Improvised Thoughts on Planning Theory #3
Towards an Insurgent Planning Theory
As I argued before, planning theory aspires to become a liberatory discipline through a pragmatic philosophy that is intertwined with, first, critical theories; second, an explicit critique to oppressive structures of power and to local power relations; third, a call to multiple epistemologies; fourth, a repurpose of “ideal speech situations” as co-generative arenas; and fifth, a subversive recuperation of the “Right to the City.” If we accept those as givens, then we are already in good position to propose a contemporary emancipatory theory — an insurgent planning theory.
The notion of insurgency is intuitively associated with the pursuit of a social rebellion seeking to overcome current social systems and establishing new orders. Such revolutionary ethos offers, indeed, an accurate idea of the kinds of values that should guide an insurgent planning theory. These are nourished by the perception that the world is deeply unjust — and perhaps more importantly, that it is unnecessarily so. While most would agree that perfect equality is not possible nor desirable (as Iris Marion Young notes, the world’s diversity and differences must be accepted and embraced in order to pursue more meaningful futures), insurgent thinkers understand that extreme injustices are not just an inevitable byproduct of society’s progress. Much the contrary, these are directly exacerbated by the ideas, decisions, and actions of a handful of individuals who have historically held economic and political power — a power they most often have simply inherited and do not deserve. Insurgency towards new orders aspires to overthrow these uninvited and undesired powerholders.
Once again, the practicality of these ambitious aspirations forces insurgent planning theorists to be creative. How can we conceive of any interventionist strategy when the capitalist world-system overwhelmingly regulates the lives of all of us? Isn’t insurgency just a sweet dream to keep us focused while the world continues painfully as it is?
The short answer to the latter question is a partial “yes” — insurgency is, first and foremost, about being able to dream about alternatives. But insurgency is not just an unrealistic dream. Insurgent theorists understand that dreaming fills one with hope and ideas worth fighting for. Dreaming is a meaningful performance in itself — one blatantly overlooked by modernists and rationalists, only slowly being seriously reconsidered by the fluid thinking of postmodernists. Specifically, dreams nurture one of the three defining qualities of insurgent planning as presented by Faranak Miraftab: our imagination. Imagining is the first step towards designing something different. Radical imagination in particular opens up the possibility of envisioning and designing a deeply different future — one that is less unjust.
In a more practical sense, dreams nourish our creativity, which in turn expands our possibilities of intervening in the world. Creative practices are the means to materialize our imagination and test out the possibilities of alternative futures. The possibilities are endless when we stop limiting ourselves to reproducing our usual planning toolkits and commit to reinventing each and every time our intervening practices. Such open world of possibilities matches the same endlessness one experiences when engaging for the first time with the practice of theorizing.
As happens with theory, practice must be grounded through specific creative practices that align with the context at hand and spur the imagination of alternatives in real scenarios. Artistic practices in particular offer a natural way out to be proactively leveraged to advance social and material change. Usually labeled as “other ways of knowing,” artistic expressions provide insights on the world that rational verbal communication cannot equally convey. They are transgressive, to reference Miraftab’s second quality of insurgent planning practice. Art, in its infinite expressions, is a humane means to engage with the world, for it speaks to people’s intuitive and improvisatory everyday experiences.
It is relevant to highlight that art and creative practices also provide a promising bridge between so-called Global North and Global South settings. Whereas Enlightenment rationality was specifically born in the West and later spread (and imposed) across the world as the most valid and reliable way of knowing, art has manifested in multiple ways across space and time. Everywhere and since always, individuals, communities, and societies, have found avenues to express themselves and interact with each other through their individual and collective creations. Insurgent planning practices seek to incorporate those practices that resonate with the context at hand, as well as draw on other artistic creations that reverberate transnationally.
The strategic (planned) combination of these other ways of knowing with the power of modern rationality aspires, first, to spark local processes of change, and second, to bridge radical responses across borders against the world’s injustices. The simultaneous emphasis on the local and the transnational seeking to build new social systems worldwide overlaps with Miraftab’s third principle of insurgent planning — namely, its counter-hegemonic nature. Insurgent planning, in other words, aims at pursuing emancipatory futures simultaneously at strictly local and transnational scales.
It rests reflecting on how insurgent planning practice can be informed so that the local and transnational interventions designed to advance those futures align with counter-hegemonic struggles already at play. Let us remember that the fight against social injustices has been taking place for a long time, and has successfully resulted, even if slowly and incrementally, in the (partial) liberation of the oppressed peoples of the world. Insurgent planning must insert itself in those struggles in order to amplify its scope and catalyze its impacts. How can an insurgent “planner” — whatever meaning we choose to ascribe to the word — join and amplify existing social struggles?
The response comes again from the artworld — it is an insurgent planning practice that I would call contemplation. Understood as a combined performance of deep listening, empathy, and experiential immersion into contexts of oppression (either as insiders or as outsiders), contemplation is a necessary act seeking to align (emotionally and intellectually) the understandings and intentions of those convinced that a fairer future is possible and want to work to advance it. More specifically, insurgent planning must rely on an active contemplation. Rather than staring at the world as it unfolds, insurgent thinkers must constantly reflect on what it can be done about it in a proactive manner.
Imaginative, transgressive, counter-hegemonic practices — the ingredients laid out by Miraftab — are a suggestive starting point towards an insurgent planning theory. A serious reconsideration of dreams, the proactive use of artistic and creative practices, an emphasis on the simultaneity of the local and the transnational, and the call to an active contemplation present a more nuanced vision to ground Miraftab’s three principles into real-world scenarios. In a way, insurgent planning practice is guided by the four tenets of “phronetic” planning presented by Bent Flyvbjerg — where are we going, who gains and who loses, is it desirable, what should be done. To be insurgent, though, planning must be overtly radical in its aspirations and highly creative in its interventions.
Continue reading: Improvised Thoughts on Planning Theory #1 / Improvised Thoughts on Planning Theory #2 / Improvised Thoughts on Planning Theory #4
