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How Planners Deal with Uncomfortable Knowledge: The Dubious Ethics of the American Planning Association

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  • Bent Flyvbjerg

Abstract

With a point of departure in the concept "uncomfortable knowledge," this article presents a case study of how the American Planning Association (APA) deals with such knowledge. APA was found to actively suppress publicity of malpractice concerns and bad planning in order to sustain a boosterish image of planning. In the process, APA appeared to disregard and violate APA's own Code of Ethics. APA justified its actions with a need to protect APA members' interests, seen as preventing planning and planners from being presented in public in a bad light. The current article argues that it is in members' interest to have malpractice critiqued and reduced, and that this best happens by exposing malpractice, not by denying or diverting attention from it as APA did in this case. Professions, organizations, and societies that stifle critique tend to degenerate and become socially and politically irrelevant "zombie institutions." The article asks whether such degeneration has set in for APA and planning. Finally, it is concluded that more debate about APA's ethics and actions is needed for improving planning practice. Nine key questions are presented to constructively stimulate such debate.

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  • Bent Flyvbjerg, 2013. "How Planners Deal with Uncomfortable Knowledge: The Dubious Ethics of the American Planning Association," Papers 1303.7405, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:1303.7405
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    Cited by:

    1. Baudot, Lisa & Cooper, David J., 2022. "Regulatory mandates and responses to uncomfortable knowledge: The case of country-by-country reporting in the extractive sector," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    2. Joanna Wai Ying Lee & Wing-Shing Tang, 2017. "The hegemony of the real estate industry: Redevelopment of ‘Government/Institution or Community’ (G/IC) land in Hong Kong," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(15), pages 3403-3422, November.
    3. Love, Peter E.D. & Ahiaga-Dagbui, Dominic D., 2018. "Debunking fake news in a post-truth era: The plausible untruths of cost underestimation in transport infrastructure projects," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 357-368.
    4. Nicole Gurran & Catherine Gilbert & Peter Phibbs, 2015. "Sustainable development control? Zoning and land use regulations for urban form, biodiversity conservation and green design in Australia," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(11), pages 1877-1902, November.
    5. Linda Fox-Rogers & Enda Murphy, 2016. "Self-perceptions of the role of the planner," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 43(1), pages 74-92, January.
    6. Jessica S Pineda-Zumaran, 2018. "Exploring practitioners’ perception of ethical issues in planning: The Peruvian case," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(6), pages 1109-1132, September.

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