Progressive Planning

The Global ARC is guided by a philosophy dedicated to eradicating root causes of poverty, social injustice and environmental degradation. At the heart of this philosophy is a proactively creative commitment to linking knowledge to action for the common good. We promote planning-related research and action focused on community building and sustainability solutions that are networked, systems-oriented, globally-minded, ecologically sound and holistic.

The Global ARC’s philosophy values community-based organizations, civically-engaged research, methodological pluralism, the role of intellectuals and universities in bridging science and society, and participatory democracy in the context of progressive planning.

Progressive planning faces multiple and interlocking challenges that go well beyond land use and the built environment. Current financial and economic crises are generating new types of stresses and demands on governments worldwide. The faith that market forces alone can lift all boats (i.e., spur equitable and sustainable wealth creation for the common good) no longer holds the same sway it did during the past several decades. Deregulated entrepreneurial capitalism has lost some of its luster. The range of wicked problems we face calls for intelligent teamwork including efforts to dovetail planning, economic development, ecological management and regulatory innovation.  Examples of wicked problems include watershed and ecosystem degradation as a result of rapid urbanization and high volumes of non-point sources of pollution that transcend jurisdictional boundaries; food and water insecurity due to climate change; and the globalization of hazardous waste flows which gives rise to new disease vectors and environmental justice problems. 

It is now imperative that we instill eco-efficiency, equity and green cultural values into our systems of production, distribution, and consumption (including how we measure the success and failure of development).  Doing so requires collaboration across public and private sectors and knowledge commons.  The Global ARC’s philosophy provides a research-action framework that addresses 21st century challenges concerning urban and regional development. It does so by pointing the way to resources and efforts that can: (1) foster global-mindedness and analytical capacity to bridge spatial scales (from neighborhoods to world systems) in planning research and professional practice; (2) help us study, understand and improve city-regions as socio-ecological places with diverse, often competing, cultures and values, and (3) extend the aims of progressive regionalism to include metropolitan-rural relations and interdependencies.

Table 1.Key Principles and Approaches: Progressive Regionalism and Planning.      

Principles	Approach
Place-based;  take into account complexity, multiscalar flows & networks	Facilitate multidisciplinary, place-based, action research taking into account how local, regional and global forces interact .   Highlight urban-rural interdependencies by making hidden resource and energy flows/transfers more apparent.
Integrative and multidisciplinary; weave together knowledge commons, create synthesis	Cross fertilize planning with sustainability science and other relevant fields through better communication and collaborative means.   Create incentives for integrating increasingly diverse types of data, information and knowledge (e.g., physical, biological, socio-technical, expert and non-expert).
Normative; articulate critical standpoints while avoiding fundamentalism;  promote justice	Promote the three E’s of sustainable development (equity, environmental stewardship, and economic efficiency) in a whole systems approach aimed at eradicating root causes of poverty, social injustice and environmental degradation.   Raise consciousness of asymmetrical power relationships and uneven development (calling into view social and environmental justice issues,  ethics and  the sociology of knowledge)
Historical and Forward-looking; action-oriented	Articulate historically-informed views of alternative futures (i.e., actionable “Vision”) sensitive to issues of class, race,  gender & ecology.   Pursue a core set of pressing problems/projects that require regional-scale intervention.   Establish multi-sector constituencies (including university-community partnerships),  networks and cultural bridges necessary to advance progressive agendas for the common good.
Collaborative and  communicative; embrace values of inclusiveness, transparency and accountability	Foster relationships and networks driving the shift from “planning for the public” to “planning with the public” (good governance).   Devise creative ways (e.g., multimedia narratives) to improve the co-production of knowledge, research translation and communication for the common good.   Build sustainable cyberinfrastructure that supports the continual improvement and progressive use of regional information systems and planning and decision support systems.
Comparative and evidence-based with metrics for evaluation	Encourage comparative methods in research and education as a way to foster global-mindedness in regional planning theory and practice   Support efforts (often led by non-profits and regional planning organizations) aimed at creating regional indicators and informatics for measuring progress toward sustainable development.   Devise performance-based measures of sustainability solutions, programs and policies to promote learning and continual improvement.