The Strategic Planning of Cities: Organization of Space and Collective Action

Abstract

This text aims to clarify the sociological problems underlying urban strategic planning to illustrate the historical evolution of urban planning and to point out the questions and methods that, in a prospective way, shape the contemporary problem of strategic city planning in light of the profession of sociologist. There is a growing awareness of the emergence of new socio-urban issues that require new ways of thinking and acting on the city, and the importance that the issue of strategic planning at the territorial level has assumed. In fact, there is a complexification of thinking, methodologies and forms of evaluation of territorial planning and we argue that the strategic planning of territories requires a structured methodology that coherently solves three conceptual and operational challenges: the great uncertainty created by the dynamics of the exterior, the increasing complexity of urban processes, and the diversity of agents and interests that intervene in urban development.