Historical Analysis as a Planning Tool

Abstract

In conjunction with a revival of interest in planning history during the 1980s, this article identifies a set of opportunities for making historically based analysis a regular part of planning practice. Approaching planning situations with historical questions provides a practical way for defining and exploring the institutional and theoretical settings of those situations. Historical thinking can help the planner to place actors, organizations, policies, and communities in the contexts of change and continuity and to examine the presuppositions underlying analogies and forecasts. Such historical anaysis has the same potential for wide application to a variety of planning issues as legal or economic analysis.