Planning in Ten Words or Less: A Lacanian Entanglement with Spatial Planning

This book takes a Lacanian, and related post-structuralist perspective to demythologize ten of the most heavily utilised terms in spatial planning: rationality, the good, certainty, risk, growth, globalization, multi-culturalism, sustainability, responsibility and 'planning' itself. It highlights that these terms, and others, are mere 'empty signifiers', meaning everything and nothing. Based on international examples of planning practice and process, Planning in Ten Words or Less suggests that spatial and urban planning is largely based on the construction and deployment of ideological knowledge claims.

Dr Michael Gunder is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Professor Jean Hillier is Associate Dean, Sustainability and Urban Planning at RMIT University, Australia