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Item Open Access Mapping the use of planning support in a strategy-making session(AESOP, 2018) Champlin, Carissa; Hartmann, Timo; Dewulf, Geert P. M. R.This paper introduces an alternative means of evaluating the performance of planning support systems. These systems that were originally developed to support the professional tasks of planners have been assessed primarily based on their task-technology-user fit. During the tasks of early planning phases, planning actors attempt to adapt planning issues out of their ‘wicked’ state and into clear directions for action by means of communication. The search for better support of adaptations that result from these complex, multi-actor communications requires a more dynamic means of evaluating planning support. To gain a deeper understanding of planning support use during actor communications, we conducted a strategy-making session using preliminary modelling, sketching, facilitation and traditional support tools. We visualized the session as a network of communicative interactions and identified planning support involvement during key issue adaptations. Findings show that preliminary modelling and sketching were often used when identifying planning issues and adapting them into attributes for scenario development and that unsupported dialogue was used to communicate in depth about project objectives. We conclude that introducing planning support as needed in formats that are both visual and easy-to-understand may add value to strategy making in workshop settings.Item Open Access Compliance with residential building standards in the context of customary land tenure system in Ghana(AESOP, 2018) Offei, Eunice; Lengoiboni, Monica; Koeva, MilaZoning regulation is considered as a tool used by government to control developments to ensure sustainability. In Ghana where about 80% of lands are held under customary land tenure systems, implementation of residential standards, which is a government function may conflict with customary norms of holding land. This paper uses case study to examine the implementation of residential policies and enforcement of residential standards in areas under customary land tenure in Ghana and if these policies and standards affect the enjoyment of land rights in the context of customary land tenure. Results showed that non-compliance to residential standards and non-conformity to the local plan has minimal interference on enjoyment of land rights. Residents are ignorant of the details of the residential standards and have never seen a zoning regulations document. There is also low level of monitoring and enforcement. Spatial analysis reveals four main types of non-conformity between orthophoto and local plans i) discrepancies in the orientation of the parcel boundaries, ii) discrepancies in the shapes of plot boundaries, iii) houses constructed on the plot boundary or straddle parcel boundaries, and iii) differences in plot sizes. Results suggest the need for planning authority to use efficient approaches such as GIS and UAV’s to communicate, monitor and enforce the residential standards. It is concluded that collaboration between customary land authorities and the Municipality during the allocation and development of plots may improve spatial conformity between orthophoto and the local plans.Item Open Access Robert A. Beauregard, Planning Matter: Acting with Things, University of Chicago Press, 2015; ISBN: 978-0-226-29739-2; 256 pp.(AESOP, 2018) Marskamp, MarkoIn Planning Matter Robert Beauregard explores the contribution of actor-network theory (ANT) to the study and practice of planning. This is a difficult task since ANT is not a theory in the traditional sense, that can be applied to phenomena and render explanations. Perhaps, it is best described as a method that informs a relational understanding of specific situations. It is also a tricky task because it implies seeing a modern discipline through the lens of a literature that claims ‘we have never been modern’ (Latour, 1993). Beauregard (1989; 1991) has long grappled with the tension between post-modern theory and modern planning, and in this book, he concentrates on a non-modern challenge. Instead of a seemingly head-on collision (Chapter 1), the book describes a productive encounter that provides insight into planning’s post-modern tensions. ANT can inspire planners ‘[to] become moral agents deeply entangled with the material world’ (p. 226) and, in an unexpected manner, help modern planning to become relevant again today.