Planning Forum Volume 16

The Naked Practitioner: Participatory Community Development in Peri-Urban Mexico

Dr. Patricia Wilson

Abstract:

Participatory practice in community development is process- and relationship-oriented. Yet many community development practitioners focus on technical problem solving, service delivery, or information provision. How might these practitioners respond to participatory practice? Using narrative analysis, this case study examines the response of 24 community development practitioners from government and education to a two-week field workshop in participatory practice in two peri-urban communities outside Mexico City. Accustomed to technical or procedural practice and unfamiliar with participatory approaches, the 24 practitioners from government and education quickly faced the vulnerability and uncertainty of participatory practice. By the end of the workshop, however, most of the practitioners had changed their attitudes and assumptions about themselves, their work, and the community. Six-month follow-up interviews evidence the continued integration of some of these changes into their own practice. The results indicate the importance of the engaged practitioner’s attitudes and assumptions in mediating state/civil society relationships.

Keywords:

Participatory community development; practitioner experience; participatory action research; peri-urban Mexico

Skopje, Macedonia, 1965 to 2014: In Search of a Modern European Capital

Dr. Cynthia A. Lintz and Lauren Bulka

Abstract

 In 1963, Skopje, the capital city of the Republic of Macedonia, suffered an earthquake that destroyed 80% of the building stock. Since then, the national government has worked to (re)develop and promote its national identity through the built environment of its capital city. This paper explores the effectiveness of the Republic of Macedonia in these efforts. The authors examine shifts in planning and development practices in the capital city and the subsequent impacts on governmental effectiveness organized around three time periods: post-earthquake, post-Iron Curtain, and present day, beginning with the development of the city’s latest master plan, Skopje 2014.

Keywords

 Skopje, Macedonia; master planning; disaster resilience; European history

Preparing Planners for Economic Decline and Population Loss: An Assessment of North American Planning Curricula

Maxwell Hartt

Abstract

 Population shrinkage, demographic aging, and eco[1]nomic restructuring are leaving many cities in a state of decline. This paper examines the curricula of 94 accredited North American academic planning programs to gauge whether courses specific to these processes are being offered. Findings re[1]veal that only 1% of institutions offer a course in aging communities, and only 2% offered courses in decline and urban shrinkage. Trends in economic decline, aging, and population loss do not guaran[1]tee a permanent shift from abundance to scarcity; however, accessible tools and guidance regarding these challenges are increasingly important to the education of future planners.

Keywords

Planning education; shrinking cities; economic transformation; aging

Development and Displacement: Single Family Home Demolitions in Central East Austin, 2007 to 2014

Sara McTarnaghan

Abstract

This paper analyzes the scale and character of home demolitions in East Austin since 2007 from a built environment approach. A documentation and analysis of home demolitions, construction, and re[1]sale in East Austin contextualizes the narrative of gentrification and reveals how that process is com[1]plicated through the mechanics of speculative de[1]velopment, real estate messaging and aesthetics. In this moment of sociocultural displacement and loss, new norms are inscribed in the built environ[1]ment. This new landscape is strongly embedded in the discourse and aesthetic of environmental sus[1]tainability, which threatens to overpower conver[1]sations about equity and urban development in a highly contested space of the city.

Keywords

Gentrification; real estate development; exclusion; Austin