Online SPS Seminar with Prof. Andreas Faludi (TU Delft)
Wednesday 28 April 2021, 12-30-13.30 CET, via Zoom (prior registration needed)
Topic: Populism and Spatial Planning Theory
Making territories the object of spatial planning amounts to a meta-planning theory shared by planners and populists: territorialism. Prioritising their territory and their people, except as a source of threats and opportunities, populists neglect the outside. In this seminar, I identify criticisms of populism, and comment on scholars who, up to a point, accept populist concerns and that states continue to play a role in meeting them. I then argue that, to planners, the meta-theory singling out territories as objects of government concern and planning poses a dilemma. In reality, spatial relations spread all over the place. Even if their vantage points are territories, planners must pursue spatial relations wherever they take them, including across borders. To that end, there are meta-theories of spatial planning which are less congenial to populists. They focus on places rather than jurisdictions, or on functional areas criss-crossing territories.
Recording of the session available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IbaZa-UE9IvjEV754Rx3CEbavg0Puqq2/view?usp=sharing