Public Norms and Aspirations

"With a deep understanding of planning and governance developed in his longstanding career as an engaged scholar, Salet draws upon various literatures––philosophy, sociology, juridical studies, political science––to improve planning research methodology, deploying an institutionalist perspective grounded in the pragmatics of urban development and governance. In six chapters, he crafts an original and challenging discussion weaving together two distinct intellectual traditions––institutionalism and pragmatism––to understand how institutions shape and legitimize planning action, and provide it with aspiration and purpose." –Laura Lieto, Journal of Urban and Regional Research (IJURR)

"All in all, Salet’s book is a welcome contribution to planning scholarship primarily. It is a call to planners to go beyond a sole pragmatist perspective and think deeper by asking a set of legitimacy and appropriateness questions before proceeding with decisions. The book contains a set of institutional research approaches and suggestions on ways to make use of them where appropriate." –Kadir Basboga, Journal of Planning Education and Research

"Although various useful building blocks for an institutionalist approach in planning have recently been provided by some scholars, no substantial ‘institutional turn’ has yet taken place in this field. With this book Salet embarks on a superb venture to fuel this indispensable turn, both by developing a robust and innovative theoretical framework on institutions, and by brilliantly showing the practical relevance of a new outlook on their meaning and role." –Stefano Moroni, Polytechnic University of Milano, Italy

"This book is a timely and well-grounded challenge to urban researchers and policy-makers to give more attention to the evolving institutions which shape urban governance practices and their interaction with the specific pragmatics of urban development projects and management." –Patsy Healey, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University, UK

"This book is an important and original contribution to an institutional turn in planning theory. The core message is that due to rapidly increasing complexity, fragmentation, and pluralism in cityregions it is no longer effective to rely primarily on top-down governance approaches. Planners must recognize the relational complexity of cities, and the roles of institutions in processes and shaping patterns of change, and that the legitimacy and effectiveness of modern planning has been reduced by the neglect of explicit attention to and development of public norms and shared understandings. The book suggests greater attention by planning scholars and practitioners to the role of institutions in structuring conceptions of acceptable and necessary governance action, and the roles of planners in contributing to ongoing processes of institutional change and adaptation in a fast-changing world." –Andre Sorensen, Planning Theory & Practice