Between hot opposition and lukewarm support : innovation and community in land planning and development

Research on two innovative developments in the Mountain West region of the United States validates an argument by Donald Schon that effective "coordination of conflicting frames" represents a "more promising line of attack" on the numerous issues that challenge land planners and developers. This process, which Lester and Piore call "interpretation," moves beyond mere "problem setting and solving" to make space for the occurrence of novelty, or innovation. These innovative responses to problems may not guarantee ideal solutions, but stand the chance of allowing for important improvements. Specifically, the case histories suggest that the interpretive process arises because the developments' proponents, either out of necessity or by design, embraced a more open-ended planning process and commitment to broader collaboration than typically seen in land planning and development. Not surprisingly, these points confirm that novel ideas in land planning and development come about for largely the same reasons that they do in any endeavor.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Mammen, Taylor G

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• David Laws.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/37869

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/37869