Advocacy planning

Advocacy planning was formulated in the 1960s by Paul Davidoff. It is a pluralistic and inclusive planning theory where planners seek to represent the interests of various groups within society. Davidoff (1965) was an activist lawyer and planner who believed that advocacy planning was a necessary method for representing the low-income and minority groups who were not always on equal footing with the rich and powerful.

Before the 1960s planning was usually performed by trained professionals within local governments who worked directly under the guidance of planning commissions. This method of planning is commonly referred to as top down and was a result of the planning practices that developed throughout history. Top down is characterised by its authoritative and undemocratic methods, where institutions and individuals plan without first consulting the various stakeholders who are involved with the use and development of the land. An example of this approach is colonialism in Africa during the early nineteenth century, where settlements were created simply for the purpose of exploiting workers and extracting the wealth produced by them.

This attitude to planning continued beyond colonialism and spread throughout the modernist movement in the 1920s. During this time, designers and planners were given opportunities to conceive a vision for utopian cities. These designs were a response to the rise of industrialisation in cities, which led to the working class living in dirty and often overcrowded slums. Although the vision and intention of these utopian cities was to create a society that sought to protect and preserve humanity through the built environment, this top down method of planning assumes that the values and beliefs held by the planner are the same as those that they are planning for. Many of these projects failed to achieve expectations and were instead discarded or set aside.

Directly following modernism and continuing this trend of a top down approach was the post world war period of reconstruction and planning. With the war over, there was a need for social and economic reconstruction. Governments were given the task to rebuild cities that had been afflicted by the damage left behind from the war. With the rise of the technocratic experts, they were consulted to design and plan the city in a scientific, logical and rigorous manner which would produce the best outcome for all stakeholders. This disconnected and elitist approach led to the constant failure of the government to meet the needs of its citizens and was met with backlash, giving rise to alternative planning practices.

Davidoff understood that not all stakeholders are equally represented and involved in the planning process. Leaving the groups of lower socioeconomic status vulnerable to the interests of larger public institutions or private companies. Without sufficient protection and care, the concerns and opinions of these individuals were left unheard and unaccounted for when developing plans. Davidoff realised that it was necessary to implement a “humanistic, grassroots and pluralistic” system where planners would advocate for the interests of the oppressed and powerless.

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