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- Info
Planning the use of land for the 21st century
| Author: |
Jacobs, H. M. |
| Date: |
1992 |
| Periodical: |
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation |
| Abstract: |
0NE scholar-policy analyst has declared, to much dissent, an end to history. The basis for his call is the incredible transformations we have witnessed around the globe in recent years: the end of communism in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and even China; the introduction of market capitalism in these places; the seeming end of the cold war; the balkanization of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union; the unification of Germany; and the prospect of a united Europe. This expression of transformation in the political and social world is mirrored in other fields and goes by another name, postmodernism. Postmodernism arose in architecture as a way to design; it seemed to reflect an eclectic, "anything goes" style. Postmodernism has spread to literary criticism, cultural criticism, and the social sciences as a theoretical framework for examining and commenting upon the world we live in. The concern of postmodernism is the whole project of modernism/modernity that multicentury project we have collectively engaged in to create a modern world. Postmodernism seeks to observe, critique, and reframe this project. It does this by looking to unearth the project's unspoken assumptions, airing them for debate and causing us to pause, on our way to the 21st century, to be certain that where we will arrive is where we wish to be going. Most importantly, postmodernism is a critique of our paradigm for understanding, organizing, and acting upon the world. My assertion here is threefold: 1. That land use planning, as we know it and practice it, is largely a modernist conceptualization. 2. The most salient challenges to land use planning practice and doctrine are postmodern in character. 3. We are thus suspended between modernism and postmodernism in our thinking about how to best engage in land use planning, and this provides us with a unique opportunity to reframe what we do, in what I believe to be a more relevant, though more ambiguous. professional practice. |
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