Planning, Collectives and Cultures - Actor Perspectives in Planning Culture

The term planning culture is applied both in the sense of an analytical approach as well as in the sense of a normative concept for cooperative planning processes. In its implicit meaning the term always implies a notion of the plurality of the involved actors. Nevertheless, research on planning cultures aims to describe homogeneous cultural entities - on national or regional levels. This article examines whether, in point of fact, planning cultures are constituted by the complexity of interactions among the involved actors. Recent research approaches question the traditional concept of homogeneous cultures and are evolving toward a concept of poly-collective cultures. This leads toward a notion of culture that provides the individual person with multiple affiliations to collectives and cultures. Following this model, culture is generated through interaction. This text explores if this differentiation of actors within a culture is adoptable as a research approach for planning cultural research.