If Planning is About Anything , What is it About ?

Alongside Clem Tisdell’s prodigious scholarship, colleagues appreciate a quality he displays which characterises both economists and natural scientists. He sees the oddities in things – their incongruities, underside, gaps. Perusing the literature on regional and town planning, then, Professor Tisdell would notice articles with titles like the present one [1] and others suggesting uncertainty or Kuhnean paradigmatic instability in the discipline (Kuhn, 1962) [2]. Consequently, the purpose here is to advance the present theoretical debate with a few prospective ideas. In this paper we review the current disquiet, trace its backdrops and contemporary directions, outline an appropriate focus for town planning and then explore its implications.