Crisis and Response: A Historical Perspective on Advocacy Planning

Abstract

Advocacy planning was a response to the urban crisis of the 1960s. It appealed to the professional ego of the professionals, and it built on the movement toward science in planning, on an analysis of the failures of urban renewal, and on the growing popularity of citizen participation. It was an idea that captured its time. Those who attempted advocacy planning came to transform the concept and question many of the foundations of modern planning. Understanding advocacy planning's place in the history of planning and the lessons learned may help us learn how we might respond to the continuing crises of our own time.