Planning and Knowledge How New Forms of Technocracy Are Shaping Contemporary Cities

In the wake of the Global Financial Crisis and the associated rise of austerity agendas and new forms of economic boosterism, the capacities and very raison d’etre of planning systems and knowledges across Europe and North America are being challenged as never before. Reforms are being driven by a new class of private consultants, public managers, legal and data experts, and new technologies. This collection of essays examines these broader trends and the contemporary form and character of urban planning systems and the expertise that shapes them. It revises the traditional notion of a technocracy as a way of characterising these reforms. Collectively, the contributions raise fundamental questions over who and what planning is now for and what types of knowledge are driving contemporary urban change. They show that we are witnessing the emergence of a new technocracy in urban planning but one that differs markedly from traditional, top-down forms of governance. It is a model that appears, ostensibly, to be pluralist and open in character, but in practice draws on new techniques and technologies that are shaped by powerful elites and privatised forms of knowledge production and management. The implications for planning systems and understandings of contemporary reform are profound.