To read this content please select one of the options below:

Failed planning: lost opportunities and choices for the future

Ahmed Osman El-Kholei (Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Arabian Gulf University, Manama, Bahrain and Department of Architectural Engineering, Menofia University, Shibin Al Kawm, Egypt)

Open House International

ISSN: 0168-2601

Article publication date: 9 October 2020

Issue publication date: 15 December 2020

272

Abstract

Purpose

Social, spatial and environmental justice are inseparable, and key for sustainable urban development. The city is the cradle of innovation and production. Also, the city is the site of riots, where protesters demand their right to access services and resources. The purpose of this paper is to answer the question: Why do plans to resolve urban ills in developing countries fail to deliver and achieve social justice?

Design/methodology/approach

This paper investigates weaknesses, limitations and outcomes of planning processes in a developing country. The author used two qualitative research tools: document analysis augmented with informal interviews. The author uses Egypt as a case study in an attempt to answer this question. The author reviewed two types of documents: official reports that the Egyptian authorities produced and donor agencies prepared plus both published and unpublished research. Interviewees are those who participated in elaborating and executing urban plans and policies.

Findings

Achieving social, spatial and environmental justice is amongst the reasons for planning metropolitan areas and their regions. Unfortunately, rarely plans accomplish social, spatial or environmental justice. Institutional setup is the reason for failed urban planning – institutional failures lead to both policy and market failures, thus complicating urban problems.

Originality/value

Approved plans must have the power of legislation, and planners need to reclaim their authority and autonomy, which requires regulating the profession. Planning education must be at the graduate level and available to other disciplines, such as economics, public administration, law and the like. Planners must acquire the following competencies: technical competencies for analytical actions; hermeneutic competencies for communicative actions; and critical competencies to observe professional ethics. They must emancipate themselves from their bias to enlighten and empower their constituents.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all those who supported them in conducting the research and preparing the manuscript. First, we would like to thank the interviewees H. el-Gebaly, S. Shaaban, A. Ali, and F. el-Shahid for their for their time and information they provided. We would like to thank W. Mohammed, G. Yassein for their comments on early draft, and M. Younan for his research assistance. Finally, we would like to thank two anonymous reviewers. Their comments enriched the manuscript.

Funding: The author received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interest statement: The author declares no competing interests exist.

Citation

El-Kholei, A.O. (2020), "Failed planning: lost opportunities and choices for the future", Open House International, Vol. 45 No. 4, pp. 387-406. https://doi.org/10.1108/OHI-07-2020-0075

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles