Power in planning from a Southern perspective

A ‘Southern perspective’ in planning has emerged from diverse sources and inspirations, and as a field Southern planning scholarship has evolved and matured. Differentiating between Southern thinking and research in urban studies and in planning, this chapter sketches three distinctive yet interrelated lines of critical inquiry associated with Southern planning research. These are described in terms of their implications for understanding power and the imperatives of political engagement. First, the chapter considers Southern critiques of global geographies of planning knowledge and practice, including how flows of ideas and practices are marked by geopolitical relations bearing the imprint of colonialism and underdevelopment. Second, it discusses Southern planning scholars’ emphasis on theorizing with and through close attention to the dynamics of place. Third, it identifies the Southern perspective’s interest in the study of actually existing planning practices, and in praxis as a mode of knowledge generation and theorization. Each line of inquiry emphasizes particular kinds of power relations, and each raises questions about how planning practitioners and scholars should go about bringing change to their contexts. The chapter concludes with a reflection on the limitations of the Southern perspective in confronting Northern epistemological hegemony, and a plea for scholars to retain the key insights of a Southern critique within emerging anticolonial thought.