Ideology, politics, and planning: reflections on the theory and practice of urban planning

In this paper the author reflects on his experience as both theorist and practitioner in Canadian planning. The lack of any rigorous theoretical underpinning for planning practice is identified. Three reasons for this are advanced: the inhibiting effect of daily practice, the lack of any real discourse between theorists and practitioners and, most importantly, the prevalence of antipolitical planning ideologies. In an attempt to counteract the mystifying and deleterious effects of these ideologies, the author proposes a theoretical framework designed both to bridge the theory-practice chasm and to restore the lost nexus between planning and social justice.