regulatory process; it has become a political activity, central to the struggle towards more liveable cities. Cities for Citizens brings together leading names in planning today. The contributors present an international range of case studies - from the USA, Latin America, Europe and Asia-Pacific - which ground the exploration of ideas in the realities and struggles of everyday life.

John Friedmann addresses a central question of Western political theory: how, and to what extent, history can be guided by reason. In this comprehensive treatment of the relation of knowledge to action, which he calls planning, he traces the major intellectual traditions of planning thought and practice. Three of these--social reform, policy analysis, and social learning--are primarily concerned with public management. The fourth, social mobilization, draws on utopianism, anarchism, historical materialism, and other radical thought and looks to the structural transformation of society "from below." After developing a basic vocabulary in Part One, the author proceeds in Part Two to a critical history of each of the four planning traditions. The story begins with the prophetic visions of Saint-Simon and assesses the contributions of such diverse thinkers as Comte, Marx, Dewey, Mannheim, Tugwell, Mumford, Simon, and Habermas. It is carried forward in Part Three by Friedmann's own nontechnocratic, dialectical approach to planning as a method for recovering political community.

Friedmann perceives a global crisis which he traces to the dissolution of territorial relations. This he believes results from penetration of the global system of markets into the remotest corners of the world, undermining tradition cultures and ways of life. The consequence is incipient breakdown, he asserts, and we need to repoliticize space and subordinate the power of capital to the collective will of people organized to work toward common ends. This deliberately provocative collection of essays includes an autobiographical fragment providing contextual information about the author.

Though China's urban history reaches back over five thousand years, it is only in the last quarter century that urbanization has emerged as a force of widespread social transformation while a massive population shift from country to city has brought about a dramatic revolution in China's culture, politics, and economy. Employing a historical perspective, John Friedmann presents a succinct, readable account and interpretation of how this transition - one of the most momentous phenomena in contemporary history - has occurred. China's Urban Transition synthesizes a broad array of research to provide the first integrated treatment of the many processes that encompass the multi-layered meaning of urbanization: regional policy, the upsurge of rural industries, migration, expanding spheres of personal autonomy, and the governance of city building. John Friedmann's detailed analysis suggests that the nation's economic development has been driven more by social forces from within than by global capital. This leads directly to the epic story of rural migration to major urban regions, the policies used to restrain and direct this "avalanche" of humanity on the move, and the return of many migrants to their home communities, where the process of urbanization continues. Focusing on everyday life in cities, he also shows how this social transformation extends to the most intimate spheres of people's lives. In conclusion, the author raises the question of a "sustainable" urban development and its relation with China's own past, values, and institutions. Friedmann predicts that within ten years China - already the most powerful country in East Asia - will have become a major power in the world. With historical depth, interpretive insight, and interdisciplinary breadth, this book offers an unparalleled introduction to China's transformation.

The work of Harvey S. Perloff stands as a landmark in the evolution of Anglo­ American planning doctrine. It is impossible to fully capture the essence of the published work in a paragraph, page, or even an entire essay. Yet its highpoints can be identified. His work was innovative, reformist, comprehensive, and ori­ ented toward the future. In emphasizing the greater importance of people com­ pared to things, Perloff repeatedly prodded planners to be concerned with human needs and values. He was critical of the past. But inasmuch as he de­ voted more effort to envisioning what could lie ahead than in recalling the past, his work was markedly optimistic. He once admitted in writing to his "built-in weakness for expecting rational, socially oriented solutions ultimately to win out, no matter what the objective situation seems to be. " To some the expecta­ tion may be seen as naive; to others, as a faith in the wisdom of humankind to take the best course. However received, Perloff's optimism served as a powerful stimulant to keep moving ahead for the best that would come of it. Institutions and the ways they should be shaped and reshaped were of central concern, for institutions (though he rarely used the term) were the in­ struments through which "knowledge was translated into action.