Description:
This book explores international planning since 2008, providing a careful analytical account of planning in South Africa. The book explores how the 'new promise of planning' has been difficult to achieve as planning becomes an increasingly complex and diverse governmental practice within a perpetually changing world.
Review Quotes:
"This is the definitive book on planning in South Africa. It provides a comprehensive and insightful analysis of the post-apartheid era, the hopes and disappointments, successes and failures, and the reasons and lessons. In an age of poly-crises, it should be read by those in all countries who are striving to make cities and regions more just, inclusive and resilient."
Cliff Hague, Professor Emeritus of Planning and Spatial Development at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. Past President of the Royal Town Planning Institute, and of the Commonwealth Association of Planners
"A classical and critical book of colossal magnitude, written by leading authors from the Global South that paints a vivid portrait of the spatial planning transformation narrative in post-apartheid South Africa, is a must have book that is invaluable for policy makers, decision makers, practitioners, and academics alike."
James Chakwizira, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Agriculture, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Venda, Thohoyandou, South Africa
"Situating recent South African planning thought and practice in global context, Harrison and Todes' critical appraisal of the work of the profession is informed, insightful and even reassuring. Despite evident disappointments of the last 15 years, the imperative of learning from failed plans and planning back better shines through."
Susan Parnell, Global Challenges Research Professor in the School of Geography at the University of Bristol and Emeritus Professor at the African Centre for Cities (ACC) at the University of Cape Town
"The Promise of Planning...document[s] the global and national economic shifts, technological changes, and political wranglings that have frustrated efforts at meaningful spatial and social transformation. It provides the reader (and future planner) with an eloquent and incisive unpacking of the many factors and influences that have frustrated the post-Apartheid planning endeavor....Despite their somber conclusions, Harrison and Todes provide a thorough and critical analysis that nevertheless still reflects an underlying belief in planning as a potentially transformative endeavor, perhaps best pursued incrementally with realistic goals rather than the grandiose and lofty ideals planners are prone to."
Nancy Odendaal, Professor, University of Cape Town, review for the Journal of the American Planning Association