Planning by intentional communities: an understudied form of activist planning
Date
2016
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AESOP
Abstract
The purpose of the paper is to present a neglected form of activist planning, and to argue that the planning efforts of intentional community activists are of interest in light of the many cities worldwide which claim to promote diversity, often in attempts to attract ‘the creative class’. In many countries, neo-liberalism has presently a strong position in local and national politics, in the organizing of the public sector, and in the design of urban planning-related policies. There is a need for alternative ideologies and for facilitating ways of living on the periphery of mainstream market society and consumption culture. Making room for dissenting voices in urban planning is but a small step in the right direction. Nevertheless, the contribution of this paper is to expand the common notion of activist planning, and to start exploring what happens when the plans of activist communities meet the authorities of mainstream society.
Activist planners can be professional or lay, and they can work inside or outside government. When based in civil society, they are most often affiliated with protest groups, urban social movements, neighbourhood associations, or NGOs. Activist planners can also be members of intentional communities, however. These are communities of activists who have chosen to live together in order to achieve a common purpose. Cooperation enables the activists to uphold a lifestyle reflecting their ideas of the good society, and underlining their difference from the mainstream. The activism of intentional communities is related to politics, religion, counter-culture, ecology, peace work, or experimental family relations. Some of the communities have an urban or rural area to their disposal and have to plan for its use, typically requiring a relationship and even some cooperation with the local government.
Description
Proceedings of the IV World Planning Schools Congress, July 3-8th, 2016 : Global crisis, planning and challenges to spatial justice in the north and in the south
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