Insurgent Planning: A New Planning Theory for Developing Countries

The rise of neoliberalism that began at the end of 1970s and the countries' abandonment of liberal policies for neoliberal policies; hindered in particular the democratization process of Third World countries that were developing and lacked in human rights. With the increase of capital's power in developing Third World countries, human rights were becoming ignored, the unfair and harsh policies administered during the colonial ages were now being conducted on people that were socioeconomically and socioculturally left behind. Insurgent planning is a planning theory that advocates oppressed people to stand against authority by resisting harsh practices and using legal loopholes to make themselves part of the planning process; meaning that with this concept, individuals have a voice in the places they live, without any intermediaries. Within this article, this developing theory will be thoroughly investigated, particularly in regions defined by the World Bank as the Global South. In the second part, cases like Los Platanitos, Western Cape and Negev Bedouins that are seen as insurgent planning practices in their respective countries Dominican Republic, Republic of South Africa and Israel; will be compiled in table format. To conclude, the outputs of the theory using the parameters: the organization level of the resistance, the success status of the process and the stance of the authoritarian regime; will be examined, and a groundwork for discussing the practice of the theory in other places and the factors affecting the theory will be provided to ultimately discuss if a new theory in planning is possible.