Listen to the episode:

You can find the transcripts though this link.

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Are you interested in how much the political system influences cities?

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Our summary today works with the article titled Planning the post-political city: exploring public participation in the contemporary Australian city from 2018 by Crystal Legacy, Nicole Cook, Dallas Rogers, and Kristian Ruming, published the Geographical Research journal.

This is a great preparation for the discussion with the next interviewee, Dr Anthony Kent.

Plus, since we are investigating the future of cities, I thought it would be interesting to see the political constraints influencing cities and their futures. This article presents the investigation of informal and formal decisions and plannings and their effects on urban areas.

As the most important things, I would like to highlight 3 aspects:

1. The authoritative and expert-led technocratic planning and decision-making processes of the 20th century are changing for more inclusive and participatory ones.
2. However, consensus-based politics and decision-making do not allow challenging questions and debates to establish the real better future for cities, so they need to embrace agonistic approaches.
3. Perhaps, in the end, the most important feature of informal planning movements is not their size but their unique capacity to articulate urban futures that embrace a philosophy of equity within uncertain social and environmental futures.

You can find the article through this link.

Abstract: This special section examines the possibility of meaningful debate and contestation over urban decisions and futures in politically constrained contexts. In doing so, it moves with the post-political times: critically examining the proliferation of deliberative mechanisms; identifying the informal assemblages of diverse actors taking on new roles in urban socio-spatial justice; and illuminating the spaces where informal and formal planning processes meet. These questions are particularly pertinent for understanding the processes shaping Australian cities and public participation today.

Connecting episodes that might interest you:

• No.078I – Interview with Ammon Beyerle about agonistic participation;
• No.108 – Interview with Dr Anthony Kent about how the political framework influences the city and its future;

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