Reimagining collaboration in urban planning through a social practice lens: Towards a conceptual framework

Abstract

Collaboration manifests in urban planning as central to all public engagement activities and is thus a powerful tool in the planner’s quest for social justice and empowered societies. This being said, as a foundational urban planning concept, collaboration has been influenced by neoliberal and technocratic tendencies and as such has become identifiable as a skill (a way of doing) rather than its intended normative character (a way of being). This article represents an effort to reframe and reimagine a contextually sensitive understanding of collaboration, by proposing a conceptual framework based on theoretical perspectives from two distinct subject areas, namely social practice and collaborative urban planning. This article further introduces a ‘relational reading of text’ as an alternative form of research method or inquiry to explore collaboration. Through this method, five social practice dimensions emerged. It is contended that these five dimensions, namely relational actions, entities, sense-making, interrelatedness, and structuring tensions can refocus the worth of  collaboration as a professional value attribute for both students of urban planning and practitioners.

Keywords: Collaboration, collaborative planning theory, relational reading of text, social practice theory 

Afrikaans Titel: Heroordink samewerking in stedelike beplanning deur ’n maatskaplike praktyklens: ’n Konseptuele raamwerk

Samewerking in stedelike beplanning is sentraal tot alle openbarebetrokkenheidsaktiwiteite en is dus ’n kragtige instrument in die beplanner se soeke na sosiale geregtigheid en bemagtigde samelewings. Samewerking as ’n  fundamentele stedelike beplanningskonsep word beïnvloed deur neoliberale en tegnokratiese neigings en kan as sodanig geïdentifiseer word as ’n vaardigheid (’n manier van doen) eerder as die beoogde normatiewe karakter ‘n manier van wees). Hierdie artikel poog om ’n kontekssensitiewe begrip van samewerking in ’n nuwe raam te plaas en weer daaroor te dink, deur ’n konseptuele raamwerk voor te stel gebaseer op teoretiese perspektiewe uit twee verskillende vakgebiede: Sosiale praktyk en samewerkende stedelike beplanning. Hierdie artikel stel ‘verhoudingslees van teks’ voor as ’n alternatiewe navorsingsmetode om samewerking te ondersoek. Vyf sosiale praktykdimensies is deur middel van hierdie metode  geïdentifiseer. Dit word aangevoer dat hierdie vyf dimensies, naamlik verhoudingsaksies, entiteite, sinmaak, interverwantskap en die strukturering van spanning die waarde van samewerking kan herfokus, as ’n professionele waarde-kenmerk, vir stedelike beplanningstudente en praktisyns.

Sleutelwoorde: Gesamentlike beplanningsteorie, samewerking, sosiale praktykteorie, verhoudingslees van teks